Armadillidium nasatum 'Orange' Isopods

The first thing I point to on Armadillidium nasatum is the nose. A small rectangular plate projects forward from the front of the head, unlike almost anything else in the pill woodlouse world, and it is exactly why this animal is called the Long-nosed Pill Woodlouse. On the wild type that snout sits on a plain grey body, but here it rides on a warm orange-to-peach morph, so you get the odd, characterful profile and a soft glowing colour in one animal.

This is the 'Orange' morph, also sold as 'Peach', a selectively bred colour form that does not occur in the wild. Across an established colony the shades drift from peach through orange to the occasional rust or pinkish tone, and it all stands out beautifully against dark leaf litter. Juveniles start out pale with barely any colour, then warm up as they mature, so a young group looks quite different a few months on, and a pure colony keeps breeding true to that warm orange.

Care sits squarely in Armadillidium territory, with one useful difference. Where the dry-Mediterranean species want an arid box, nasatum tolerates a wider band than most of its relatives, roughly 45 to 80 per cent, which is not the same as wanting it wet. In the wild it lives in drier ground than most woodlice. So I keep a gradient: one damp end with sphagnum moss and leaf litter, the rest drier, and let the colony choose. Give them medium-to-good ventilation with cross-airflow, and keep calcium in the tub at all times, from cuttlefish bone, crushed limestone or oyster shell, for healthy moulting. Temperature is the easy part: as a European species naturalised worldwide, they are content at normal UK room temperature, around 15 to 28°C, without heating, which is why I recommend them for unheated rooms. Just keep them clear of true extremes of cold and heat.

Like every pill woodlouse, nasatum conglobates, but it never quite seals the ball. The elongated, long-nosed build leaves the antennae showing through a small gap at the front, where an A. vulgare would close completely. That is normal for the species, not a fault. Adults reach around 12 to 16mm, a medium-sized and slightly elongated isopod, and they are unusually outgoing for an Armadillidium, active day and night and often out on the surface or clinging to the undersides of bark and leaves, so you tend to see them rather than hunt for them.

They are among the hardiest, most forgiving isopods I keep, and prolific with it. Sub-adults often start breeding before they reach full size, and a pure group builds a self-sustaining colony quickly, which makes them an ideal first isopod and a dependable cleanup crew that will work away for the two to three years they live. I feed a base of hardwood leaf litter and decaying wood, topped up with the odd vegetable and a little regular protein such as fish flakes, which supports that steady breeding. A layer of magnolia leaf litter and some flake soil worked through the substrate covers most of what they need.

If you like this one, the spotted Nasatum Dalmatian is the same easy species in a dark-on-pale look and a natural companion, while the pale Magic Potion and the boldly striped Zebra are two more beginner-friendly Armadillidium worth a look. You can compare the whole lot in the full Armadillidium collection.

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.