Why are isopods so expensive?

They're not unless you're talking about buying them per gram and comparing that to a horse, then yes they are.

 But that aside unlike horses, dogs, cats, parrots, and even fish, isopods are pretty much a one-time purchase. There are little ongoing food costs, the enclosures don't have to be hugely expensive, they don't need fancy lighting, there are no vet bills, and if you get things right they will breed and there will be more isopods.

Rare and expensive isopods

Take our most expensive isopods. Lemon Blue isopods. These are between £15 and £17.50 each, although we don’t sell them singularly, and don’t forget we always add 20% extra, so for £300 we will send you out 24 isopods. If you are an experienced keeper then you can set things up and hopefully, soon enough they will be breeding well enough that you will be able to see a return on your investment.

 Now these are pretty rare as isopods go, need specialist care, and like many species that have recently entered the hobby we have had to spend a lot of time getting their care just right so they will breed for us. They are slower to breed than many other species, so all that work we’ve put in has still resulted in fewer babies than if you looked at Dairy Cow isopods.

That’s not an indication of how much isopods in general cost though. Dairy Cows are an amazing species to keep, breed readily, and are just as much fun to own. At the time of writing this, you can get 200 Dairy Cow Isopods for £30. That's far from expensive. All from our own quality captive-bred stock.

The cheapest pet to own?

 Compare this to fish. Guppys are probably one of the cheapest fish to own. You can buy 10 Guppys online for about £30 or £35, They will have been bred cheaply in either Singapore if you’re lucky, or in a pond elsewhere in the tropics. About 30% of all of those cheaply bred Guppys will have a parasite burden that can be transmitted to your other fish. You will need to buy a large fish tank, they will require fish food, filtration, heating, water changes, using dechlorinator, and more heating. They will breed, but from poor quality, hormone-enhanced parents the fry will be of ever-decreasing quality.

 A good quality pair of Guppy’s will set you back £15-£30+.

 At the other end of the spectrum are discus, arrowana, stingrays, and the ultra-rare fish that command the highest prices. Is £20 000 for a fish expensive? Yes, it is. But compare that to a horse and things start to look cheaper.

The price of purchasing an animal is often the least of the costs. With isopods, especially species that will thrive on leaf litter in an unheated enclosure, that can be 90% of the costs, making them one of the cheapest pets to keep over their lifespan.

What do I need to keep isopods?

 We could go very cheap, but you still want to be able to enjoy keeping the isopods, so I’m going to assume you are starting from scratch. Any small enclosure will do, from a stunning vintage terrarium, through to a small fish tank, or even a plastic box. You can look on marketplace, or head to a car boot sale.

 If you choose a species that will thrive at room temperature, such as Porcellionides Isopods or Porcellio Isopods then you don’t need to worry about heating or light.

 Now you will need a substrate for them, ideally something that will hold moisture. https://postpods.co.uk/blogs/isopods-useful-articles/isopod-substrate and leaf litter. You can collect your own leaf litter, you will just need to do a bit of research into safe species to feed to your isopods, and make sure the leaf litter hasn't got any pesticides or similar on them.

 What else is needed? Some wood for them to climb on and hide under, and eventually eat, and depending on the species you will need to add some other things to their diet, but they are small and have small appetites to match, so there won't be any great cost there.

Are isopods really that expensive?

 No, they can be one of the cheapest pets to keep, so go on, splurge a bit on a more exciting species, these are great for beginners Porcellio Isopods or maybe Trachelipus Isopods. That way you can sleep easy knowing you have a pet that isn’t going to cost you a fortune, has a wonderfully low carbon footprint, and won’t need taking for a walk in the morning. Enjoy.