Congratulations!
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That’s a great reason to get excited!
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Nice! That will be an awesome isopod to see when you have a huge culture of them with the dimorphism! Good luck!
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Thank you all! I’m so excited to watch this culture grow!
I agree! I also can’t wait to see if the ratio of males to females stays about equal or if they tend to be more male/female heavy. Overall lots to be excited about for this species!
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How do you currently keep these? I am looking at getting these and trying them out. You can even pm me.
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I keep mine the same way I keep my other Armadillidiums, with the only difference being that I keep the A. klugii (Montenegro clowns) slightly drier. Right now I’ve got approximately 30 of them (started with 8) in a 20qt sterilite tub with ambient light and temps (~75 degrees F). The tub is filled halfway with a mix of organic topsoil, broken down oak BBQ pellets, sphagnum moss, leaves, and some broken down snake sheds all mixed together. Then it’s topped with a big piece of cork bark, a bunch of leaf litter, a cuttlebone, and clump of sphagnum moss on one side. I spray down the moss clump (moist side) regularly and hardly spray the opposite end in an attempt to create a moisture gradient. I feed Repashy Morning Wood in the powdered form and don’t offer more until what was previously offered is gone. I also offer random scraps of whatever I have on hand to spice things up for them. They’ve been getting plenty of carrots recently.
I keep springtails with all of my isopod colonies too. If you’ve got any specific questions, I’d be happy to let you know what I’ve found success, and failures, doing!
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I know that they are not regarded as a beginner isopod but really love how they look. Additionally, I don’t have a bunch of room to acquire 5 different species before trying the one that I want (clowns). So yeah, any general Care and tips would help a bunch.
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With your skills already honed from years of caring for reptiles, I don’t see any reason you couldn’t be successful with these guys as a first ‘pod. I messaged you so that we don’t hijack this thread though!
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Thank you! These are looking like a beautiful opinion for me!
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Russ with aquarimax pets has a whole video about their care.
I think that’s a great species to get if you aren’t trying to get extremely into isopods. My culture is in an acrylic display enclosure, they are so active and they often sleep on top of the cork. I’ve also had them take the food right out of my hand.
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Lol, I have this same video bookmarked!
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Yep, the guidelines for which isopods are “beginner” or “advanced” are relative to past experience. If you have some experience caring for any invert (or really any other pet) that needs a moisture gradient you should be fine. They aren’t as “difficult” as many people let on, just require some slight tweaks to husbandry compared to others of its genus.
Clowns can be a “beginner” isopod if you have the right skillset.
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EDIT: I won’t lie, some advanced isopods really should be kept for a later date. I tried my hand at P. expansus and P. flavomarginatus after 2 years of experience with isopods and they crashed hard within a period of only 1 year. After I observed the first couple deaths, I began to add/remove more ventilation and slight changes such as this can really stress them out. This led me down an inescapable path of catastrophe as I was desperately trying to adjust ventilation to find the “sweet spot”. This was devastating. These are gorgeous isopods, and definitely broke the bank to get a hold of. I have only 2 left, both female. I found my last male dead last week
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I already had 15 species at this time, but none of these were near as delicate as P. expansus. Cubaris sp. “Rubber Ducky” care is 100% more adaptable/flexible than that of P. expansus in my experience with them.
But I say go for the Clowns if you feel that you are ready for them. Basic care advice (how I keep mine): 25% moist space, 75% dry space. Some generous cross-ventilation on the dry side, but not so much on the moist side. “Moistness” doesn’t have much affect with isopods, but correct humidity levels is key to success. I am sure Rus mentions this in his video, but do not mist this species with a spray bottle. Very gently pour water onto the moist side (sphagnum moss). Over time the clowns will not tolerate it anymore and begin to die off due to unknown reasons. But really just focus on low humidity, but with high humidity hides (such as under the cork bark on the moist side, etc.) and these will be a blast to keep!
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That really sounds more complicated that it actually is. Just have fun! I am sorry I just wrote an essay lol.
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Here is a pretty cool photo I took of one of my A. klugii “Montenegro Clowns” showing how isopods commonly kept in the hobby regularly molt in two pieces, usually the posterior half and then anterior half.
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Very cool photo!
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That’s not a baby baby either!
That’s an older one! Yay 
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Yes it’s probably been in there for a couple weeks! Which makes me wonder how many other babies there are. 
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Some updates, its not all of them, but still. My oranges are getting some random morphs in them. Ive spotted a few calicos
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Here are some other isos i got going. My ghestrois and magic potions are finally taking off. I need to start selective breeding the potions though, only a couple have a good amount of yellow. Once a few more with higher yellow grow up ill seperate them out. Im also seeing a couple ghestroi with spots that are more orange than yellow. Hoping thats something i can breed for. Would love to make a spooky boi line trait for them haha
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