Foods For Isopods From Your Kitchen

Isopods are an evolutionary marvel in terms of what they can survive on. Like so many small critters in nature, they feed on the detritus of other living things. Moving through their world helping clean up the mess left by animals, plants, and everything else.

It’s tempting to think that they might have simple digestion, or are very specialised feeders. But amazingly they have many, if not more, of the enzymes that we and other omnivores possess. This means they can digest a whole heap of things.

Even more importantly they can tell what's good for them from a distance. Chemical receptors allow them to judge if a foodstuff is worth the journey without leaving their hiding spot.

Whilst kitchen scraps should never be the bulk of your isopods diet, there are plenty of things that are a great addition to their diet.

Can all isopods eat everything?

No, it's worth doing your research before adding anything new to your isopods diet. With the huge numbers of isopods in the hobby, and more appearing each year, there will be small variations. There are a couple of things you can do. One is to look for research into the diet of that particular species or look for what might be available in its natural environment. A tropical cave-dwelling isopod will have a different diet than a temperate grassland species.

Oats, grains and flour

Be careful of adding too much of anything, but think of grains as being the seeds that they would come across in the wild, but packed full of nutrients. Be aware that some will have been dried so you might need to rehydrate them.

An added issue is that some grains are treated with preservatives, so you can either look for organic brands or put a small amount to one side to see if it goes mouldy in a reasonable period of time.

Oats are one of the easiest to get hold of and can be used to feed a variety of creatures.

Fruit

There are a fair few fruits that isopods will enjoy in their diet, but one to consider is the humble tomato. Make sure they're ripe, and only give them a tiny amount as they will go mouldy in most vivariums after a few days. But these are a fantastic source of the harder-to-get vitamins and minerals that might be missing from their leaf litter-based diet. In terms of fruits, there is something in terms of eating the rainbow. Make sure that you give a variety of colours throughout the year. This means that they will get a variety of micronutrients.

Mushrooms

A decomposer themselves in the wild there is often a huge overlap between isopods and mushrooms.  High humidity locations, caves, forest floors in piles of decaying wood and leaf litter, you can see how an isopod would come across mushrooms in the wild.

Depending on the set up you could even grow mushrooms in the enclosure as an interesting alternative to plants, and as a part of an iopods diet. Or grow mushrooms for yourself and use the spent compost as a part of your isopods diet.

Yeast

Generally, I'd look at brewers or nutritional yeast, it's a tiny foodstuff, but it's bursting with protein, vitamins, and minerals. When I say brewers yeast I don't mean Marmite. You'll need to buy the actual yeast.

You can also grow the yeast on to give you a never-ending source. But don't forget that the by-products can include alcohol, so be careful.

If you have a sourdough starter then that can be something to consider. A tiny amount of starter can give your isopods a whole load of extra nutrition.

Spirulina

If you’re like me you might have half a packet tucked at the back of the cupboard. It was all the rage for a bit, great to add a superfood kick to your smoothie. A tiny bit of this algae can do wonders for your isopods.

Root vegtables

Sweet potato, carrots, turnip and so many root veg are available, and a carefully washed slip of peel could be a good addition to your isopods diet.

Be careful

Foods such as vegetables, and especially fruit are packed with sugar, generally a moist food, and teeming with bacteria in a good way. But this all means that it can go mouldy, and will attract fruit flies and more. It's important to remove the food before this happens. If the isopods are taking a few days to start to eat the food it might be worth cooking it a tiny bit to help start breaking down the structure.