‘pod love!

[RainbowBrite]

What a busy little munchkin! Are they water droplets at the side? At first I thought they were eggs.

 

[elusive]

Yes that’s just water, bit early for eggs & they’d be in the soil!

 

[Maz]

What is so fascinating, with that number of legs - is how they know which ones to move when Which must be just brain make up as we instinctively know to put one foot before the other to walk and run - but with that many legs .................Is there much research onto their brain make up? It's usually the brain sending signals to parts of the body (and vice versa). I saw the little legs at the end of the video and it looks like some are jointed and some aren't, but hard to tell.

 

[Member ID2]

They are beautiful! I'd sit there most of the day just watching them.

What happens with the young ones of those and the isopods?

 

[elusive]

What is so fascinating, with that number of legs - is how they know which ones to move when Which must be just brain make up as we instinctively know to put one foot before the other to walk and run - but with that many legs .................Is there much research onto their brain make up? It's usually the brain sending signals to parts of the body (and vice versa). I saw the little legs at the end of the video and it looks like some are jointed and some aren't, but hard to tell.

It is amazing when you think about but I guess they don’t think too much or they’d probably just trip up! I haven’t found anything about their brains at all, not sure anyone knows really. They’ve evolved to be efficient at both moving over the earth & all the debris, the wave like motion they make & to dig like little bulldozers into the soil but I guess movement for them is pretty automatic the way it is with us most of the time.
I know most insect legs are made up of segments & I think the ‘pills are too but haven’t read anything & my eyesight isn’t good enough to see!

 

[elusive]

They are beautiful! I'd sit there most of the day just watching them.

What happens with the young ones of those and the isopods?

I do spend a lot of time watching them, I just forget everything I get so engrossed.
At some point I’ll have to split colonies up & just keep some in a new set up, I’ll probably end up with lots of stacked bin enclosures eventually!
Some of the isopods breed really prolifically but (thankfully!) not all, millipedes breed much more slowly & don’t have so many babies so they should be fine where they are for quite some time.

 

[Maz]

Baby millipedes! Now that will be something to see - and also how the parents interact with them. I can imagine it's quite mesmerising watching them.

 

[elusive]

It does sound as though it could be really sweet but millipedes aren’t maternal! Isopods carry the eggs & tiny babies in pouches & some are very protective & maternal but millipedes just bury the eggs in a faecal sac in the soil & leave them to it!
Interesting though as the babies have very few or no legs & with each moult grow a new segment with more legs so could be fun to watch.

 

[Maz]

They moult?! That sounds quite chrysalis like actually - shedding and growing new parts. So if the babies have very few or no legs then presumably they are dependent on being fed?

 

[elusive]

Isopods & millipedes have a hard exoskeleton so they have to moult as they grow or it won’t fit!
They’re all detrivores eating rotten wood & dead leaves as their main diet so the babies stay in the soil more or less eating what they find there.

 

[elusive]

How many isopods can you get on one slice of cucumber Bit of a feeding frenzy going on!

 

[RainbowBrite]

I think 20 They are loving the cucumber!

 

[Member ID2]

Lost count because i was watching one chasing away another.

 

[Maz]

I thought you might be able to identify this one that was on my wall Elusive

 

[elusive]

Not really but I could guess It looks very dark, the ones I get indoors are a paler grey than that but it’s probably some armadillidium species, not very exact though!

 

[Maz]

I just assumed it was a common and garden wood louse - if there is such a thing but I remember you mentioning different types

 

[elusive]

There is no such thing, I used to think the same but even in the UK we have a lot of different species!

 

[Maz]

I remember you saying that - so I thought I'd ask - it's interesting to know there are different types. It's not a very good photo unfortunately! If I see another one I'll get my proper camera and a longer lens out!

 

[Member ID2]

How are the pods doing? How many colonies do you currently have?

 

[elusive]

They’re doing ok, the big orange porcellio have been multiplying quite fast & I have another colony of those now & need to separate out some more soon as they are getting a bit crowded.
The others are slower, I think it’s the weather as July & August have been a bit on the cold side indoors & they do like it warm & humid so while they’re all fine they just aren’t breeding as fast as I would have expected.
This was quite interesting, I managed to get a photo of one that had just finished moulting, unlike any other animal that moults they only do half their body at a time which probably explains their success as it makes them a lot less vulnerable to predators.



I have lots of springtails now, if you love bugs & love orange you have to have orange springtails!
They’re supposed to be hard to culture but my culture just keeps on growing, I started with one small box like this, (about 6” which gives you an idea of how small they are) then had two boxes & have now got two small terrariums too!
The adults are just a few millimetres & the babies are white & tiny.
I really need to get out the macro lens for my phone to get a decent shot of them.