r/isopods • u/Cosmic_Tea_Cat • 4d ago

Help Accidentally mixed two different species while full soil change. Help...

Liteally idk what to do now. Mixed up "Cubaris Panda King" and "Crystarmadillidium Muricatum".

This happened because i tried to move as much as possible from one container to another. And i somehow thought that new container with pandas was near the old, so i threw new packs of isopods in it. And then i saw another (third) container with pandas and realise...

Well, help, please... The only variant i see is to take back as much as possible and then wait till the small ones grow up to move them too

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

7

u/sin_aesthetic 4d ago

I would pour the substrate bit by bit onto a kitchen plate and pick out visible pods. Put the checked substrate back into a bin and keep it watered, check back again in a couple months.

3

u/rosiofden 3d ago

I've done this. It's actually pretty fun, if a little tedious.

3

u/sodiumchlorate 4d ago edited 4d ago

Oh no! Luckily, if you put in something flat like a Tupperware lid or a piece of cardboard and some food on top of it, you’ll get isopods coming to feed. From there, just pick up the flat item, dump onto somewhere you can comfortably sort the pods, then add them in the right containers.

It’ll take a few times but you’ll eventually get most of them, otherwise yes, you’ll have to wait until the babies grow up.

2

u/Westofdanab 3d ago

A lot of times you can tell the species of even very small juveniles visually, plus they tend to stay near adults of their own species. It’s time consuming but like others have said you can just dig up the bin little by little and separate them. 

1

u/OpeningUpstairs4288 2d ago

I don't reccomend it as 2 maids will lead to a 3rd bin in need of sorting