Cubaris 'Rose Quartz' Isopods

Hold a piece of rose quartz up to the light and you get that soft, clouded pink, gentle rather than bright, a colour that seems to sit just under the surface. That is the animal I named this one for. Cubaris sp. 'Rose Quartz' is a premium cave Cubaris carrying a delicate rose-pink wash across pale segments, and the name is a promise about the tone. I want to be plain with you from the start: this is a subtle animal, soft pink rather than vivid, and it rewards a close look far more than a quick glance.

It is also one of the less-documented morphs in the high-end Cubaris market, which is part of why I like keeping it. In spirit it sits close to our Cherry Blossom, another pink-toned premium line, but it holds its own softer colour and is worth keeping as a separate colony rather than a substitute for it. If you already run a pink-themed shelf, the two together give you the full range of gentle Cubaris tones without any two animals looking quite alike.

Like the rest of its genus, Rose Quartz traces back to the limestone caves and karst of Southeast Asia, and that heritage sets everything about how you keep it. It belongs to the same premium cluster as our Rubber Ducky and Panda King, cave-adapted animals that share a taste for warmth, humidity and a steady supply of calcium. If you keep any of those already, you will not need to learn a new routine here.

Warmth comes first. Aim for somewhere around 21 to 26°C and, more than any exact figure, keep it steady; a stable 24°C setup will always beat one that swings. Then build a humidity gradient rather than a wet box. Keep one end damp, around 75 to 85%, and let the far end run drier, so the colony can choose where to sit. Good cross-ventilation across the top matters as much as the moisture itself, because stagnant, sodden air is what quietly finishes off cave species. Moist, not wet, is the phrase I come back to.

Underneath, give them depth. A deep, humus-rich substrate lets them burrow and holds the moisture gradient, and I build mine on a base of flake soil with plenty of crushed limestone or cuttlebone worked through for the calcium this cave lineage leans on. Layer the surface with leaf litter for cover and slow food; our magnolia leaf litter is tough, long-lasting and a favourite here. Add rotten white hardwood, a little moss, and a starter culture of springtails to keep the setup clean. A light mist every few days holds the damp end where you want it.

Rose Quartz is a premium, steady-breeding morph, so treat it as a long project rather than a quick multiplier. Small, regular broods are what you are after, and the way to get them is patience: set the enclosure up well, keep the conditions stable, and resist digging around to check on things. Keep the line pure and do not cross it with other Cubaris, since the whole appeal is that gentle pink holding true. The colour is best seen in a settled, well-fed colony under warm light, and it deepens as the animals relax into a home you leave largely alone.

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 included as standard.