The Daxin Tricolor isopod (Cubaris sp.) is an undescribed woodlouse sold under a trade name: orange at the front, dark slate through the middle and white at the tail. Two sellers name Daxin County, in Guangxi in southern China, as its origin, which is presumably where the name comes from. Keep it warm and steady, at the 21 to 26°C we give on our own listing's care panel, in a humid tub with one damp end and gentle airflow, on deep substrate with limestone through it, with leaf litter and rotted wood to eat, calcium always within reach, and time for a new group to settle.
What a Daxin Tricolor Is
A trade name, and so far nothing more formal. Some sellers write it Daxin Tricolour. We found no scientific description, no type locality and no named collector for this animal, and the sellers and reference sites we read file it under three different genera. Most sellers list it as Cubaris sp. One hobby reference site lists it as Venezillo sp., and a hobbyist's list of corrected names puts it in Spherillo, as does one seller's product title. None of them gives a reason. That is the usual position for animals sold as Cubaris: our guide to Cubaris explains how the name became a catch-all in the hobby, and we use it here because it is the name most sellers use and the one on our own listing.
The earliest mention we found is a post from a Korean isopod account that appears to date from February 2022, and the hobby reference site added its entry in June 2023.
Where the Name Comes From
The Tricolor half of the name is the three colours. The Daxin half looks like a place name: Daxin is a county in the west of Guangxi, in southern China, on the border with Vietnam. Two of the sellers we read name Daxin County as the origin, one of them saying its stock originates there. The hobby reference site says only "China", one seller puts a Daxin region in Southeast Asia, and the others we could read give no origin at all. We found no published collecting site, so the care panel on our listing reads "China (trade report)" and stops there.
If the county is where these animals come from, its weather is worth a glance. The county's station averages 21.9°C across the year, 13.4°C in January and 27.8°C in July, with about 1,350 mm of rain and relative humidity near 77 per cent. It is the nearest thing to a habitat figure we found, and no reason to let the tub follow it down to 13°C or up to 28°C: a weather station measures open air, and we found no measurement from wherever these animals live. For what sellers and collectors say about the limestone country many hobby Cubaris are placed in, see our piece on Cubaris in the wild.
What It Looks Like
Three blocks of colour run down the body. On our animals the head and the front segments are orange, the middle segments are dark slate to black with paler edges, and the tail end is white. The antennae are pale. The spread and strength of the colours shift from one animal to the next. In the photograph under Breeding and Growth, the smaller animals are paler, banded in tan and grey; our listing says the colour firms up as juveniles grow.
The figures we found for adult size range from 10 to 15 mm: the hobby reference site gives 15 mm, one breeder up to 15 mm and a UK seller up to 10 to 12 mm. We found no published measurement, so the 12 to 15 mm in our care panel is a keeper's figure, not a measured one.
It rolls into a ball when disturbed, as the photograph below shows. It is a shy animal too: our listing has it tucked under bark or down in the substrate through the day and up to graze in the evening, and one breeder says the same of small colonies.
Daxin Tricolor, Rubber Bee or Tri Colour?
Two other animals are easy to confuse with this one. The first is the Rubber Bee, a Cubaris sp. sold as Thai, which carries a similar three-part run. The hobby reference site says the two look almost identical and that the Daxin would have a deeper orange and a colourless pleon, the tail section. Our own photographs bear out the deeper orange: the Daxin Tricolor is the more orange of the two, where our Rubber Bees range from cream to yellow and pale orange at the front. The tail is harder to judge from a photograph, in which an unpigmented tail and a white one look much the same. Until somebody settles what each of them is, keep the two in separate tubs. Morphs of the same species interbreed freely, so for a breeding colony keep one species, and one morph, per enclosure.
The other is the Tri Colour, which shares the name and little else. It is now listed as an Ardentiella, the genus named in 2025, in which the animals the hobby had sold as Merulanella sit as undescribed species. It is a flat, fast, climbing animal with red, yellow and black on every segment. On our own pages it wants different care too, cooler and with much more airflow, so advice for one does not carry over to the other. Our Tri Colour care guide covers that animal.
Warmth
Our care panel gives 21 to 26°C, which is our own figure. The two UK sellers who publish a range say 18 to 26°C and 22 to 26°C, so the top of the band is agreed and the bottom is not; we would not take the 18 as a reason to skip the heat. Aim to hold a steady temperature inside the band, not to reach the top of it. An English home averages about 19°C through the heating season, below the bottom of the panel, so plan on a heat mat or heat cable on a thermostat, fixed to the side of the tub and never underneath it, through the colder months at least. Our heating guide explains the choice between the two.
Humidity and Air
No seller we found puts a number on humidity for this animal. The two UK sellers who describe it say "medium-high" and "humid", and one American seller's advice is to keep them deep and wet. We would take the depth and leave the wet: the rule on our listing is moist, not wet. The 70 to 85 per cent in our care panel is our own figure, not a published one, and it describes the whole tub: the damp end near the top of the range, the far end nearer the bottom. Keep one end damp, with sphagnum moss to hold the water there, and let the rest sit drier without ever drying out.
On airflow, the same two say "medium" and "well-ventilated". Our listing asks for cross-ventilation that keeps the damp end fresh. A few small vents on opposite sides of the tub do that, and the tub is never a sealed box.
Substrate, Cover and Calcium
Give them depth. The sellers who mention substrate ask for it deep. Our listing asks for at least 5 to 8 cm, and we would go to 7 to 10 where the tub allows. Build it from flake soil, crumbled white-rotted hardwood and organic topsoil, with crushed limestone or oyster shell mixed through and a piece of cuttlebone on top: woodlice build a calcium carbonate cuticle, and a breeding group gets through a lot of it. Leave coir out of the mix, because it holds water and feeds nothing to an animal that eats its floor. Over the top goes a thick layer of leaf litter, then small pieces of cork bark laid overlapping, and rotting wood, as cover.
Feeding
Leaf litter and white-rotted wood are the diet, so keep both topped up. Once or twice a week add a little vegetable, courgette or carrot, and a small pinch of protein such as fish flake or dried shrimp. Clear fresh food that has sat for a day or two, before it moulds. A springtail culture sharing the tub grazes soft mould; it is a help, not a cure.
Breeding and Growth
Accounts differ. Our listing calls it a steady breeder for a Cubaris, and a UK seller agrees that colonies reproduce steadily under good conditions, though they grow slowly. One breeder writing in Slovak describes reproduction as slow, with fewer young, and calls it a species for advanced keepers; another UK seller rates it easy. We found no published brood size or time to maturity, and no lifespan figure for this animal in particular; the two to three years on our listing is the figure our Cubaris care guide gives for the genus.
Whichever account is nearer the truth, expect to see little of a new group at first: our listing says a larger group grows bolder over time, and our Cubaris care guide puts regular surface activity two to four months in. Hold the heat, the damp end and the calcium steady, disturb the tub as little as you can, and judge the colony after a season, not after a month. For a colony, start with 20 if you can and no fewer than 10.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do Daxin Tricolor isopods come from?
Two sellers name Daxin County, in Guangxi on the Vietnamese border, and a hobby reference site says only China. We found no published collecting site, so our care panel reads "China (trade report)".
How big do Daxin Tricolor isopods get?
The figures we found range from 10 to 15 mm for adults. The 12 to 15 mm in our care panel is a keeper's figure, and we found no published measurement.
Is a Daxin Tricolor the same as a Rubber Bee?
They are sold as different animals, the Daxin Tricolor as Chinese and the Rubber Bee as Thai, and we found no scientific description of either. One hobby reference site calls them almost identical. That site and our own photographs agree that the Daxin Tricolor is the more orange of the two.
Are Daxin Tricolor isopods good for beginners?
Not as a first isopod. Sellers rate it anywhere from easy to advanced, and our care panel says Medium. Cubaris are not a beginner genus as a whole, but the easy end is easy: the Panda King and the Penguin are fine even as a first isopod, and either is a better place to start than this one.
Do Daxin Tricolor isopods need a heat mat?
Usually, yes, through the colder months at least. An English home sits near 19°C in the heating season and our care panel starts at 21°C, so fit a heat mat or heat cable to the side of the tub and run it through a thermostat.
How fast do Daxin Tricolor isopods breed?
Steadily, on our listing's account and one UK seller's; one breeder calls them slow, with fewer young. We found no published brood size. Expect to see little of a new group while it settles.
Where to Start
The Daxin Tricolor is an orange, slate and white Cubaris whose name seems to point to a real place, even if we could not find where it was collected. The Daxin Tricolors we sell are bred here in the UK, and the Daxin Tricolor listing shows the packs in stock and carries the care panel this guide quotes.
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