Armadillidium granulatum 'Citrus Ghost' Isopods

Where most granulatum morphs shout, the Citrus Ghost whispers. It is a British-bred colour form of the Yellow Spanish granulatum in which the usual bold yellow-on-charcoal is softened to a diffuse citrus wash over a pale cream base, all of it laid over the granular, faintly bumpy shell the species is known for. The effect is gentle and slightly ghosted, pale lemon and cream where the standard animal is high-contrast, and it makes a quietly distinctive colony rather than a loud one. First developed here in the UK by hobbyist breeder Henry Pearce, it is a home-grown line and rarely seen elsewhere, which makes an established group a real find for Armadillidium collectors.

Because it started in a British culture room rather than arriving as an established European import, the Citrus Ghost is uncommon, and Henry Pearce's line is still the source of most of the animals in the hobby. It sits alongside the other collectable granulatum forms, the vivid Orange Naranjito and the pale White Pearl, as one of the more interesting ways to keep the species. Kept on its own the colour holds, so a settled colony stays on-morph over the generations.

Underneath the soft colouring this is the same hardy, forgiving Armadillidium granulatum, one of the larger and easier Mediterranean pill bugs, so the rare-morph looks come with straightforward care. Typical adults run 12 to 15 mm with exceptional ones near 22 mm, they are prolific once settled, and like every true pill woodlouse they conglobate, rolling into a tight sealed ball when disturbed. For a keeper who wants something unusual and British without a demanding animal to go with it, it is an easy recommendation.

Care is the standard dry-Mediterranean routine. Being a Spanish species it wants a moisture gradient rather than a uniformly wet box: keep one lightly damp corner under sphagnum and leaf litter with the rest allowed to dry between mistings, and give a five to ten litre clip-lock tub good cross-ventilation. Normal UK room temperature suits it the year round. For substrate use a living base of flake soil, rotted hardwood and organic topsoil at least five centimetres deep, and keep a plain coco-coir base out of it, since it holds moisture but offers a substrate-grazer nothing to eat.

Top the substrate with a generous layer of magnolia and oak leaf litter and cork bark for cover, and leave a calcium source such as cuttlebone or crushed eggshell in permanently for firm, clean moults. Feeding is easy: leaf litter and rotting wood as the constant base, soft veg like courgette, squash and sweet potato a few times a week with leftovers lifted promptly, and an occasional pinch of protein to keep a breeding colony productive. As with any Armadillidium they will graze soft plants in a planted setup, so plant tough.

Breeding is reliable once the gradient is right, the female carrying young in a brood pouch and releasing live miniatures, with the pale citrus colouring coming through as they mature. A group given warmth, calcium and steady food builds into a self-sustaining colony over a season, and because the line is uncommon, home-bred surplus is well worth having. See the rest of the genus in the Armadillidium collection or compare it with the speckled Magic Potion. 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 20% overcount as standard.