All right.
Hello and welcome to Invertecas.
I am Leah from Torrentia Leah.
As always, I have Simon from Lomantis Garden.
Hello, Simon.
Hello.
How's it going?
Oh, it's good.
I actually have kind of a little like cold,
hot kind of thing going on.
So if my voice sounds kind of wonky, that's why.
But thankfully I have a voice.
So I was struggling to say, hey, then just like five minutes before you started, I was
turning off because I couldn't hear you.
So the volume got so.
Oh, geez.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm not sure if you guys have heard it, but yeah, no, it's, you know, the, the, the
ick is going around here in the, in the States.
I don't know about over there, but I'm sure you guys have your ick.
Oh yeah.
You know, I hate it when that happens, but.
I'd wait until my wife to lose her voice again.
She watching, she knows you say that.
No, luckily she's got, she's got out.
She normally makes a cup of tea when we start and brings it up, you see, slide it in the
side here.
Oh.
I can say that I'm safe at the moment.
For now, right?
Yeah.
So it's over and then I'm in trouble.
All right.
So this week we are talking about a really cool topic that last time we talked about
it, don't think we really gave it a lot.
We didn't really get into the scientific side of everything, but it is the best podcast
topic for this podcast.
And that would be isopod or the order of isopoda.
And of course I have, I have a couple of my personal like colonies of isopods with me.
So I will show you guys that here.
Let me get them configured and you know, but this.
I didn't bother tracking any, I got like 70 species here and I didn't bother tracking
any down because I thought, let me have to see them.
They are very small, obviously.
I mean, at least at least these species are small and we're going to get into that.
We're going to get into the species of isopods and kind of what they are, what they look
like, all of that funness.
Let's say I'm going to turn this kind of walkie.
Sorry about that.
But here, these guys like to hang out underneath all this sphagnum else I have.
I don't know if y'all can see, but they are right there.
So these are, these are the dairy cow species, which I believe are.
I have a red duck.
Yeah, they're an armadilidium.
No, that's not enough, right?
That's not even a big scanty cow.
Oh, see, and I don't know.
I feel bad that I don't know all the scientific names.
I feel a little bit of a pain in the ass.
I can't really hear it now.
Now you're punched out.
We shouldn't talk about frogs, actually.
Well, I actually used to have a job that my froggy voice when I got sick was a good thing.
But we won't mention that.
But yeah, here we go.
So I think it's kind of a good view of these little guys.
They like to hide mostly.
So I will talk about that.
So let's talk about these guys.
I took lots of notes about them, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any folklore or mythology
about them, which is kind of odd.
Because most things do have some kind of folklore.
But no, I didn't find any of that.
But I did find plenty of wonderful scientific information about these guys.
So isopods, like I said, are from the order Isopoda.
And there is estimated to be about 10,000 species of known isopods.
They're one of the most morphologically diverse of all the crustacean groups.
So these guys aren't necessarily insects.
They're actually crustaceans.
And they range in all sorts of sizes from micrometers to about a half meter in length.
They live pretty much everywhere on Earth.
I don't know if we've actually found any on Antarctica, but I wouldn't be surprised because
these guys are just that adaptable.
But they definitely also live in the deep sea.
So another really cool, interesting thing about these guys.
But it also kind of makes sense because they're crustaceans.
And we can definitely do an episode about crustaceans and exactly what that means.
But they're actually essentially related to lobsters and crabs and those kinds of critters.
So fascinating stuff.
Let's see.
So I found a lot about their anatomy.
And I'm trying to find a little guy here that I can get out of this colony to show them
and get to the mansion.
Yes.
Because there's so there's so.
Yeah, hopefully, right?
No, they're all different amounts of lungs.
They're not actually lungs.
They don't actually have lungs.
They have what are called.
Yeah, exactly.
And Pseudotrachea.
So being that they are so small, I don't think I'm going to be able to show you exactly
what that looks like.
But I got the largest terrestrial ice core here.
Oh, cool.
So I might get a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little
bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit
of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of...
Yeah, that would be really, really cool.
It's weird to try.
I wouldn't even know what to look like for the.
just from the arms look.
Like it looks like if you've got four, it looks like white shephoons are, they're rear end,
shall I say?
Okay, okay.
Good to know.
on moss, damp moss, and they'll put the back on there. They're actually breathing.
Oh, wow.
That's amazing because the ones that live in the oceans, in the oceans, they actually do
also breathe, but it's like a gas exchange, and they use their pleopods for that. So they have a
specific organ that allows them to do a gas exchange while they're underwater.
But same with the land dwelling guides, they actually can do the same thing. So
even if they do find their way into some place that's really, really wet or just full of water,
they can still do a gas exchange and be just fine, which is really fascinating.
I think, dude, isopods are pretty amazing. I love them, and I'm going to show you guys my
favorite species that I have in my personal collection here, which is the hubarus species
panda king. These guys are really, really cute, and I think that's probably what draws people
to isopods to begin with lately, maybe, is that they are just so cute. But they're also really
interesting creatures. Let's see if I can get... There we go. Maybe a decent... Oh, okay, that works.
Me and my crazy angles. But anyhow, these guys are the panda kings, and they're really, really cool
because they look like little tiny pandas if pandas were bugs. So let's see, let me see if I can
grab one. These guys are also... They can roll into little balls, just like this little guy has,
but... And then they open right back up, and he's added again. Yeah, but you can see the coloration
on him. No, no, conglopation. That means if the conglopate is rolling up into a bowl.
Yeah, globalization is... I've found the term to be globalization, but I think the...
Yeah, it's conglopate. Yeah.
That's awesome. So yeah, so these are... This is what the little panda king guys look like, and
I really like them. They are just... They're really cool, and as you can see, they can
stick to you, like Ian, turn them upside down. So yeah, really cool part of these, but I think
I dropped it. That's okay. Hopefully you guys can kind of see my little colony here. There's quite
a few. They're all in here. But okay, so what makes an isopod an isopod? You might be asking.
You might be asking. So all isopods have two pairs of antennae, compound eyes, and four sets of jaws.
So if we were to essentially look at their little faces really, really, really close up,
they're actually a lot scarier looking than what we think, because we just see these cute little
pill bugs, and we think, oh, they're adorable, but microscopically, they are terrifying. So there's
that. I mean, four pairs of jaws, that's just... It sounds amazing. Their body is called the perion,
and it consists of seven segments, and a short abdominal section with six segments called pleons,
and each pleon has a set of biramus limbs, or basically bipedal limbs, called pleopods,
and they use those for swimming and breathing and moving around, essentially. Half of the
known species of isopods actually live in the ocean. So of all the species of isopods that we have
here on land, like these little guys that we could breed and have, the only half of these
creatures live on land, essentially. And of course, it's the oceans. We've only explored 5%,
which means that there's probably a ton more species of isopods that we just don't even...
We haven't even discovered or learned about yet. We've only identified this just around 500
in freshwater as well. Oh, see, and that's why I keep you around, Simon. Just kidding.
There's approximately 400,000 in the sea marine and 500 freshwater, and just over 5,000 identified
terrestrial ones. The big thing is the identified part of this, because they've discovered more than
that. But they have officially written it down in a book to say that's what we're going to call it.
So that's the other thing, the ones you've got there. Now, pandakins. Pandakins is not the proper
name. No, they're not described. It's because there isn't a proper name. It's just tubaris,
something's going to be done in the future. So let's call them the things. And that's...
I find this an interesting thing, because I find it becoming a bit of a problem because of the hobby.
People are starting to love isopods, and we haven't even got a name yet for them.
People are getting used to this habit going of calling things by a common name.
If you do get a proper name, it's going to be a real struggle to remember what it is.
It's going to be like, oh, looks like a game. Sorry, carry on. No, no, you're fine.
Simon, you know I love your input. I appreciate it so much.
I know I can do things normally.
They're wonderful, but I totally agree with you. I think that happened with tarantulas as well.
And that's also kind of what caused that big old confusion with the kilobrochies that in the
quorum, which formerly was known as the kilobrochies species electric blue. And it finally was described.
And all these people were like, oh, it's a newly discovered. And it's like, no,
they finally wrote it down. They finally just studied it. It's been discovered since like the late 1800s.
There's a lot of animals and books to get around to, I suppose, but they're not very quick at doing it,
are they? You've got to be fair there. They're a bit on the slow side, pulling the finger out and saying,
yeah, let's do 10 this week. Let's do one over four years. That's more of the view on it.
I know they have to dice it. Absolutely everything.
I think it's because there's just not enough entomologists or arachnologists or something.
I don't know what the problem is. It's money. It's money.
Like the three search themselves needs funding. Back in the day when people were finding things and
maybe things willy nilly, it was normally, if you look back at the people like Darwin and
and and Linnaeus, they're all family money. And they paid for it. They paid for everything.
They paid for the travel, the paper collecting, the time, the paper, the research.
Whereas now, everything's done in universities. We only trust people if you've got a PhD.
So if you can't write a paper, nobody's going to pay attention to you.
I think that's extremely wrong because I've read so many papers and they've been wrong.
Yeah. Well, it's so elitist kind of like, you know, because here the
It's stupidity. When you're collecting things, under a microscope, turn off, carry on. You do that.
But the other stuff, pretty much anybody with a magnifying glass can identify something.
You know, I can't fix. It's just really irritating when they
stamp on the feet and say, no, you've not been to university.
I've got the green entomology or my ecology or whatever it is.
And that's it. You can't do it. That's so unfair.
Right. No, I definitely agree. I mean, I think it was a little easier for Darwin
because there wasn't such things that like it wasn't wasn't really known.
You know what I mean? Like the whole university, they had universities,
but universities weren't the same as they are now. And now that like
that whole spectrum of things has changed. Uh oh, here comes my menace. Sorry. But that whole
spectrum of like the universities and titles and doctrines and all of that like has changed so much
that, you know, a peer reviewed paper literally means that it came like you said from those
universities that, you know, that's how you get that recognition, which I also agree that that's
not super fair to folks like us who, you know, we really do care about the inverts, but we,
I don't know about you, but I can't afford a university degree anymore.
I could once, I can't no more. I think that's a little bit for this reason.
And then I thought, I'm just too old. You know, I mean, I just enjoy them. I'll do my own research.
Yeah. Yeah. Fortunately for me to become an arachnologist actually doesn't require a degree
from a university. I mean, it helps to have like a biology degree or like an entomology or whatever.
But essentially, because I looked it up essentially to be an arachnologist, you just need to know
your stuff and have some experience with arachnids. So yeah, just that experience and having a good,
a good vast of knowledge, reading lots and lots of arachnid books. And that's kind of where that
goes. So technically, if I really wanted to, I could call myself an arachnologist. But I don't,
because, you know, I'm still learning, like I'm always learning. So. So if that makes you feel
better, exactly. They don't know everything. No, no one knows anything for sure. I agree.
I'm going to say one thing. Some of the dumbest people I've ever met in my life have been teachers
and students and university lecturers. Some of the dumbest people ever. So there's always hope
for everybody else. Something to be said about book smarts, book smarts versus, you know, common
sense smarts or street smarts, you know, I think I'm one of those very lucky, lucky people that I
am talented at both. So I don't know. Don't hate, don't hate the player, hate the game. Okay.
So isopods are interesting. They actually play a really important role in soil and keeping the
soil and like the dirt and the ground basically fertile. And same with the oceans. They also
play a role in the oceans is to keeping the water and the ground under water and stuff
that are basically clean of like fungus and like rotting carcasses and debris and that kind of
thing. Because that's what they eat. They eat algae, plant, and animal fungal material on land,
which is known as taxon. So that's, or no, that's what they do. And then they are also
prey items for like larger inverts like spiders, centipedes, you know, stuff like that.
Furs, I believe. Yeah, well, I mean, they're not the best source of nutrition for any of them.
But they do play a little bit of nutritional like value for some animals.
And then the marine isopods, algae, diatoms, live vegetation, wood and dead animal flesh.
So that's pretty, pretty fascinating. So they're basically a lot of people in like the tarantula
hobby or I know some people in the reptile hobby will use isopods and springtails together
as what they call a cleanup crew. But I gotta say that if you're only using isopods and springtails
and you're not bringing in the other cleanup crews like done beetles or millipedes, you know,
like earthworms and stuff, then you're really doing a disservice to your bioactive because
that's not, you're only going to get like half of the picture, if you will.
Interesting stuff. But we look, that's a whole nother topic. That's a whole nother thing.
And I actually believe that there's a whole nother podcast that talks all about bioactive.
If it wasn't for isopods, I think we'd all have a lot more disease around.
Oh, absolutely.
We've been so here in death leaves. So yeah, always like the isopods.
Yeah, I guess.
Yeah, you look at you look at awesome. The leaves all come down in the forest.
And when it gets to spring, they've all vanished. And all you see is little skeletons, not
sight of both evening and millipedes. So, you know, they just pile up on each of the rocks
and save the dead carcasses and the other things that he eats because he eats poop as well. So
yeah, you have a lot of that hanging around.
They do. Yeah. No, it's a I'm actually, yeah, it's a grateful thing for sure to that they exist.
And that's that's what they do.
Really important species to the ecosystem.
Have you read for a while?
Yes, absolutely. Okay, so another cool thing about isopods is that they have a lot of nicknames.
So those of us in the hobby, like the M love inverts and stuff, we know them as isopods.
But in all actuality, they have all sorts of names like here in the States, they're called pill bugs or
the Roly-Polys, Woodlows, all sorts of, you know, stow bugs, stuff like that.
And I know that in the UK, there are a few really, really interesting nicknames. Would you
care to enlighten us on some of those?
We've got in England alone, this is without Scotland, Ireland, Wales, we've got over 300 names for isopods
in different localities. I grew up calling them Woodlice.
Woodlice, yeah.
Which is standard because that's exactly what they are.
Yeah.
I've only said that's a Woodlice, so yeah, this is a Woodlice forever.
But if you come down the road, they're cheeky wigs.
And it's like, I can come up with that.
It's a cheeky wig.
Cheeky wig, yeah.
Yeah.
A bumble bobby.
Oh, there's so many of them.
Now you put me on the spot, I think, then I get that really heard the term pill bug.
And I start kicking them.
Because as a kid, we never called them pill bugs.
All sound bugs.
It was just all Woodlice.
Yeah.
I think for me, when I was a kid growing up, we only called them Roly Polys.
So again, that term pill bug, I learned that later, doing research and stuff,
being a part of a hobby, a lot of people do call them pill bugs.
I was like, were you talking about pill bugs?
Like, what is that?
And come to find out, I'm calling them Roly Polys.
Because that's what they are.
You get some weird question.
I mean, I died here, obviously, because I sound a little weird.
What kind of cheeky wigs have you got, for instance?
You're like, what?
Cheeky wigs.
And all 300, you know what I'm saying, there's still a lot out there that I have no idea what they are.
And it's just these silly little localised nicknames.
North America has about five or six different names in that alone.
You know, and they're all dotted around the country and all these different weird,
strange and wonderful names.
I've actually done a video on it, I support a while back, and I listed about 20 or 30 of them,
from the bubble screen that I thought was most interesting.
But as I never used them day to day, and I've only read them once, I can't really answer you.
There was a paper on it, actually.
We've listed that.
Because we have that many nicknames from them.
They found it so interesting, it was worth visiting the entire UK, writing down what people called icepots.
That's so fascinating.
Like, I love that there's just so many nicknames for one little thing.
And, you know, it just goes to show that they are, like I said, they're incredibly diverse.
They're adaptive.
They live everywhere on earth, like there's not a place you can go that you won't find a pill bug.
And they're, or a roly-poly or an isopod, you know.
Do you know what isopod means?
Say what?
Do you know what isopod means?
No, I don't, actually.
I saw it as equal.
Equal?
Equal.
So, holder, feet, so equal, footed.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
So that's the meaning.
Say, icepots, equal footed.
So you've got the two Greek areas, not lacking for a change.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
So, yeah, that's exactly what it means.
Let's start with a QI thing.
So it is, yeah, equal feet.
That's what it means.
Wonderful.
Oh, thanks, Simon.
I appreciate that.
Because I was wondering too.
I was like, why can't I find the root language of isopod or isopoda?
But it's sure enough.
This is what I may have to do.
Podcast on Latin and Greek.
Yes, we do.
You're going to love that one, though.
Oh, I mean, yeah.
Like the language behind invertebrates is fascinating all on its own.
So I definitely agree, I think an episode is due for that.
Yeah.
I mean, a lot of them you can split them all.
I'm just going to go, I can't see anyone.
I've got two lights here.
I can't see anyone.
Just see boxes with labels.
I can't see the labels anyway.
But yeah.
I'll put it on the top of my head.
I mean, there's like loads of like Amethylaidium maculatum,
for instance, which is what everybody calls that, a separate.
The zebra.
Yeah, the zebra isopod.
Yeah.
That's another one that annoys me because everybody calls it a zebra.
Even I do.
I found myself doing that.
I told so many customers of Wodman.
I found it's impractical, I would say, maculatum.
Yeah, because they won't know.
Because they know I didn't want them talking about it.
Yeah.
I put it on the label when I send it.
So we actually do have the proper name.
But nobody seems to know half of them.
And yeah, it's really, I think I suppose,
are really one of the easiest to learn.
Absolutely.
It's not got self-explanatory names, and it's really easy to learn.
That's what you're saying, and easy to learn.
Unlike the other companies and sliders and stuff, like Tongue Twisters,
with these guys, somebody who is in charge of naming them all is doing a good job.
Keep it on simple.
I can just read them and go, yeah, that's such a thing.
I can work it out as well because we're doing the Latin and Greek sort of thing.
I can split it up, and I know what it actually means.
So I just see a name.
It was put in New Zealand actually with maculatum because maculatum means too spotted.
Which is a bit off because it's right there, but there you go.
Bye.
Well, is that a question?
No, it's Bud Corner UK.
Jason wants to say hello, Simon.
Oh, hello, Jay.
I can't see the chat, mate, so I don't say hello.
I can definitely see the chat because Lily was also saying that you can't see the screen.
So I think there was a little bit of controversy there.
So I decided, okay, well, I can highlight that.
No worries.
I can't see anyone.
I don't know what he says.
If anybody's got any questions about Ice Pogs, then now it's the time to talk them in.
And if you're on the spot, why not?
Oh, and look, it's your old folks who are coming to YouTube and subscribe so we get some more people on YouTube.
Yes, absolutely.
You know, the YouTube, I don't know.
I think a lot of people really enjoy listening to the podcast once it's all produced and edited.
Because I do kind of go through and edit and break down the stuff.
And sometimes we have little moments of like just silence or dead space.
So I cut that out.
So I make it a little more like commercial.
I don't talk enough.
Yes, you talk.
Well, you know what?
Honestly, we both could talk more.
I mean, if you just said like, here's the touch paper, I could just walk along about all of that.
I mean, you never ever stop and you never ever go.
Oh, I know.
I know.
I'm the same way.
Um, I did actually find some really cool, like interesting thing about Isopods, a specific species
known as the Blasthenomus.
And then the specific one is the Blasthenomus gigantius, which is a huge
isopod that, yes, it gets like 14 inches.
So that's a foot plus some.
And it lives in the, this one specifically lives in the Caribbean Sea.
And it, they, scientists obviously think that the gigantism of certain species, like once they
live in that deep sea, it's an adaptation to the extreme pressures of the deep, deep ocean, essentially.
So I mean, once, dude, it, I mean, there was a huge controversy last year about the submarine
that went down to go check out Titanic.
Uh, and the Titanic, uh, basically crash site, like where it eventually ended up under underwater.
And so at that depth, which it was, I believe it was like a mile and a half down,
the one, even that deep, like the Mariana trench is close to six or seven miles.
It's six miles, right?
It's like six miles deep down.
So, and I forget exactly the, the feet or like the kilometers, but it's a lot.
It's like 13,000 somads.
Oh no, it's, it's a lot more than that.
It's, it's crazy amount of feet.
But in any case, once you get like a mile down, okay, we're talking 5280.
That's 5280 feet, you know, that's one mile down.
That's where the pressure really starts to kind of get intense.
Um, we can still manage to get a little deeper, but if you go much deeper than that,
that pressure is just too much.
And so that's the interesting thing about the Mariana trench as well is that,
no human has been in a manned, like submarine that has been able to go all the way to the bottom.
It's been an unmanned submarine.
So they've been able to send little like robotic machines down.
And I'm not sure if it got all the way down, but they've been able to send them down.
But if it, if there was a human being in that little machine, it wouldn't,
it wouldn't make it like if there's just no way, if the pressure is that intense.
So, scientifically speaking, that's why the Blathenomus gigantius is as big as it is.
14 inches of isopod, because that's that adaptation to be able to withstand that pressure.
350 milliliters.
Wait, what?
350 milliliters by everybody else.
14 inch.
There it is.
Yeah, yeah.
There you go.
So, I only said that because she said a lot of people are listening in Indonesia.
So if you'd have gone 14 inch, you'll have to get the little thumbs out and start finding out what
an earth site.
So, I know I have to.
350 milliliters or 35 centimeters yet, 14 inch.
Yes.
Thank you for that.
Thank you so much, Simon.
See, this is why I love our podcast so much is because you give us the kilometers and the meters
and I bring the US stuff and that's, that's perfect.
We bring it all.
We've got it all.
We've got it all guys.
Don't cover.
I also wanted to talk about the fact that a lot of the marine species of isopods are parasitic.
And so there's a few species of fish that, you know, they will essentially attach underneath the gills
to the fish.
So the isopod will attach to the fish underneath the fish's gills.
And yeah, exactly.
And then so they're, they're parasitic and I also had to kind of dig for the information as to the oldest fossil
ever recorded of an isopod.
I'm 300 million years old, but there is one that actually lives on a fish's tongue as well,
which is disgusting.
It looks itself on some tongs, stays up for life.
That's free food though.
I mean, come on, it's smart.
It's smart.
I think that's why it does that.
Yeah, that's what it does.
It's all about food.
It's all about food and survival.
Yeah, absolutely.
Food and sex.
Basically everything and every rich of food and sex.
They're the only two that do what they do.
Yeah, for sure.
Oh, the bug world says, hello, Billy is here.
Well, hello, Billy.
Welcome to Inverticast.
Hello, whoever that was.
I'm speaking to Hera.
I might bright light now because the sun, the sun has just decided to come right up.
And then all of a sudden I can't see a thing.
I just put lights on and now that's his name.
And the sun is just beaming through this window in his face now.
Oh goodness.
Okay, so the oldest recorded fossil is 168 million years old.
And it's actually of the parasitic form of isopods.
So we can deduct from that bit of information that the parasitic form of isopods was the first,
probably the first evolution of them.
And then the ones that we get on land and stuff are kind of the secondary.
They came later.
Some physical ones on land though.
I mean, the marine ones are interesting, but I get a bit bored of them.
They're all a bit samey.
And I think it's because you can't have them in a box.
You know, and see them and grow them and breathe them and all the rest of them.
They're a bit, you know, sorry.
But yeah, right.
The two restful ones are fantastic.
I mean, because they're an excellent star three.
If you just want to get into books, for instance, I suppose brilliant for that.
They're fantastic.
Yeah.
There's a price range, isn't there?
There's a price range like next to nothing.
A few pounds or a few dollars for some species right up to
like ridiculous amounts to some absolutely ridiculous amounts of extensive isopods.
Yeah.
Well, that's a great thing.
You want to see, oh, I wonder if I can look after this book.
Well, that's a perfect.
Even get them at your garden.
I don't advise that because they're not to keep the ones you buy because if you do a certain environment and you take them out of their primitive world.
Yeah.
So it's, it's by the results going to be a lot of money.
So I suggest you buy them of some of these reading them.
Yeah.
Actually go to reputable readers.
Absolutely.
For instance, come and buy them for me.
All of them.
Yes.
I'm all.
All right.
No, just by yourself.
The breeder who's got some, is that it's helpful for little box.
Ask a lot of questions.
Ask a lot of people who's into the hobby.
Ask them the questions.
Ask the person you buy them off the questions.
Do do a little bit of research.
Right.
Because you don't want a reputable reader.
They're going to be able to answer your questions without any kind of hesitation.
You know what I mean?
And that brings us to.
Sorry, I'm over talking.
Oh, no, you're all right.
I don't know when you're starting to talk.
You see, I normally shut up when I can be starting to talk.
But I can have the ears then.
If the best person to ask is the person you buy them off.
And the best way to ask them is ask them how they keep theirs.
Because if they have got enough to sell, that means they're doing it right.
Right.
Rather than ask somebody or look at YouTube or another hobbyist.
Ask the person who's selling it.
They have to do many rights because it's got enough to sell.
That is really great information and actually the best advice I think I've ever heard.
I'm sorry.
For people.
And that goes for tarantulas.
That can go for mantises.
Not just isopods.
I agree.
Like if they've got enough of them to sell, then they're doing some right.
They've got a few.
So, which also brings us to a really cool segue when you were talking about price points.
And like keeping isopods to my list of the five best isopods or best isopods to kind of start with.
Or to look for.
Or you know what I mean.
So if you're looking to get into isopods, these are the best.
You could start.
Because you've got no idea what I think I'm thinking here.
I've got my top five in my head.
Okay.
Well, we can.
I would.
I'll let you do your best.
Do your best.
Okay.
I'll just say yes.
If it's on my list somewhere in my top five.
Sounds so the first.
So I'm going to go from one to five.
The first few are going to be like the easier species to keep.
And then the last couple are going to be the more challenging.
And so yeah, we'll see a few.
Yeah.
This is a good idea.
Okay.
So my number one, like easiest species to keep best beginner species overall is it was kind
of a mix between the armadilladum, maculodum, and the the dairy cow.
So both of those two.
So the zebras and the dairy cows.
I felt like those were the two that are like the best absolute best beginners because they're
super active. They're cute.
They're like black and white, you know, they will they will breed quickly.
So you'll get you'll have a colony that's large within two months or so.
Which again is another really nice benefit of these guys.
So what do you think Simon?
Is that a yes?
That's a yes.
Especially the dairy cows.
Yes.
Well, I'll come back to that.
I'm not going to be my number two, but.
Okay.
You squeeze two into one.
So yeah, come on.
All right.
So number two, my number two is the lava isopod or the Porta Porta shellio scaper.
These guys are a model black and a dark orange color.
Again, they're pretty active.
They don't they don't need a ton, but they do have a slightly different body shape than
the dairy cows and the zebras.
Um, they're very pretty to look at and they don't again, they don't take a whole lot of time
to produce that colony.
So what is it about two, two to three months and you should have a very active colony
so long as you're doing the right things.
Yeah.
Is that is that a yes?
That's the yes.
Any Porta de Ostaiba, any of the maps really.
Awesome.
It's funny if you've got ghosts, you've got new cows, which is probably one you've not
heard of at all.
I think the same as the dairy cow, but it's a different way to spell that they're quite easy.
Okay.
Yeah, ghosts.
I don't know what you think here because I can't remember them all.
But yeah, any Pacellova is another excellent starter because they're really easy.
They do like protein more than the pallidium species.
So it's going to keep them.
Your get cricket is a road show.
Yeah.
So anything else that makes the day.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Okay.
So my number three.
Now these guys are a little more challenging for most people.
But they weren't quite as challenging for me as I thought they were going to be.
So that's why I put them at number three.
This would be the Cubaris species, Panda Kings.
These guys are stooped like I showed you them earlier in the podcast.
They are super cute.
They're colored like a panda.
So they have their front end is that black and then they've got the middle portion that's white.
And then the end portion of their bodies is black.
So they definitely look like little pandas.
They do take some time to breed.
So if you get like a culture of about 10 or so of them, it's going to take at least three to four months or so before you start to see a lot of them coming around.
So you do have to be a little patient with them.
But they are super active.
They're really, really cool.
And they roll into the little balls.
And that's how they got that cute nickname.
They roll with hollies.
My dog's not going to step over.
Sorry about that.
But yeah, so the Panda Kings, they will roll into that little famous rolly-poly ball as that defense mechanism.
And yeah, so that's my number three.
How's that?
Is that a yes or a no, Simon?
That's yes.
I think the other thing is, very easy to do.
The light and safety are slow.
I think that's a good thing.
They are slow.
I find that Panda Kings, it's my experience.
I like it a little drier than most species.
And they do like a lot of calcium and provide light and stowling if you can.
They're not too fussed about protein as much as stables and vagus.
But they're really cheap from now and again.
But yeah, that's really good advice.
The top five's coming along really well.
Wonderful. Thank you for that.
I appreciate it.
Okay, so my number four would be the Cubaris species rubber duckies.
These guys, they're super famous in the hobby right now.
Everybody wants the rubber duckies because they're so cute.
They literally look like little tiny rubber duckies.
They have kind of that black body and then their little face and their tail is that orange.
Or like yellow color.
So yeah, super cute.
They're not as easy to breathe.
They do take a while.
And so that's going to affect their price point.
I know here in the States, that's what affects the price point.
It's how long they take to breathe.
So these guys are definitely going to need close to four to five months before you're going to have a really healthy, stable colony.
Yeah, so how does that one?
I think they're easy.
But I wouldn't advise them simply because of the price.
Right, that price.
And that's why I put them.
I think they're actually more expensive than that.
I don't keep any of the really expensive ones because it's just quite much.
There's just a waste of space for me.
I want to be selling it.
I don't want to be on the shelf for three months.
Yeah, yeah.
They laugh a bit and then that starts again.
And the States, that's part of the fun of them is that they're so rare.
So when you do see them, you've got to snatch them up because again, they do take quite a long time to breathe and to basically colonize.
And so, yeah, here in the States, it's like $150 for a culture of 10.
Yeah.
So I was going to ask you that if they were just as expensive as the UK as they are here.
I think they're a little cheaper here.
Okay.
But you have lots of other options.
So that one to know.
There's lots of little groups you can join and get into and meet other obvious that have managed to grow a colony and they want to sell some.
They normally sell them a lot cheaper.
But typically is about our price actually.
So, you know, that's that's that's worth it.
But if you if you're sat out the last box, it's your first one.
I wouldn't advise it because if you fail, it's an expensive fail.
It is.
So, you know, whereas you're spending three pounds or $5 whatever among dairy cows, your first one.
And if they all died, you've made a mistake.
It's not. I mean, it's not there's but it's not costing you.
So, I'm going to disagree with your map.
I would avoid them but solely because of the price. They are easy.
Okay, no worries.
So, okay, so my last the last species that I have on my list or the number five, which I probably should have switched the rubber ducky and these guys because they're not quite as hard.
But these would be the armadilla dym.
All.
All Garry also known as the Japanese magic potion isopods.
These guys are so cool. They are my favorite.
Because they they're kind of this white cream color, but then they have little neon spots like neon yellow and green and black in there.
So they look really pretty.
But they do take at least five to six months to breed.
So again, another one of those slow colonizing species.
But they're they're really pretty.
And they also are like the zebras and they will roll up into the little bowl and a little really fully balls.
And they will get to unroll and be like, oh, hello. Okay.
They're they're super. I love the Japanese magic potion, but they are a challenging species.
Just for the fact they take a long time to to breed, essentially.
But I would say the forecast forecast.
Easy species to keep. But what people don't understand when they see vulgar because we don't because we're too far north believe it or not.
I got vulgar in my garden.
Oh, no.
60 miles south of me. That's when the vulgar start.
People.
But then there was and what you're talking about magic potions.
Different requirements.
You can't keep them all the same. This is this is something I keep track of drumming people with icepods.
People keep them all the same.
Keep it like icepods, but the millipedes, etc.
And that seems to be a misconception that people have that you just keep them all the same.
Right.
They don't all like the same foods.
Potions, a little high humidity, a little warm temperatures, then same live vulgar.
I would love to say in my garden, but not in my garden.
And then you've got birthday colours. I've got St Lucia.
So, you know, they're like a little warm as well.
I've had five different vulgar on my shelf.
But I can't see them and can't remember the name.
But yeah, there's loads of different versicult.
They are very, very easy to keep.
But make sure you find out where they come from.
And again, that's the person who's solving to you.
How they keep them.
Absolutely.
That's the best way you can do it is by copying their successful method.
So, the breeder that I went to, which we interviewed them actually a while ago,
rubber duckie, rubber duckie isopods, that's their company name.
They are absolutely wonderful people.
And I get all of my isopods from them.
They're really good people.
And the best is you, Simon.
Some species are going to like it a little more humid.
Some species are going to like higher temperatures.
Some are more protein.
They need more protein in their diet.
Whereas others are going to need more calcium.
So definitely, you know, do a little bit of that research as always with any invert that you're planning on getting.
You've got to do that due diligence.
are absolutely an amazing way to get, you know, if it's your first time in the
Invert Hobby and stuff, these guys are a really great place to start,
just because they are pretty easy. Like they're not super challenging.
Typically if you have, you know, like a bin with with your soil and your
substrate, you know, you put some sphagnum moss, maybe some dead leaf litter, a
couple of like driftwood pieces that maybe you've sterilized or whatever.
Keep one side more moist than another, so like one side is always dry and then
one side is moist. So and of course depending on the species that
depend on your moisture, but typically that is all you need for a successful
colony. You check on them once a week, make sure there's enough moisture, give them
the food that they need and then, you know, leave them alone for another seven
days and in no time you'll have a really great, great functioning colony.
But that's about the end of the podcast. We're at the point where we do our
shameless plug. So Simon, what you got? What you got going on this week?
Well, I haven't really done much on the channel for a while.
Oh, neither.
Now and again, I'll pop up and do something.
But mostly streams because it's the start of the year and it's the start of
breeding everything for me and things hatching and etc. So I had time to even
watch half of the videos I normally watch and most of my time feeding.
So like I said, we went to a show last weekend, weekend before, something like
that. We did that. So again, couldn't get around to doing videos.
But yeah, shops open now. Still not put all the descriptions on my website, so I
have not made it live yet. But I will be getting outside. I haven't even done
that and that makes money. So you can imagine like my e-donut to do videos on
YouTube is back there and the websites will be there. So I, you know, that's
really what I should be doing. I'm going to be working on the website next
week. And yeah, yeah, that's about it really. Okay. Ask me on Facebook,
Instagram, Discord. If you want to buy something, that's where I'll be. Yeah.
You open ask. Awesome. Okay. Though that's fantastic. I love it. I'm glad that, you know,
it's a new season. Glad that your neck isn't too bad today. Super happy to see
you as always. I'm very pleased about today. It was a such a great week. I could have
gone for about another hour. I mean, I missed doing it. I missed doing it because
obviously we had the Christmas break and nearly a break. It was both rough. So
that was both rough last weekend. So yeah, it's been nice to be back finally.
It just feels like life up and picked up and started just moving really fast for
some reason out of nowhere. Like, hang on, it's only February. Like what's going on?
Okay. So, so for my shameless plug, just like you, I've kind of neglected my
personal channel, Torech, Leah, but that's not to say that I don't have videos
that are like just needing a little tweak and peek here and there and I'll be
dropping those soon. Hopefully I'm so done giving absolute dates because I
can't keep up. I'm a lot like you. It's not my neck. It's actually my back. So I
have some back issues and, you know, good days, bad days. We push through.
But obviously, subscribe and like in Verticast. Come check us out. Check us out
on all the audio streaming platforms. Usually once this video posts, I put them
all down in the description so you can find where we are. And then also, we
have a Discord now. So we have a Discord server and we also have, of course, in
Verticast Facebook page. So if you've got burning questions, find us. We're pretty
available, like, all over the place. And then, what, so for next week, we've got a
an amazing guest. I don't want to spoil it too much. Simon over here scoffs, but I'm
actually really, really super impressed that this wonderful guest actually wants
to take the time out to talk with us because they are quite busy.
I don't think so. That's all right. I mean, she has a lot of spiders like I do. But her field of study is
entomology. And so she actually, she works. She's an entomologist. She's actually going for her PhD. So she is a doctor.
But she works with the Colorado State University. And she also works very
closely with the butterfly pavilion here. So not just spiders. I can promise you
that butterfly pavilion, they've got it all, man. They've got it all.
I think butterflies are most, probably my least experienced or read about or, you know,
support insects or in after post in general, I know more about tarantulas than I do for supplies and
for. Well, that's scary. You've got a great opportunity then. You get to pick her brain.
Yeah, that was some questions. I've got some questions. Good. I hope so. I know I will. But in any case,
though, yeah, we have that guest next week. I'm really looking forward to it. And yeah,
that's about all I got. So like I said, like and subscribe, tell your friends about us.
And we will see you guys next week. Same time, same place. Thank you, Simon. See you later.