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Cappuccino Isopod (Cubaris sp.)
Cubaris sp. 'Cappuccino'
The Cubaris 'Cappuccino'. A delicious and majestic giant among the Cubaris (can exceed 0.7 inches). It sports a very smooth and imposing back in which shades that recall a real Italian cappuccino softly blend: from the dark brown of coffee to dusty milk cream and pale cream at the edges. Fascinating and peaceful, it is a very expensive collection animal that demands meticulous care so as not to succumb to the deadly tropical asphyxia from incorrect ventilation.
Class:Malacostraca
Order:Isopoda
Family:Armadillidae
Genus:Cubaris
Species:Cubaris sp. 'Cappuccino'
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Environment
Terrestrial
Humidity
70 - 85 %
Day temperature
23 - 27 °C
Night temperature
20 - 23 °C
UVB
None
Species description
Geographical Origin and Habitat: Pluvial rocky jungles of Southeast Asia, where they thrive buried under colossal layers of rotting hardwood on calcareous soil.
Taxonomy and Genetics: Family Armadillidae. (Opalescent Asian Giant). Together with the Jupiters and Pallasii, these Cubaris boast considerable dimensions for the family and an impressively thick shell. The genetic variability of their milk and coffee colors has made them a 'must-have' for purists of indoor arthropods.
Behavior and Habits: Shaded porcelain medals. While being like all oriental cousins, Cappuccinos tend to be slightly bolder than Duckies if kept in immensely deep and reassuring boxes. They will spend the evening hours lazily grazing on huge pieces of rotting cork, offering an extraordinary spectacle. In case of danger they close into impregnable massive balls.
Morphology: Total perfect enameled and thick armored dome (Up to 0.7 inches and beyond / 1.8 cm). The waxy shell does not reflect blindingly like the Ducky, but has a velvety opalescent patina. The color is a shaded storm of deep Coffee Brown in the center that degrades into huge spots of light caramel or dirty milk cream white on the lobes and head (some lines have entirely cream-colored faces).
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: DEEP-SOIL TROPICAL BINS WITH KARST ROCK. Giants like this demand large and deep spaces (3 inches minimum of earth). Combine base substrate with large blocks of Flake Soil (white rotten wood for beetles), rough tuff or limestone rocks and colossal mountains of wet moss and superficial hard oak. Their gestation chambers are large and do not tolerate earth collapses.
Lighting and Heating: ABSENCE OF DIRECT LIGHT. Stable deep tropical heat (constant 73-82°F / 23-28°C). Strongly intolerant to thermals below 70°F which lead to digestive paralysis. A thermal mat adhering to the vertical glass/plastic is necessary in winter.
Humidity and Hydration: ASIAN MONSOON TOLERANT TO HEALTHY CONDENSATION (70-90%). CRITICAL: They hate the dehydrating dryness of sterile peat. Form a 'wet zone' of water-impregnated moss, but the adjacent soil must be spongy and not muddy-asphyctic. They must breathe very humid but oxygen-rich clean air (massive holes covered by micro-perforated mesh at the top).
Feeding and Supplementation: Slow Giant Wood and Limestone Grinders. They demand proteins to develop viable eggs (High-end fish feed or shelled shrimp once every two weeks). But their shaded porcelain armor craves immense broken cuttlefish bones thrown into the asphyctic peat and intact mountains of rotting wood flaky to the touch.
Compatibility: Exclusive for Elite Collection (Total Isolation). Incompatible in complex naturalistic terrariums or with reptiles and amphibians that would eat them (it's like throwing expensive chocolate balls to lizards). Forbidden coexistence: invasive isopods will decimate their supplies condemning the chicks to death by starvation in 6 months.
Health and Common Diseases: Decay from lack of Rotting Air ('Molt Imprisonment' ). A horrible mistake is spraying them with cold water: the isopod will suffer thermal shock. The total absence of humidity will condemn the colony to the lethal 'Molt Failure': the beautiful coffee-colored shell will not detach from the lower lungs, asphyxiating them in a few and agonizing hours of pure suffocation.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Pluvial rocky jungles of Southeast Asia, where they thrive buried under colossal layers of rotting hardwood on calcareous soil.
Origin
Central America and CaribbeanEurope, Mediterranean, and West AsiaSouth and Southeast AsiaEast Asia
Terrestrial invertebrate profile
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- No verified data available
- Lifestyle/Microhabitat
- No verified data available
- Activity cycle
- No verified data available
- Sociality
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Venom level
- No verified data available
- Handling tolerance
- No verified data available
- Brumation
- No verified data available
- Molting
- No verified data available
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
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