General Discussion

finally debating adding a few new babies to my tiny handful of inverts, and i was curious to talk to others with a similar hobby! feel free to tell me what all you own / what you'd like to eventually have. :>

my current babies are a g. pulchra, p. irminia, and p. machala!

I'm a reptile person, but I own some isopods that I find quite charming! Porcellionides pruinosus, of the orange, white, and black-spotted variety. I have a teeny enclosure set up for them with leaves, cork, some moss, and other detritus. They love eating xylivore gel, crushed cuttlebone, small dried anchovies and shrimp (I crumble them and sprinkle them around).

I would like to have a honduran curly hair tarantula when I have more space, and I think I'll get another species of isopod next time I go to a convention. They're so relaxing to watch.

i keep two H. verbana medicinal leeches! there's very little information on leech husbandry because they're usually either 1) pests to be removed, or 2) medicinal tools that get discarded after use. but aside from needing blood once or twice a year, they're about as low-maintenance as an animal can get. they're interesting, great conversation starters, and have way more personality than you'd think :)

I've got Ts: a few species of your typical new world terrestrials and GBBs, p. atrichomatus, then d. pentaloris + a. geniculata slings. An irminia is definitely on my list, I haven't gotten any arboreals yet!

I've been saying this for ages but I've been meaning to get some isopods going... I swear I actually will soon lol. Snakes are my main thing so their projects come before inverts.

@lugia492 isopods are honestly really fascinating to watch! i kept some very basic species a few years ago, and they were one of my favorite things to come home and check on! im especially a fan of any sort of dalmation. :>

@whalesbone MAN leeches are so cool, this reply sparked so much interest in me LOL. i would LOVE to one day have some of my own, but i honestly know the bare minimum about them. awesome little critters tho!

@Idolo one of my partners absolutely loves mantises! he currently has a ghost mantis named Theseus, but i've only ever personally kept a spiny flower mantis! he was an absolute pleasure to watch and interact with. one of my favorite inverts when it's feeding time too! (also, my g. pulchra was REAL cranky during one of its phases between molts, so i totally understand LOL)

@Saccharine awh man, a. geniculata is definitely on my list one of these days, as well as a GBB! when the day comes that you feel up to them, i cannot encourage you enough to look into the psalmopoeus genus! they're incredibly fun to raise and watch their VERY quick hunting responses. i just unboxed an itty bitty p. victori today!

@backbiter honestly, the best resource i have is this facebook group for leech husbandry! we're all figuring the hobby out as we go along, so even the experts only know so much

and here are pictures of my leeches :)

I know they can be really delicate but I absolutely adore my c. versicolor sooooo much. it's such a polite little dude (g/n - unsexed)

[quote name="whalesbone" date="2025-03-20 14:33:20" ] @backbiter honestly, the best resource i have is this facebook group for leech husbandry! we're all figuring the hobby out as we go along, so even the experts only know so much and here are pictures of my leeches :) [/quote] ugh, they are so neat! thank you sm for the resources / group to check out! i always love joining up in these niche little groups LOL.

[quote name="Mystique" date="2025-03-20 18:25:54" ] I know they can be really delicate but I absolutely adore my c. versicolor sooooo much. it's such a polite little dude (g/n - unsexed) [/quote] versicolors are amazing little guys! i actually just got a shipment of tarantula slings yesterday, and two of them were teeny tiny versicolors (along with a y. diversipes, and a p. victori). :>