Some species breed very fast and can soon outgrow their enclosure or become too many.
There is no birth control and therefore most keepers will have this problem sooner or later.
Here are some ideas how to decimate them and things you should keep in mind about them.
1. Selling isopods
This is often a fist choice. There are still a few things to keep in mind.
- Special regulations for selling animals or specific kinds of animals in your country
- a lot of them are meant for mammals or exotic pets like chameleons but can technically still apply to isopods, too
- Reasonable pricing
- Safe and temperature appropriate shipping
- e.g. DHL does not allow sending live animals with them – a lot of people still do it with invertebrates and nobody cares or notices but it is important to know things like that
- in winter, heat pads are a must
- ship on Mondays or Tuesdays to avoid them sitting in warehouses over night
- The regulations of the platform you sell them on
- Some platforms do not allow offering to ship animals
- Please disclose things like wood mites and springtails cohabitating
2. Giving them away
To other enthusiasts, museums, pet stores, …
- In some countries it can be illegal to gift animals for free
- easily solved by setting a low symbolic price
- On some platforms it is forbidden to offer animals for free
- again, symbolic price
- Pet stores or museums may not take them as clean up crews or food because they can not risk them bringing mites into the enclosures of sensitive reptiles
- Maybe ask for a picture of their future enclosure to avoid people just taking them for short fun without having a plan
3. Feeding them to other animals
- You can feed them to birds and reptiles
- Some platforms may not allow to sell live animals as food
- This is not for everybody since many people see them as dear pets
4. Feeding them less
A population can only grow as long as there are enough resources. When you take resources away, the population will shrink, because they do not have enough food.
Yes, that means some will die. There will probably be cannibalism. That is how this kind of population regulation works.
5. Killing some off
For ethical reasons this should be treated as a last resort. This is a different point that feeding them to animals, because you have to kill them yourself.
Please consider other options first.
There are more and less humane ways to kill invertebrates.
Please do NOT:
- drown them
- put them in the sun to die
- just throw them in the trash
- squish them
- boil them
In entomology, there are generally two ways that are considered okay:
Using kill jars (practically a gas chamber) and freezing them.
Please do not…
… set them free in your garden or elsewhere. They do not belong into that ecosystem.
… just stop caring for them altogether in hopes the problem will solve itself. Better give them away completely if you feel overwhelmed.