The Yellow Tiger isopod is Cubaris sp. 'Yellow Tiger', a woodlouse sold by the trade as Thai, for which I have found no formal description. It is cream to honey-yellow, with grey-brown to dark chocolate bands across its back, faint on some animals and bold on others. My care panel gives 21 to 26°C and 75 to 85% humidity. Keep it in a vented tub with a damp end and a drier rest, a deep living substrate under leaf litter and bark, and calcium always on offer, with a heat mat or heat cable on a thermostat, fixed to the side of the tub and never underneath, through the colder months at least. My Yellow Tiger isopods are captive-bred.
What the Yellow Tiger Is
I have found no scientific name for the Yellow Tiger. Cubaris holds more than a hundred described species, but many of the forms in the hobby are undescribed or unidentified, and some sold as Cubaris have turned out to belong elsewhere, as Nesodillo arcangelii did. I have found no formal description, type specimen, collecting locality or published measurement for this one. Every seller I found who gives an origin says Thailand, so it is sold by the trade as Thai, but that is the trade's account, not a record. Even the genus is open: some sellers label the same animal Nesodillo, and one British seller says an isopod specialist told them it fits neither genus.
I have found no record of who coined the name. The trade sells a run of banded Cubaris as tigers, among them Red, Silver, Orange and Radsada Tigers, and one keeper wrote that the Yellow shares a stripe with the Silvers and some Red Tigers.
Yellow Tiger, Honeymoon Tiger and Phipun Tiger
Two other tigers come up beside this one, and the Honeymoon Tiger is the closer. A Dutch seller and a Norwegian seller sell it as the same animal as the Yellow Tiger under another name, and the Norwegian adds that Cubaris names are badly confused and that these are probably local variants of one species. One British seller sells them as two forms of one species, the Yellow Tiger with faint stripes or none and the Honeymoon Tiger with bold dark ones; another lists the names separately. So on sellers' accounts the Honeymoon Tiger is the same animal or a close form of it, and I have found nothing published that settles which. Some of the sellers' care figures I quote below come from their Honeymoon Tiger pages.
Every account I have found treats the Phipun Tiger as a different animal. Sellers describe it as orange to brown with dark markings and list it as a separate line, sold as coming from Phipun, a district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province in southern Thailand. One US seller says it is believed to be a locality of the Red Tiger.
What It Looks Like and How Big It Gets
It is a rounded, smooth-backed woodlouse, cream to honey-yellow, with a band of grey-brown to dark chocolate across each segment and a paler rim around the body. The bands vary, as the photos on this page show: some animals carry only faint grey shading at the joints, others bold stripes from side to side. Sellers describe a bright yellow body with black banding; in these photos the bands are mostly brown, and one keeper wrote that its true colour is somewhat hard to capture.
My care panel gives 12 to 15mm. The sources that give a size under the Yellow Tiger name say 12 or 13mm, while two sellers of the Honeymoon Tiger say up to 2cm or 22mm. I have found no published measurement, so treat it as a small-to-medium Cubaris.
Setting Up the Tub
A starter group settles in a 3-litre tub, and 4 to 10 litres gives more room; a growing colony wants 6 to 9 litres, and my guide to how big a tub isopods need goes through the sizes. My own standard is an 11-litre tub. Give it a few vents: the sellers who mention airflow give it medium or moderate ventilation, and stagnant, humid air kills Cubaris that need airflow, which I know from keeping them rather than from a study.
Lay 5 to 8cm of organic topsoil, flake soil and crumbled white-rotted hardwood, and more in a bigger tub: two sellers say it digs down into deep substrate to moult and breed. Coco coir holds moisture but gives a substrate-eater nothing to eat, so I leave it out. On top goes a thick layer of dead hardwood leaves, food and cover at once, and plenty of bark; mixed wood bark flats make ready-made hides that hold damp underneath. Keep a third to a half of the tub as the damp end, with moss over the soil there.
Temperature and Humidity
My care panel gives 21 to 26°C. Sellers' ranges mostly fall between 18 and 28°C, and a British seller who keeps them says they prefer 23 to 25°C. An English home averages about 19°C over the heating season, under that band, and about 21.5°C in July and August, at the bottom of it. So add a heat mat or heat cable on a thermostat, fixed to the side of the tub and never underneath, through the colder months at least; I run heat cable along the back of my racking, and my guide to heating isopods covers the kit. Keep the warm side at or under 26°C, and the tub out of direct sun.
For humidity my care panel says 75 to 85%. Sellers who give a figure go lower: 60 to 80% from a Dutch seller and 70 to 75% from that British seller; others say high, or moderate to high. The three sellers who describe a layout keep part of the tub drier, with a third to three-fifths of it damp. Mist the damp end, keep it moist to the touch but never waterlogged, and let the rest run drier. If the soil turns to mud or smells sour, it is too wet.
Feeding
It is a detritivore, and most of what it eats should be the leaf litter and rotting wood already in the tub, so keep both topped up and always on offer. On top of that, give a little fresh food twice a week, such as a slice of courgette or sweet potato, and a little protein once or twice a week, such as a pinch of fish flakes. Sellers who list a diet say much the same. Clear leftovers before they mould. Keep a calcium source in the tub at all times: cuttlebone, or a piece of Malawi limestone.
Breeding
Sellers call it a fair or moderate breeder, one US seller an easy one, and the one keeper I found writing about their own animals said only that their Yellow Tigers were doing fairly well. I have found no published brood size, age at maturity or lifespan for it. The usual woodlouse pattern holds: both sexes are needed, the female carries her eggs in a fluid-filled pouch under her body, and the young leave it alive, still short of their last pair of legs. Most woodlice live about two years, and some three or four; the common pill woodlouse, Armadillidium vulgare, can live up to about five.
I start colonies with twenty or more animals where I can, and for a premium Cubaris like this, ten to fifteen is the least. On keepers' and sellers' accounts the premium morphs often take a year or more to build a colony from a starter group, so keep conditions steady and leave them to it. Keep one form per tub: if the Yellow and Honeymoon Tigers are forms of one species, as some sellers say, they could cross, which can hide or muddy the colours of both.
Behaviour and Handling
Two sellers describe it as shy or reclusive at first and bolder as the colony grows, one of them says it is mostly active at night, and another calls it timid, though one seller finds it more active than the Rubber Ducky. It cannot bite you and has no venom, so it is safe to pick up: let it walk onto a flat hand rather than pinching it up.
Is It a Good First Isopod?
My care panel rates it medium; sellers range from easy through medium and intermediate to high, and one British seller calls it a species for experienced keepers. It asks for steady warmth through the colder months, a damp end that never dries out and patience while a small group builds, so it suits a keeper who has kept a Cubaris before. The genus is 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 my Panda King care guide is a gentler start. My complete Cubaris care guide covers the genus as a whole.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Yellow Tiger isopod?
It is Cubaris sp. 'Yellow Tiger', a woodlouse sold by the trade as Thai, cream to honey-yellow with grey-brown to dark chocolate bands across its back. I have found no formal description or scientific name for it, and some sellers label it Nesodillo.
Is the Phipun Tiger the same as the Yellow Tiger?
Not on any account I have found. Sellers offer the Phipun Tiger as a separate, orange-to-brown animal, sold as coming from Phipun, a district in southern Thailand.
Is the Honeymoon Tiger the same as the Yellow Tiger?
Possibly. Two sellers sell it as the same animal under another name and one as the boldly striped form of the same species, while another lists the two separately. I have found nothing published that settles it, so keep them in separate tubs.
How big do Yellow Tiger isopods get?
About 12 to 15mm, the figure on my care panel; the sources using the Yellow Tiger name say 12 or 13mm. I have found no published measurement.
Do Yellow Tiger isopods need a heat mat?
Yes, through the colder months at least. My care panel gives 21 to 26°C, and an English home averages about 19°C over the heating season, so add a heat mat or heat cable on a thermostat, on the side of the tub and never underneath.
Are Yellow Tiger isopods good for beginners?
They make a better second Cubaris than a first isopod. My care panel rates them medium; the Panda King and the Penguin are the easy end of the genus, fine even as a first isopod.
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