Cleaner insects

[Thorgecko707]

So I was online looking for bulk worms and found cleaner insects. Says you can have pill bugs in your terrarium and they will clean up at night. Anyone use these? Says it saves time on animals that you have to clean up after a lot.

 

[Wowoklol]

Hmm, and if your animal decides to eat them? First I'm hearing about this but Im relatively new to the reptile world(re-introduced). Definitely familiar with cleaner crews in aquaria. Indispensable for utility and keeping a happy ecosystem going.

 

[Thorgecko707]

Exoticpetshop.ca

 

[Alex G]

These are pretty widely used in tarantula vivaria to clean up poops and discarded feeders. They're pretty small and most animals won't eat them, but the trouble, I believe, is getting a good colony going.

 

[T-ReXx]

Detrivores are commonly used in natural vivaria as clean up crews. I utilize pill bugs as well as earth worms and springtails in my planted vivs for cleanup and it does cut down on maintenance. However, they can only be used in natural vivaria with a higher level of humidity and a layered substrate with a drainage layer. Deciduous and tropical planted vivs use detrivores quite efficiently, but arid setups cannot use them usually due to the fact that the substrate consistency is unsuitable for them and humidity levels required for the inverts is incompatible with those needed for arid land species.

 

[Thorgecko707]

We have one leopard gecko tank with an evergreen environment. Will they live in it?

 

[T-ReXx]

We have one leopard gecko tank with an evergreen environment. Will they live in it?

Depends, what substrate are you using? Live plants or no? Is their a drainage layer? I would be hesistant to use pill bugs with leopard geckos, simply because of their tendency to try to eat just about anything small that moves, and pill bugs are mildly toxic(they produce weak cyanide as a defense). I also am not sure the low humidity levels required by leopard geckos is compatible with the higher levels needed with destrivores. Depending on how many animals are in the tank they may not be all that effective anyways, leos produce quite a bit of waste and really require daily spot cleaning regardless of cleanup crews.

That being said, with a deeper substrate layer with a drainage layer and a "watering tube" in one corner humidity levels at the lower substrate level could potentially be maintained for a springtail colony, which are so small even a hatchling leopard gecko would ignore them.