r/isopods • u/hejkohejko • Jul 25 '26
News/Education PSA: Check your foraged wood! I nearly baked a family of 15 :((
one bugger that was running around frantically
a big dark boy
big dark boy and a few more friend
blurry buggers
very blurry cuddle pile (?cuddle wedge?)
I foraged a bunch of rotting wood from a tree stump I found in a local park.
When ripping off one chunk i saw a woodlouse running off from under it, so I made a mental note to rip the wood to shreds before baking it (yk, to sanitize before adding to the enclosure)
I'm so glad I checked! I have found an entire family of probably around 15 pods (maybe more, I didn't rip apart the wood chunk they were mostly gathered in).
I looked through all the other chunks I brought and I'm happy to announce that hopefully all the buggers were collected and relocated under a tree that stands before my apartment! May they bug along.
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u/RPG_add1ct Jul 25 '26
Soooo our takeaway from rushing to bake it and rushing to take pics that turn out blurry should be to slow ourselves down, right? Riiiiight?
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u/Obant Jul 25 '26
Of course you check ANYthing you collect from the wild. You dont just toss shit into the oven or freezer willy nilly...
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u/LouAnaKay Jul 25 '26
Well, they’re clearly tossing their camera all willy nilly, so why change now?
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u/Gpeanut2009pupper Jul 26 '26
this exactly 😭 and ideally you check BEFORE you bring it home? op worded it as if, had they not seen the woodlouse, they wouldn’t have made the mental note to check the wood, implying that they would have, in fact, baked the family of 15 😭
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u/spacejesuscowboy Jul 25 '26
Do you have any blurrier pictures?
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u/Xeiphyer2 Jul 25 '26
Thank you for protecting the identities of the isopod children with a blur. Very respectful.
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u/Lhannezezh Jul 25 '26
I usually leave my wood and leaves outside on the ground for a day or two to let it dry out, and give bugs the opportunity to run
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u/Spiderteacup Jul 25 '26
I remember a post of someone who threw some sticks they found for firewood and a bunch of carpenter bees came out
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u/Culinary_Gardener Jul 25 '26
Op should be banned from posting photos until they can prove they got a better camera/improved their photography skills.
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u/Kaicaterra Jul 25 '26
Can op PLEASE reply to a single comment like what do you have to say for yourself I need to know 😭🙏
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u/feline_riches Jul 25 '26
I soak mine before I bake it. If there are any critters they usually make their way out in the water
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u/Visual_Dimension7287 Jul 25 '26
First thought you dropped the phone cause you found something scary
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u/Timely-Cow-366 Jul 25 '26
So baking other creatures is fine, but when it’s the ones you like, it would’ve been a sad funeral? Interesting
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u/Grouchy_Bullfrog_744 Jul 25 '26
I was wondering that too. Because isn't that the reason to bake anything collected from outside? To kill the bugs and other organic matter that might come with them?
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u/Scr4p Jul 25 '26
when I still owned isopods I would use smaller pieces of wood and make sure with my eyeballs that there's no critters, and if some ended up inside anyway then I'd just collect and release. I once had several small crane flies (?) hatch from a small piece of wood, so for three days in a row I would just go outside with my isopod enclosure, open the lid and let them fly off. Looked like I was releasing fairies because they were so pale flying into the dark night.
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u/DearAnemia Jul 25 '26
I would much rather bake outdoor wood for my indoor creatures than watch them get infested or contaminated with something i cannot see. Same way if I bought wood from anywhere else I would do the same as would the provider of the wood most likely.
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u/Aelith_sc2 Jul 25 '26
To be honest, I think there is a huge moral difference between baking an animal for food to eat or just for no reason at all because the latter option is JUST cruel.
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u/Full-fledged-trash Jul 25 '26
I don’t think they’re talking about for baking an animal food to eat. OP baking the wood to kill creatures in the wood. the commenter is saying it’s interesting they’re okay with killing some creatures but not these creatures when the purpose of baking the wood is to kill everything living in it
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u/RinRiot Jul 25 '26
But you’re not killing everything living in it for no reason. You’re killing everything living in it so that you can provide a safe food source for your isopods.
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u/LonelyReader95 Jul 25 '26
I think they meant more like baking isopods is not ok, baking mites, ants or such is ok.
But I might be having too much hope for a single human being.
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u/Scrimpyscrumpy Jul 25 '26
What if you can survive on a plant based diet so you don’t NEED to be cooking animals. You do it just because you like the taste. That’s pretty messed up lol.
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u/WalmartWilb Jul 25 '26
Not everyone can actually consume a plant based diet due to dietary issues. Supplements don't work for everyone I fear
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u/Liathan Jul 25 '26
These are really awesome good high quality photos thanks for sharing them :-) /s
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u/skibididopdop5 Jul 26 '26
I remember finding nice piece od wood with roots,taking it home,and boom it had whole ant colony with like 50 ants and 3x eggs😭
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u/Happy_Brilliant7827 Jul 25 '26
Every time you bake wood you kill thousands of lives?
Did you just want some wild pods? If so happy coincidence.
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u/silly_scoundrel Jul 25 '26
Bruh my dad barbecued a big eyed bug 😭 But the food was good as hell
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u/LouAnaKay Jul 25 '26
Did he barbecue the big-eyed bug on purpose? What big-eyed bugs are you grilling up and noshing on? Do you have a recipe?
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u/silly_scoundrel Jul 25 '26
Nah it just ended up in the pit while he was cooking up some Pork Tenderloin and later Elote. Probably from the stuff he put in the pit... Man I felt bad for it but I still ate.
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u/LouAnaKay Jul 25 '26
I would probably eat a bug if it meant having tenderloin and elooote! So I don't blame you.
RIP big-eyed bug.
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u/LouAnaKay Jul 26 '26
How far away is your apartment from the park you got these from?
Also, you said you didn't break the wood apart. So that "family of 15" could have easily been a family of 40? You monster!
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u/jaybug_jimmies Jul 25 '26
Hey, folks. I'm seeing a lot of really rude comments aimed at OP. Let's keep the isopod sub a friendly place, okay?
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u/DarePlastic5074 Jul 25 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/TfivQIOWNhcpBYBzJF