What to do with Excess Isopods?

Some isopods are prolific breeders. Which is a great thing – especially if you trade them. However, some isopods can be so prolific that their populations explode to such numbers that their habitats can no longer support them. This can lead to problems like excess ammonia build-up, and it can stress your pods. These, and other potential complications, can be disastrous to a colony.

So, what to do with excess isopods? Here are a few suggestions

Upgrade Their Habitat

If your isopod habitat has become too small for the colony, you could move them into a larger home. Breeders will often do this anyway, as they start with small colonies that gradually grow. Many colonies will eventually need to be upgraded to large bins that house hundreds or even thousands of individual isopods.

However, this is only a temporary solution because your isopods will continue breeding, meaning you’ll need another upgrade eventually. Regardless, giving your isopods a larger home can make an ideal temporary solution until you find a permanent solution. You can also consider adding more bark and other items, which will give your isopods more surface area to live on.

Sell Some

Many of you reading this will breed isopods to sell them, but not everybody keeps them with profit in mind. If you keep isopods just because they are so wonderful, then there’s no reason why you can’t consider selling some if you have too many. You can use the money to treat yourself, or maybe to treat the remaining isopods. Have a look at the numerous isopod groups online, and you will likely find a willing buyer before too long.

If you can’t sell them, then you could simply give some away as a gift to a friend or family member. In doing so, you could introduce them to a whole new hobby you can enjoy together.

Feeders

Many animals find isopods to be delicious. If you have pet lizards or other animals that love to snack on isopods, then they can be a plentiful supply of food. It’s not nice to think of breeding the little guys for another animal’s lunch, but think of it this way – that predator would be feeding on something regardless, so you’ve given one life but saved another.

Another advantage is that isopods will help to keep your other pets’ habitat clean. If your enclosure is large enough, it might be able to sustain a permanent isopod colony that acts as snacks for other inhabitants and a live-in clean-up crew.

Marketing Gold

People just love free stuff, and isopod lovers love free isopods. If your bins are overflowing, then you could try using your excess to market your business. Giving away free isopods will also help your business grow through word of mouth and content sharing.

For example, you could offer a free set of your excess pods to people who buy other pods from you. For those who sell products like habitats, some free isopods could make an offer more appealing. You could even consider free giveaways to encourage people to follow and share your social media pages to give you more coverage.

What not to Do

It might be tempting to release some isopods into the wild, but this can be a bad idea. This is especially the case if your pods come from a different part of the world because they could easily die if the conditions aren’t right.

Another reason not to release isopods into the wild is the risk of introducing a harmful invasive species. An invasive species can do incredible damage to the local environment, such as out-competing native species for food. Of course, if your pods are native to where you live, then setting some free will be just fine.