Porcellio sp. 'Rhodes' Isopods for Sale

This one arrives with a place name and no species name, and we would rather say so than guess. Rhodes is a Greek island in the Dodecanese, and in the UK trade the animal is sold as Porcellio sp. 'Rhodes', described by the breeder who lists it as an unusual Porcellio new to the hobby. No seller we can find has put a species name to it, and until someone does, that is how we list it too.

This page used to call it a Porcellio laevis, the Dairy Cow's species. We no longer think that holds. The UK breeder who lists it sells several laevis lines under that species name and lists this one separately as "sp.", and the records from Rhodes itself do not settle it: most of the island's recorded Porcellio are P. obsoletus and P. flavomarginatus, P. laevis turns up only occasionally, and we can find no record of P. scaber there. None of that identifies this animal, so treat it as an unidentified Mediterranean Porcellio.

Our own stock originates from Mark Titterton. In the photos on this page the animals are tan to grey-brown with paler edges, on the usual flattened Porcellio build. It is sold as a medium to large species, and the ones we keep reach a similar size to Porcellio laevis, which the 15 to 20mm on our care panel is consistent with. Like every Porcellio, it cannot roll into a ball, so expect it to run or clamp down rather than curl up.

Keeping an unidentified Porcellio

With no species to follow, give it middle-of-the-road care for a Mediterranean Porcellio. That means 18 to 26°C, which a heated UK room holds for most of the year. If yours runs colder through winter, some additional heat is worth adding, but there is no need to push it warm. Build humidity as a gradient rather than a single figure: around 50 to 70 per cent overall, with one damp end and the rest of the box left to run dry, and cross-ventilation so the damp end stays fresh instead of souring.

Give them 5 to 8cm of topsoil, flake soil and rotted hardwood, a thick layer of hardwood leaf litter and cork bark to clamp under, and keep a calcium source such as cuttlebone in the tub at all times. Feed a base of leaf litter and decaying wood with vegetables once or twice a week and a regular protein offering, and lift fresh food before it moulds. A springtail culture deals with whatever they miss.

Who it suits

This is one for a keeper who already has a Porcellio colony running and likes the idea of an animal the hobby has not finished working out. Its breeding pace and lifespan are not documented anywhere we can find, so we will not promise a figure for either. If you want a well-understood first colony, start with the Dairy Cow or the wild-type Porcellio laevis 'Grey', and there is more of the genus in the wider Porcellio range.

Dispatch runs Monday to Thursday only, which keeps parcels out of the network over a weekend. A colony travels on damp sphagnum in a ventilated deli tub inside a double-walled box, tracked on Royal Mail next-day and due before 1pm, with a 20% overcount on every order. Live arrival is guaranteed.