HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Why do people keep isopods in their crab's tank?

1. Isopods will eat leftover food and hermit crab feces, which means less visible organic waste

2. Some hermit crabs will catch and eat isopods, and hunting them is a form of enrichment

3. People like isopods


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I was looking at some of the other posts in this forum, and I noticed some people have a problem with the isopods reproducing too fast and overrunning the tank. Should I worry about this?
Also, will they escape?

I'm pretty sure they can't climb glass, so you should be good there. If they have a population explosion, then you would probably have to end some them. (Icant think of how to word that)
The most humane way is to freeze them I think.

Is there a way to keep them from breeding to fast?

If they do happen to get out, would they be a nusence around the house?

I think the only way to keep them from breeding fast is to get a slower breeding species.
I don't think they would be a nuisance. You definitely wouldn't want them to escape though, because they could cause destruction to your environment. I think I have heard people taking a few from their yard and letting a few generations come and go before putting them in the tank.

Do you mean if they escaped they would wreck my house?!

No sorry! Isopods eat decaying matter, like leaves and rotting wood, so they would not wreck your house. I just meant that if they escaped into the wild they could become an invasive species if they are not from around there. I don't think you have to worry about them escaping though. Most people worry about types of bugs getting in!

Oh, thanks!

Okay, so I read all of the posts in the "Isopods" forum, I looked at the care sheet (by the way, a lot of the links don't work), and I decided I'm going to catch some isopods this spring and toss them in the crabitat.
Does anyone know if there are even isopods in Michigan? We just moved here and I wasn't sure. I wouldn't want to spend the whole summer looking for isopods, only to find they didn't even live here!

I was under the impression that they were everywhere. You could look up something like "native isopods in Michigan."
I would also try to collect them from an area that has not been sprayed with pesticides and let them breed for a few generations before putting the youngest generation in to try and remove any residual pesticides/ diseases that may be there.

C: ClareCrabOwner :) wrote:Okay, so I read all of the posts in the "Isopods" forum, I looked at the care sheet (by the way, a lot of the links don't work), and I decided I'm going to catch some isopods this spring and toss them in the crabitat.
Does anyone know if there are even isopods in Michigan? We just moved here and I wasn't sure. I wouldn't want to spend the whole summer looking for isopods, only to find they didn't even live here!

Yeah, several of those websites have shut down since they were posted. We haven’t found replacements yet


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Thank you both!

I noticed most of the posts in the isopod section are fairly old. Does anyone at the HCA still keep isopods?