Porcellio bolivari 'Yellow Ghost' Isopods

From the dry limestone caves of Alicante in south-eastern Spain comes one of the more unusual big isopods in the hobby. The Yellow Ghost is a pale morph of Porcellio bolivari, its body washed out to a soft, pallid lemon-yellow with a brighter band along the back, giving it a genuinely ghostly, almost translucent look. It is a large, broad-bodied Porcellio with real presence, and a quiet, refined one next to the bolder Spanish giants. Every colony we send is captive-bred here in the UK.

Introduction

This is the 'Yellow Ghost' colour form of Porcellio bolivari, a cave-dwelling giant from the calcium-rich rock of Alicante. It sits beside its sister morph, the brighter Bolivari 'Lemonade', and among the other large Spanish Porcellio: the close relative P. nicklesi (once treated as the same species) and the giant Titan. It is a collector's animal rather than a beginner's, distinctive for both its size and its pale, skeletal colour.

Appearance

A large Porcellio, reaching up to around 3 cm, broad and flat-bodied. The pale lemon wash and the brighter dorsal stripe deepen as the animal matures, so young stock looks softer and less defined than a settled adult, and a group of pale-bodied giants makes a striking display. Being a Porcellio, it cannot conglobate: rather than rolling into a ball it relies on speed and on wedging into crevices.

Care

The key with the Yellow Ghost is its dry-cave origin, but "dry" here does not mean bone dry. It wants low-to-moderate humidity, roughly 45 to 70%, with strong cross-ventilation, and it suffers in a constantly damp, stagnant tub. Because an isopod breathes through gills that need some moisture, the trick is a mostly-dry setup with one reliable damp retreat: keep the bulk of the enclosure dry with rocky terrain, dry leaf litter and curved cork bark, and hold moisture in a single sphagnum corner the colony can visit. Give a well-draining substrate of organic topsoil and flake soil with sand for drainage, and mix limestone or shell grit through it, as a calcium-rich-cave animal has a real calcium demand. Our calcium guide covers the mineral side; strong airflow is the other half of the job.

Diet

An active scavenger: keep a constant base of hardwood leaf litter and decaying wood, add vegetable in small amounts, and offer protein once or twice a week, set on the dry side where it will not spoil. Keep a permanent calcium source going, and lift uneaten fresh food within a day. A modest springtail culture concentrated in the damp corner handles what little mould a dry tub produces.

Breeding

The Yellow Ghost breeds at a moderate, steady pace rather than a Porcellio-style boom, building a colony reliably once it has settled into the right dry conditions. Females carry their young in a brood pouch and release them fully formed, and the pale colour comes in as they grow. Give it warmth, the dry-with-a-damp-corner balance, strong airflow and constant calcium, and let it establish undisturbed.

Who is this for?

The Yellow Ghost suits the experienced keeper who has kept dry-climate Porcellio before, and the collector building a bolivari set or a wider Spanish Porcellio shelf. It is not a first isopod, and it is a poor fit for anyone who tends to over-water or cannot give it real ventilation; if you are starting out, the hardy Scaber Mix is the place to learn Porcellio first.

All stock is captive-bred here in the UK and ships under our live arrival guarantee, in a ventilated deli tub with a damp sphagnum corner inside a double-walled box. We post Monday to Thursday by Royal Mail next day before 1pm, with a 20% overcount included. Setup components are in our accessories range.