clear up critters..

[Jon-Paul]

Some people go to great lengths to eradicate springtails from their tanks although they feed on waste matter and not the living and cause no aparrent problems to a T, ive kept T's in large natural type enclosures with a colony of different roaches, and wood lice to clean up any waste that may be present and if they pop up to close to the spid its dinner time, everyones a winner eh. What do you think of the idea of mini house maids / live in lunches in T Tanks?

[Guy Tansley]

Trichorhina tomentosa are tropical woodlice that are beneficial in the more humid environments and small enough to be over looked by the spider as prey.

See HERE for more info.

[lee smith]

richard gallon has starter cultures of those woodlice for sale in the classified section of the forums for £2

[Larry Shone]

Since reading that many use Woodlice I thought I'd try it,and haven't looked back. Before I had a T I tried them with a Tegenaria I had and found he wouldn't eat them but would ignore them. The same goes for my chile rose now-there's one in there with her now thats been there for weeks and I swear its bigger! Also it can eat the coir substrate if short of food,not possible with vermiculite which is inedible.

[Phil Rea]

I got some T. tormentosa from Richard a while ago, and they're happily living (and seemingly multiplying) in some of my H. lividum tanks now.

I've had no problems with them, and they look to be doing the job they're in there for

[lee smith]

im hopeing to get some soon for keeping in with my H.lividum too, as i can see leftovers in the bottom of his burrow.

im also going to try them in with my Bufo marinus(cane toad) to see if they will clean up some of the dead plant material in his tank too.


also is there some type of woodlice that like dry conditions??, so i can deploy some in with my other T's to do the same job.

[Larry Shone]

Lee, I find that our ordinary woodlouse does fine with my chile rose,which is a desert species. The tank is kept dry with either a water dish or a light spraying now and then. The woodlice do just fine in any condition it seems.

[lee smith]

cool, i will have to get my bug hunting kit out and go find me somenow

[Phil Rea]

also is there some type of woodlice that like dry conditions??, so i can deploy some in with my other T's to do the same job.

All ispods by definition have gills, so they need some moisture to bresthe and therefore survive. You can't keep them in totally dry conditions, but as long as there's some moisture there then they'll congregate around it.

T. tormentosa I should think would not survive in very dry conditions.

[lee smith]

ive just been able to find out that the British woodlouse Porcellio scaber can survive in dry conditions as its biology is slightly different.

[Phil Rea]

ive just been able to find out that the British woodlouse Porcellio scaber can survive in dry conditions as its biology is slightly different.

Drier, not dry. They are still dependent on moisture. Not as dependent as Oniscus asellus (common woodlouse) maybe, because of their pseudotracheae, but they still need some moisture to survive.

[lee smith]

the enviromental humidity in the T's tank should be ok for them to survive, (im not certain of this) so some of us will have to find some in our gardens and try them out.

if we manege to find that one of the woodlouse species does well in with T's that have dry substrate it will be a really neat advancement in T care, as we will not have to go into their tanks as often for cleanng duties which will be more beneficial to the T's in the long run.

[Larry Shone]

Well like I said I kept them fine with a Tegenaria,which was a low humidity spider and the tank was very dry(compared to most Ts).
But even in a dry tank there will always be residual moisture,enough for a woodlouse to survive I would think.

[lee smith]

this could turn out as a quite ineresting subject to study and document. with a good bit of research we could make a very interesting article for one of the journels.

im just waiting for the weather to clear up here so that i can go out hunting for some.

i have found one place in the uk that sells starter colonies, mainly for live food for frogs, but also as tank cleaners. here is a link to the site; http://www.dartfrog.co.uk/livefoods.html

[Larry Shone]

Well, I first read about woodlice in Schultz's so called Bible, so i thought I'd try them with my Ts.
It says that there is less likelyhood of mite infestations if woodlice are in there, gotta be a good thing!