White Ducky Isopods (Cubaris sp.)

The White Ducky is the pale, elegant cousin of the Rubber Ducky family. Cubaris sp. 'White Ducky' keeps the duck-face charm that made the whole complex famous, but trades the bold dark patterning of the classic Ducky for a soft, almost shimmering white-to-chrome look. Most individuals carry a deeper grey body split by a row of subtle caramel arrow markings that point towards the head, and the slightly curved front section, the part that reads as a duck's beak, stays unmistakable. Adults are small to medium, reaching around 15-17mm. It is an understated animal, one of the more distinctive colour forms to come out of the Rubber Ducky line.

Like the rest of the Ducky-type Cubaris, White Duckies come from Thailand, from humid limestone caves and forest floors in Southeast Asia. Those habitats tell you almost everything about how to keep them: deep substrate, stable humidity, tight crevices to hide in, and plenty of calcium leaching out of the surrounding rock. Their fondness for limestone is not a quirk we invented but a reflection of where they actually live.

I keep mine warm, somewhere around 21-26C, which suits their tropical origins. The key to the enclosure is a humid gradient rather than a wet box: one damp end sitting around 75-85%, and a drier far end they can retreat to, with good cross-ventilation running between the two. This is the single most important thing to get right. White Duckies want high humidity, but stagnant, waterlogged substrate is what kills Cubaris, so the aim is moist, not wet. Mist to keep the damp end damp rather than soaking the whole tub.

Give them depth to burrow into, 8-10cm of a rich, humid substrate built on pesticide-free topsoil with sphagnum worked through it for moisture. I mix in flake soil for nutrition and structure, and add crushed limestone or eggshell generously throughout, because calcium is something these animals seek out and will happily devour. Top it with a generous layer of magnolia leaf litter, which lasts especially well, and pack in cork bark to create the tight, sheltered crevices they rely on to feel secure. Alongside the leaf litter and rotting wood they graze on, offer a little protein now and then, a pinch of fish flake or dried daphnia, and keep cuttlebone or limestone available at all times.

They are a slower, steady breeder, much like the standard Rubber Ducky. A new colony takes several months to settle, and early broods tend to be small, so this is not the isopod I would hand to a complete beginner. None of that is a sign of failure, just how Ducky-type Cubaris work. Leave the substrate undisturbed, hold the conditions consistent without big swings, and a settled colony rewards the patience with reliable, steady growth.

If you are weighing up the family, the classic Rubber Ducky gives you the original dark patterning, while the Amber Ducky offers the same duck-face in warm amber tones, the opposite end of the colour range from White. For premium Cubaris further afield, the marbled coffee-and-cream Cappuccino and the bold black-and-white Panda King sit alongside White Ducky as collector favourites. White Ducky earns its place among them on that soft, pale elegance and its close tie to the Rubber Ducky line that started the whole Cubaris boom.

Every order is captive-bred, boxed double-walled around a ventilated tub of damp sphagnum and posted Monday to Thursday by tracked next-day Royal Mail, with a live-arrival guarantee and a small overcount as standard.