Tropical white woodlice grown in tank: refugium

I culture small white woodlice as a supplement to the diet of my small terrestrial newts. These are the so-called 'tropical' woodlice (Trichorhina tomentosa). They grow just fine in my basement, so I find the name 'tropical' a bit misleading.

For a full-scale culture, I use the method illustrated on Alan Cann's blog:
Woodlice
Basically just soil + cardboard + food flakes (I use fish food).

I noticed some of the woodlice hiding under the water dishes in my terrariums, so I started feeding them. The area under the water dish basically acts as a refugium: a place where the feeder animal can live and reproduce, with some of them occasionally wandering out and getting eaten. I've had some of these woodlice refugiums going for over a year.

A terrarium with two plastic water dishes. The woodlice grow under both of them. The newt, for anyone interested, is nominate Cynops ensicauda. The terrarium has a moisture gradient, with one side wet and one side dry. The woodlice survive on either side of the moisture gradient.



Lifting the dish...


Close-up of woodlice...



Putting a pinch of fish food under the dish.

Hey Jen
Thanks for the great thread and great idea.

Thanks for this.

Thanks for sharing that, Jen!

What temperatures do you have in your basement and the tanks?

My typical basement temperature is around 74F (22C) in summer and 60F (15C) in winter.

Thanks for sharing Jen. I have heard of success maintaining a small culture inside a setup but never seen it, great stuff.

Are those adults or are those all juvenile woodlice? They seem to be at a great size.

Mitch

Thanks Jen.

Have you find they go on growing and reproducing during winter?

Do you know at what temp does they dye?

The ones big enough to see in the photos are adult woodlice.

It's quite possible that they reproduce more slowly in winter, I have no way to keep track of this. They reproduce fairly slowly at any temperature. But I don't see any obvious decrease in their numbers in the tanks during the course of winter. I have no idea what the lower limit is for their temperature.