Ember Bee Isopod — Fact Sheet

Merulanella sp. “Ember Bee” · Ember Bee Isopod

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Housing: Indoor, escape-resistant colony box with opposing side vents and manca-proof mesh.
• Starter size: At least 30 × 20 × 20 cm; add floor area, hides and feeding points as the colony grows.
• Substrate: At least 6 cm of deciduous leaf mould, rotten hardwood and mineral soil; coir only as a minor moisture buffer.
• Gradient: Deeply moist at one end, moist in the middle and less wet at the ventilated end; never dusty dry.
• Avoid: Sealed jars, uniformly saturated substrate, manure-rich mixes, fertilizers, pesticides and aromatic wood.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Several layers of pesticide-free oak, beech, maple or similar hardwood leaves over most of the surface.
• Soft white-rotted hardwood as both food and shelter.
• Cork flats and securely placed branching wood for this active climbing culture.
• One sphagnum pocket at the wet end; preserve open air spaces beneath bark.
• Cuttlebone, limestone or clean calcium carbonate available continuously.

💡 Lighting

• UVB: Not required; no specialist lamp or replacement schedule is needed.
• Cycle: 10–12 hours of diffuse room or plant light.
• Keep deep shade beneath leaves and cork; low evening light is best for observation.
• Never place the box in direct sun or under a heat-producing display lamp.

🌡️ Temperature

• Warm-side upper target: 23–25 °C

• Ambient zone: 20–25 °C

• Cool retreat: 18–21 °C

• Night: 18–23 °C

• Avoid sustained temperatures above 26 °C.

• Measure at substrate level at both ends, not only in the surrounding room.

• If heat is essential, warm one outer wall with a thermostat; never heat the entire base.

💧 Humidity & water

• Working range: 65–80%; keep the molt refuge at 75–85% without sacrificing airflow.
• Pour dechlorinated water into moss and deeper substrate at one end; do not mist the entire box on a fixed schedule.
• No open water dish is needed; standing water can drown mancae.
• Crowding at the wet end suggests dryness; constant condensation, vent-climbing, sour odor or molt deaths suggest waterlogging, heat or poor ventilation.

🥬 Diet

Feed freely:

• Decaying hardwood leaves and soft white-rotted wood; replace them before they are exhausted.

In moderation:

• Tiny portions of mushroom, carrot, squash, sweet potato or balanced isopod food 2–3 times weekly.
• Dried gammarus, shrimp or quality fish food about once weekly.

Avoid:

• Conifer litter, seasoned food, pesticide-contaminated produce and large protein deposits.
• Wet leftovers older than 24 hours in warm conditions.

Supplements:

• Keep cuttlebone or clean calcium carbonate available at all times.

🩺 Health warning signs

• Incomplete molts or deaths immediately after molting → dry refuge, abrupt moisture change, heat or mineral shortage.
• Persistent vent-climbing with condensation or sour substrate → excessive water and insufficient airflow.
• Colony packed only into sphagnum → the rest of the substrate is too dry.
• Rapid mite growth or mold around food → portions are too large or left too long.
• Sudden losses after new stock arrives → possible contamination; isolate the affected box and tools.

For persistent unexplained decline, isolate the colony and consult an exotics veterinarian or experienced terrestrial-isopod specialist.