Powder Isopod — Fact Sheet

Porcellionides pruinosus · Powder Isopod

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• For a starter colony: at least 25 × 18 × 15 cm; expand or split early because numbers rise rapidly.
• Use a tight lid and fine side ventilation; adults sprint and mancae pass through very small gaps.
• Quarantine each colour line for 30-60 days. Never add powder isopods to a rare isopod culture as a cleanup crew.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Provide 5-7 cm of leaf mould, pesticide-free topsoil, and crumbled rotten hardwood.
• Cover the surface with hardwood leaves, cork flats, and a connected moss zone.
• Keep cuttlebone, limestone, or calcium carbonate available; replace exhausted substrate before a dense colony crashes.

💡 Lighting

• UVB is not required.
• Use 10-14 hours of diffuse light with shaded bark and litter.
• Keep away from direct sun; warm fast-breeding colonies overheat and dehydrate quickly.

🌡️ Temperature

• Local warm point: 24-27 °C

• Warm zone: 20-27 °C

• Cool zone: 18-22 °C

• Night: 18-23 °C

• Warmth accelerates breeding, but prolonged temperatures above 29-30 °C sharply reduce the safety margin.

• Warm one outer wall with a thermostat and keep a cooler refuge.

💧 Humidity & water

• Use roughly 60-80% RH with a connected damp zone occupying one-third to one-half of the floor.
• Keep the other end less wet and ventilated; this species tolerates some dryness better than flooded soil.
• No water dish. Pour water into the damp end; constant wall climbing, condensation, or sour litter indicates saturation.

🥬 Diet

Feed freely:

• Decayed hardwood leaves
• White-rotted hardwood

In moderation:

• Small plant-food portions every 1-3 days, adjusted to colony size
• Dried shrimp, gammarus, or fish food once or twice weekly

Avoid:

• Fresh manure, pesticide-treated material, seasoned food, or mouldy remains
• Large wet portions and protein excess that feed mites

Supplements:

• Cuttlebone, limestone, or calcium carbonate continuously
• Use several feeding and calcium points in dense colonies

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Sudden crash after rapid growth → crowding and depleted edible substrate
• Missing mancae or failed moults → disconnected or undersized damp zone
• Mites and fungus → surplus protein, wet vegetables, or weak airflow
• Escapees → lid rim, mesh, or service routine is inadequate
• Colour-line drift or mixed identity → lines combined; the species-complex caution ignored

Contain escapees immediately, isolate unexplained mortality, and consult an invertebrate-experienced exotic veterinarian or diagnostic laboratory when losses persist.