[EsotericForest]

Since I've taken a real interest in the idea of having almost a self contained ecosystem, I have a new question. I really like the idea of having isopods in a vivarium to help with clean up, and as a possible food source, but obviously isopods need more moisture in order to survive. This pretty much rules them out for use in a leopard gecko vivarium, so I'm wondering if there is some other type of insect that would do the job ispods normally do, but can tolerate or even thrive in a dryer climate? It seems like you see a lot of talk and effort going into naturalistic tropical or temperate vivariums, but little attention is paid to desert.

[EsotericForest]

Actually this should probably be moved to the naturalistic vivarium section, if a moderator would like to do that .

[Allee Toler]

The only problem I see with that is if the isopod eats the feces, and the animal eats the isopod... You don't leave crickets in the tank for that reason along with stressing/nipping at the animal.

Good luck with it. Picking up a piece of poo in the corner every other day doesn't seem like very much work. I do it for 19 animals.

[EsotericForest]

Just so you know, I wouldn't be doing this to dodge cleaning up my tank. I just have an interest in naturalistic vivariums. If anything the more naturalistic it is, the more work it takes. Having a leo with a humid hide made out of an old butter container with a hole cut in the side of it, with a water bowl, and living on paper towels is much easier than what I'm doing.

[acpart]

I guess one thing to do would be to find out what kind of insect does the cleaning in an actual desert environment. Someone on the Coleonyx forum awhile ago was keeping Coleonyx with scorpions successfully (many people were skeptical). I don't know if you want to go that route.
It may be that in the desert, feces just dry out and turn to powder and nothing eats them, you'll have to find out.

Aliza

[Allee Toler]

Originally Posted by EsotericForest

Just so you know, I wouldn't be doing this to dodge cleaning up my tank. I just have an interest in naturalistic vivariums. If anything the more naturalistic it is, the more work it takes. Having a leo with a humid hide made out of an old butter container with a hole cut in the side of it, with a water bowl, and living on paper towels is much easier than what I'm doing.

I was stating it for the fact you said as a possible food source/clean up. A natural tank is possible. You can put in live plants no problem. I just wouldn't personally keep insects/isopods/anything feeder, in with them to eat their feces for clean up and have them also be a feeder.

[Riverside Reptiles]

I'll move this over to naturalistic vivariums for you. You'll get a lot more experienced replies there.

[Ingo]

In desert setups this is less easy and straightforward than in the more humid setups. Bus as long as you have some moderately humid shelters underneath rocks or sth similar, the following so far worked out well for me.
1) Zophoba beetles. These you have to hatch externally from superworms, since the nomal life cycle does not work well in a dry setup. But the beetles are hardy and long living even in such an environment. They do eat all kind of detritus including lizard poo.
2) Princisia vanwaerebeckii. These do a good job in larger tanks inhabited by herbivores, since they eat left over and displaced plant matter. They also do eat lizard poo but are not very effective in doing that. They multiply even in quite dry setups but do not overpopulate under such conditions.
3) Alphitobius diaperinus: They eat everything organic, but can easily become a pest themselves in such tanks. Especially since they rapidly find and destroy smooth shelled eggs.
4)Thermobia domestica have established populations in my desert tanks just by chance. They do neither help nor harm but are at least a hard to catch occasional snack for smaller lizards.

Hope that helps

Ingo

[EsotericForest]

First of all, thanks for moving the topic for me.

Yes Ingo that does help quite a bit. I think I'll start researching some of the species you mentioned a bit further. Are Zophoba beetles your top suggestion in this case? Or did it just happen to be the first one you listed?

[Mantisdragon91]

I would personally recomend the red runner roaches(latteralis). They are naturaly found in the Middle East, will not harm the lizards and can serve as an extra food source.