Porcellio spatulatus 'Coros' Isopods

Coros is a place before it is a name. It is a district in the north of Sardinia, and Porcellio spatulatus 'Coros' is the population that traces back to there, tied to one specific Sardinian locality rather than bred up in a tub for its colour. That distinction is the whole appeal for the people who keep it. This is not a designer morph but a wild locale, a record of how the species looks in one corner of the Mediterranean, and that is what makes it a collector's animal rather than a shelf-filler.

The body is the first thing you notice. Porcellio spatulatus is flat and broad, spatula-shaped as the name suggests, and it sits low against bark and stone in a way the rounder Porcellio never quite manage. The colouring is understated rather than loud, a soft, muted patterning across the plates that rewards a close look far more than a passing glance. Adults reach around 1.5 to 2 cm, so there is a decent bit of animal to appreciate, and a settled group moving over a flat stone is a quiet sort of display.

Coros is a dry-country isopod, and getting the moisture right is most of the job. I keep mine dry-Mediterranean: a well-ventilated setup with plenty of airflow and a single damp corner they can visit when they need it. The aim is a gradient, not a wet box and not a bone-dry one either. Keep the bulk of the enclosure on the dry side, damp one corner over a little sphagnum, and let the good ventilation carry the rest of the moisture off before it can hang in the air. A base of flake soil topped with a layer of magnolia leaf litter gives them the dry cover and the slow, steady food they graze on.

Like most of the larger Porcellio, Coros are hungry for calcium and protein, and both matter more here than with smaller species. Calcium comes first, because a flat, broad animal has a lot of shell to rebuild at every moult, so keep cuttlefish bone or crushed limestone in front of them at all times. They are also markedly protein-hungry, and a regular pinch of fish flake or dried shrimp keeps a colony growing and stops them turning on each other. Leaf litter and decaying hardwood make up the everyday background they pick at between the richer meals.

One thing worth knowing: like every Porcellio, Coros cannot conglobate. It will not roll into a protective ball the way a pill woodlouse does. Instead it leans on that flattened body to wedge itself under bark, on a surprising turn of speed when startled, and on plenty of cover to vanish into. Give them layered flat hides, bark, and stone with tight gaps to slide beneath, and they will feel secure enough to come out and forage where you can see them.

They are hardy animals, content at ordinary room temperature in a UK home, so there is no heating to manage as long as you steer clear of real extremes. I would not call them a first isopod, only because the dry setup asks for a little confidence. If you are new to the genus, the Scaber Mix is a more forgiving place to begin, while the Titan is the one to graduate to once the taste for large Porcellio takes hold. You can see the rest of what I keep on the Porcellio collection page.

Every order is captive-bred here, 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 included as standard.