Spiny Porcellio — Fact Sheet

Porcellio echinatus · Spiny Porcellio Isopod

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• For 10-20 animals: at least 30 × 20 × 15 cm with broad floor space.
• Concentrate fine cross-ventilation over the dry two-thirds while preserving a humid route below cork to the damp end.
• Quarantine for 30-60 days; do not add fast cleanup isopods that can overrun this slower display colony.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Use 5-7 cm of pesticide-free soil, deciduous leaf mould, and white-rotted hardwood.
• Provide dry leaves and tight cork shelters across the gradient, plus one compact moss pocket.
• Leave limestone, cuttlebone, or calcium carbonate permanently; avoid pure sand, coir-only mixes, fertilizer, and unstable stones.

💡 Lighting

• UVB is not required.
• Use 10-14 hours of diffuse light with deep shade under bark.
• Avoid direct sunlight and hot display lamps; the relatively dry side can overheat quickly.

🌡️ Temperature

• Local warm point: 23-26 °C

• Warm zone: 18-26 °C

• Cool zone: 16-21 °C

• Night: 16-22 °C

• Moderate warmth supports growth, but sustained temperatures above 28 °C greatly increase dehydration risk.

• Heat one outer wall under thermostat control and leave the damp refuge cooler.

💧 Humidity & water

• A 45-70% RH reading is workable only when a moist refuge remains available.
• Keep one-quarter to one-third damp beneath moss and cork; allow the remaining surface to dry appreciably with strong airflow.
• No water dish. Add water directly to the damp end; condensation and wall climbing indicate saturation.

🥬 Diet

Feed freely:

• Decayed hardwood leaves
• Soft rotten hardwood

In moderation:

• Carrot, sweet potato, squash, courgette, mushroom, or dried nettle two or three times weekly
• A small weekly portion of dried shrimp, gammarus, or fish food

Avoid:

• Uniformly wet substrate, pure sand, seasoned food, pesticide-treated material
• Surplus protein or vegetables left beyond 24-48 hours

Supplements:

• Cuttlebone, limestone, or plain calcium carbonate at all times
• Use protein sparingly, especially before the colony has established

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Curled deaths or incomplete moults → damp refuge too small or enclosure too hot
• Condensation, fungus, and wall climbing → excessive moisture or stale air
• No juveniles → single-sex starter group, repeated disturbance, or unstable moisture
• Animals avoiding the substrate → waterlogged or anaerobic lower layer
• Lost Red Edge provenance → mixed colonies or labels based on appearance alone

Quarantine unexplained mortality and consult an invertebrate-experienced exotic veterinarian or diagnostic laboratory if environmental correction does not stop losses.