Eh, its not like I pay them exuberant amounts of money - wait 
They also made me get rid of my pothos plants because they said it could encourage mold in the building so…I’ve just given up. Luckily, my mom loves the pill bugs
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Technically I didn’t see the death, so its very possible the snail died and fell and the isopods cleaned up like they do buuuut one day he was eating lettuce and the other day it was an empty shell full of isopods so I can’t confirm they aren’t capable of it either
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I have a culture of dairy cows I just keep for the fun of it. I even find it weird that I just watch them to see what be they’re doing. Dairy cows of one of the cheaper ones, and I’ll probably do some rubber duckies or magic potions in the future.
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Boy oh boy! You opened a door but I will politely keep my BIG mouth shut! 
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@vsnutz @braincheese i keep a whole bunch but dairy cows are definitely up there as far as species that are fun to watch going about their business. (Even if they are some of my “cheaper” ones)
I started with dairy cows, dwarf whites, and powder blues mainly to seed a couple of bioactive enclosures and I started backup bins of those species.
I liked them so much I now have those plus zebra, gestroi, giant canyons, montenegros, pak chongs, panda kings, rubber duckies (which to my delight are actually starting to make babies. It’s just taking FOREVER) 
, hoffmanseggis, magic potions, some sort of generic Armadilldium species (they’re just grey) and some bumblebee millipedes which technically aren’t an isopod but they live comfortably with my montenegros.
They get ADDICTIVE. I had to allocate an entire shelf to their little sterlite tubs. And I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon, . Occasionally I sell a few when the colonies get too big but I mainly only keep them for my enjoyment.
I’m about to head out the door to my day job but I can post some pics later
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I am a bit afraid of how addictive I know they’re going to be but is that going to stop me?
No. Not at all.
I’m about to break the news to my husband that I’m about to become a potato bug farmer haha.
Question for you guys: are there any plant leaves isopods can’t eat? I have a ton of houseplants and was wondering if I can give any dead leaves to the little guys.
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I’m personally not sure about houseplants. I know I’ve read they’re fine to eat any “hardwood” leaves, sea grape leaves, palm fronds. I know pine is no good (or so I’ve heard) and cedar is toxic to a lot of animals including most invertebrates (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong basically just parroting back what I’ve heard from others or read) just make sure the vegetation comes from an area free of pesticides and chemicals. And I boil all my isopod leaves/seed pods/decaying wood and other goodies for them before I offer them. (Obviously wait for them to cool off afterwards)
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I know very little about toxicity issues with houseplants that apply to isopods specifically, but I know from my past career that there are many, many plants that are super deadly for mammals, including some houseplants. For example, some lilies are life-threatening when eaten by cats. If I remember correctly, rhododendron and azalea are cardiotoxic. So I would stick to (the tried and true) hardwood tree leaves.
So I agree with @nidhoggnoses 
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@braincheese Personally I offer mine a mix of oak/maple/magnolia dried leaf litter primarily and I also order things like magnolia seed pods and lotus pods off of Etsy that I boil before using (also make sure these are free of dye chemicals and scents) as well as offer pre-boiled rotting wood, cuttlebone, limestone chips, and throw in some sphagnum moss and horticultural charcoal to kinda break up the soil and offer easier burrowing ability. (The charcoal is also good if you want to add springtails which I add to all my colonies. They help with mold and fungus)
Also cork bark flats. Isopods love some cork bark flats. They’ll hide under it, snack on it, and burrow into it.
The water I use to mist them is either bottled spring water or tap water with a commercial aquarium dechlorinator added. “Prime” is a good one. You can literally use one drop in one of those half gallon hand sprayers and it’ll dechlorinate the whole thing.
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I know many fruit tree leaves such as cherry or apple can be toxic to isopods, but cannot name any toxic houseplants off the top of my head. I know that some definitely are toxic, but individual research would need to be done to figure ou which ones are/aren’t.
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Ducks have drastically stopped in price these days, you can easily find a 10+ count for around $90-100. But if you want to start really cheap i suggest pruinosis “Powder Orange” or “oreo” at about $10-20 for 10-30 ct depending.
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Thanks for the kind words. Lots and lots of patience to get those fancy photos
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So pardon me if this is a dumb question but do you have to purchase actual prepackaged bio active substrate to keep the isopods alive in a set up? Especially if there is plenty of edibles provided in the enclosure? I have a couple of small tubs that I am experimenting with so I was just curious……. 
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In two of my enclosures I’m using Josh’s Frogs isopod substrate but i don’t recommend it. I don’t like it very much. It’s basically just a bunch of wood chips with a sprinkle of dirt. In my other one I’m using eco earth with sphagnam moss and leaf litter mixed in. I think the isopods really like that one better and it looks much nicer too. They are really able to burrow in it as opposed to the Josh’s frogs substrate where they just stay in the little sphagnam moss pit they have. I do really want to switch them all to eco earth but i don’t even know if it’s possible to get all of the isopods, especially babies, out of one and into the other so I’d probably lose some. I might try it soon though.
Eco Earth:
Josh’s frogs:
It’s really just up to personal opinion. You can choose whatever you think will suit you best. Good luck! 
Edit: Forgot to say that the springtails definitely enjoy the eco earth more. I see them everywhere in the eco earth and i never see them in the Josh’s frogs.
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Thank you so much! I too tried Josh’s Frogs substrate and I didn’t like it either so now I have Eco Earth and Repti Soil which I too like a whole lot better! (I also tried The Bio Dude and didn’t like it very much either……). My springtails have shipped and hopefully my isos will ship soon as well!).
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No, definitely not. I think that’s more a millipede thing? For my isopods, I use my own mix that I just eyeball. I use ~ 50% compost, 40% Exo Terra’s Jungle Earth, 5% Worm castings, 3% dry sphagnum moss, 1% ‘oyster shell’ ground limestone, 1% ground horticultural charcoal (all organic where applicable). I also mix in powdered calcium carbonate.
I vary the ratios a bit from deepest layer of substrate to topmost. I’ve also noticed that deeper substrate levels, paired with a small false bottom, work better for more sensitive species than shallow enclosures.
I avoid mixing wood chips/pellets or rotten wood into the substrate mix, as I’ve had a ton of mold issues with mid to high humidity species when I do that. I just put rotten wood and whatnot on top of the substrate. I also don’t use Eco Earth, but just because they can’t really eat it (there’s nothing wrong with having it), so it doesn’t serve a purpose other than to make the substrate less dense, which I use the Jungle Earth for.
But as part of the setup, you have to have a substantial area for a ‘hydration station,’ as I’ve heard Russ from Aquarimax refer to it. The % of surface area of the isopod enclosure that should be covered by damp sphagnum moss needed will vary according to species.
@baby_yoda , Wally Kern of Supreme Gecko put out a video on Youtube that describes the same method I use when I need to swap in fresh substrate. You can also buy Iso-pads, I think on ebay and maybe etsy, from Cuddly Crawlers. They use veggies to help attract isopods for easy removal or feeding.
I should look and see if there are any previous threads with isopod substrate! But I have to get some sleep. 
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Oh wow! Thank you so very much for the detailed information! I will definitely be able to work with this! Have a blessed day! 
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Well, I did it, I ordered a starter kit from Rubber Ducky!
They’re not too far from me so instead of shipping I’m going to pick them up today! I’ll try to post some pictures later.
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Excited to see them! I hope you enjoy them as much as i and many others do!
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