Can I keep different isopods together?

Cohabing in relation to invertebrates is a term used to describe housing multiple species in the same enclosure together. The hobbyist exotic pet community is growing and bio active practices are evolving therefore it is totally understandable why keepers would like to create a diverse ecosystem within their own homes. Your own little piece of the wild. Imagine how wonderful it would be to gaze into your home vivarium and admire tree frogs cohabbing with crested geckos or a chameleon, then you look down to see dairy cows and rubber ducky isopods navigating through the leaves and twigs. 

So, can you keep different isopods together?

In theory, yes, you can keep different isopods together in certain setups. Is it a good idea? In our opinion, absolutely not If you plan on cohabiting individual cultures in a small set up and maybe, if you plan to build your own bioactive setup but this very much depends on what you plan on housing within your bioactive setup. A lot of careful planning is needed if you are considering cohabbing different isopods together. 

However, a bioactive setup isn’t always a guaranteed way to achieve successful cohabitation. So, what could prevent cohabbing success?

The first concern that may come to mind is that the different species will breed together and hybridize. While isopods are often observed appearing to attempt to breed together, the act does not produce any offspring. 

Just like every living thing on this planet, isopods are all different. Whether the difference is their colouration, size, behaviour or general cleaner duties, the important thing to remember is a one size fits all approach to cohabbing does not necessarily apply when it comes to isopods.

Different isopods species have different environmental needs. Some like a cooler, less humid set up and others thrive in hot and super humid conditions. Therefore you will need to consider the environmental needs of all the reptiles, invertebrates and/or amphibians you wish to cohab together. 

Another consideration to be mindful of is, will they get along together? It is somewhat beneficial to have a hierarchy of predation to keep the overall population in check. It is recommended to ‘top up’ your set up with those species that may fall prey to the other inhabitants. At clean up crew level, some isopod species such as the Porcellio scaber should be avoided because they are known to actually hunt and prey on other invertebrates. Porcellio scaber are so aggressive they have been known to eliminate the ‘pests’ of the isopod species such as dwarf white isopods because Porcellio scaber will eat them. Other common Porcellio species are even more aggressive such as the Porcellio dilatatus and Porcellio laevis. 

Additionally, some species of isopod are notorious breeders and will take over other culture of isopods. This is very true of Trichorhina tomentosa, or “dwarf white isopod.” Dwarf whites, despite their small size, quickly overwhelm any other species. This is a unique combination of their quick breeding behavior, their preference for burrowing, and ability to swarm food sources. Dwarf whites quickly eat up available protein and other such sources that larger isopods need in order to successfully reproduce. 

Another factor to consider is the potential for hybridization. Whilst there is no known scientific reports of two different species of isopods successfully cross breeding due to many factors such as genetics or different types of genitalia. There are some claims within the hobby of successful hybridization and certainly you may see what looks like the act of reproduction going on between different species, the chances of this producing offspring is unlikely. A big consideration from this is the male isopods can stress the female isopods out if their are differences in the isopods way of reproducing. This may result in one species aborting their eggs or die due to stress leading to a total wipe out of one colony.

For potential successes in cohabbing isopods, the Armadillidium vulgare and Armadillidium nasatum are two species that have been observed as being compatible. Many Armadillidium, in fact, live together quite peacefully but should be monitored closely. For example, rarer species like Armadillidium gestroi reproduce at a much slower rate than vulgare and may be easily overwhelmed.

One species, in particular, stands out as a particularly amicable roommate: Porcellionides pruinosus. This species has been the cause of frustration for many keepers because of its inherent wanderlust; it seems to spontaneously appear in cultures across the room. 

While keeping many species together at a time may seem like a fun experience, we generally recommend avoiding it. Cohabbing is a practice that should only be done after very meticulous research and experience in keeping each species separately before housing them together. Please be careful when proceeding with this practice!