cleaner woodlice

[Clinton Hogben]

Hi all just a quick question re woodlice
I introduced them into my large L para enclosure last year and they are living and breeding happily and I have had no fungi / mould at all since
but I understood british woodlice were all veggies mine however are carnivors I often see them eating left over cricket legs etc and when I dropped a pinkie mouse in the other day about 20 woodlice were after it before the spider started on it.
My thoughts were are these woodlice a threat to a large L para at moult time like all of you i remove any crickets during moult but I cant remove all the woodlice without stripping out the tank and starting from scratch and they do a great job with cleaning up.
the woodlice in question all came from my garden last summer and seem to be the common rough woodlouse

Any thoughts

[Colin D Wilson]

I have never had a problem with woodlice regarding moulting of a spider and i've been using them for many many years.

As they are "Subphylum:Crustacea" they are observed, as crabs are, to be omnivorous and scavenge both vegetation and meat products as a source of food.

[Nicola Dolby]

As long as you keep some relative humidity British woodlice are fine and won't bother your spider at all in either case. Without humidity though they don't seem to live very long!. This is why I try to avoid using them for species with drier conditions, such as Brachypelma.

[Phil Rea]

As long as you keep some relative humidity British woodlice are fine and won't bother your spider at all in either case. Without humidity though they don't seem to live very long!. This is why I try to avoid using them for species with drier conditions, such as Brachypelma.

They need moisture Nicola

Some species can live for longer without it, as they can retain it internally for longer periods (due to the porosity of their shells and so on), but they all need it in one way or another.

[Colin D Wilson]

As long as there's a damp area (one corner, a water bowl etc) in the tank then woodlice will be quite ok, they only need to keep their gills damp (on the underside near the leg joints) to survive perfectly in any environment