Lava Pastel Isopods (Ardentiella sp.)

The name is a compound of two other trade names, and that tells you what to expect and also what nobody can verify. Lava is the warm-toned line in this genus; Pastel is the one whose colours come out soft and muted rather than saturated. Lava Pastel is sold as the meeting of the two. Whether it was actually bred that way, or named after what it happens to resemble, is not something anyone has written down.

Being straight about the documentation

Two things are worth separating before anything else: what is known about the genus, which is a fair amount, and what is known about this particular line, which is almost nothing.

There is none. No breeder account, no European listing that describes it independently, no hobby database entry. That is not unusual for Ardentiella, where almost every trade name rests on shop copy alone, but it does mean everything on this page about appearance comes from the animals in front of us rather than from a source we can point you at. Expect warm muted tones, expect variation between individuals, and judge it from the photographs.

Size is worth the same caution. It is a large animal by the standards of the genus, in line with its relatives, and any precise millimetre figure you see attached to this morph anywhere has been carried over from another one.

The genus itself is better documented than its morphs. These are Vietnamese isopods, traded under Merulanella until a revision in 2025 renamed the group Ardentiella, and both labels remain in circulation. No trade form has ever been formally described. Our genus guide, linked below, covers what that revision did and did not establish.

What it needs

Everything here is the genus regime, set out in full in our Ardentiella guide, so here is the compressed version and the reasoning behind it.

The hard part is that they need the air damp and in motion at once, and those two demands fight, because almost anything that lifts humidity also chokes the airflow. Vent two opposing walls through fine mesh so a current actually crosses the container. Hold moisture around the mid sixties to low seventies, sloped rather than uniform. Leave the temperature alone: they run between 19 and 26°C, favouring the cool half, and adding heat is the commonest way people damage this genus.

Then build upward instead of downward. This is a climbing animal that never digs, so give it a tall box, cork bark on edge and routes branching off it, over a living layer somewhere between five and eight centimetres deep, capped with litter and rotted white wood. Calcium stays available at all times.

Who it suits

Somebody already comfortable with the genus who wants a colour they cannot get elsewhere, and who is relaxed about the fact that nobody can tell them exactly what they are buying. If either of those is not you, this is the wrong page.

Ember Bee is where most people should start, the standard Lava and Pastel are the two lines this one is named after, and the remainder of the group is gathered in our Ardentiella range. Everything we send is bred here.

Each colony is bedded onto damp moss and sealed into a ventilated pot, then packed with a second layer of card around it. Dispatch closes on Thursdays, which keeps our animals out of a weekend depot. Delivery arrives next day, tracked, before 1pm, and every group goes out with spares and our live arrival guarantee.