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Silver Ghost Isopod (Cubaris sp.)
Cubaris sp. 'Silver Ghost'
The Cubaris 'Silver Ghost'. An ethereal and very rare isopod (0.6 inches) renowned for its ectoplasmic appearance. More than white, its shiny carapace appears translucent, pale silver or ghostly pearl gray, so much so that one can sometimes glimpse the shadow of the internal organs against the light. Fearful and, it lives exclusively in the very humid Thai limestone caves. Any collapse in hygrometry will cause the irreversible and asphyxiating dehydration of its fragile exoskeleton.
Class:Malacostraca
Order:Isopoda
Family:Armadillidae
Genus:Cubaris
Species:Cubaris sp. 'Silver Ghost'
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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: Underground karst caves and ravines perpetually dripping with water wrapped in the asphyxiating Thai jungle.
Taxonomy and Genetics: Family Armadillidae. (Asian Glass Isopod). Unlike the White Shark which is optic and opaque white, the Silver Ghost undergoes a depigmentation that makes the waxy carapace similar to frosted glass or faded metallic silver. It shares the massive barrel shape of the typical Cubaris but appears very fragile to the sight.
Behavior and Habits: Terrified underground crystal spheres. More than shy, Silver Ghosts are agoraphobic. They refuse to explore and live literally stuck upside down under pieces of limestone immersed in muddy moss. Less active than Duckies, they instantly conglobate into perfect silver pearls at the slightest thermal or luminous change.
Morphology: Total perfect enameled and translucent dome (Up to 0.6 inches / 1.5 cm). Ethereal silver gray color, almost transparent on the lower edges (epimera). The eyes are very small and black. Under powerful illumination, the body acquires an alien pearlescent luminescence. Structurally massive despite the fragile appearance.
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: DEEP-SOIL TROPICAL BINS WITH KARST CAVE ROCK. They need a mixture of very deep asphyxiating peat, tons of live sphagnum moss and crushed pure limestone. Recreate a horizontal cave by stacking massive polished stones to give them the necessary psychological refuge from the open air, where they will nestle in stasis.
Lighting and Heating: ABSENCE OF DIRECT LIGHT. Stable tropical cave humid heat (73-82°F / 23-28°C). Extremely sensitive to cold: below 68°F their intestine stops, they collapse in lethargy and slowly decompose without being able to molt. Vital use of exact thermostats in winter.
Humidity and Hydration: MONSOON AND SATURATED TO THE EXTREME (80-95%). ABSOLUTE CRITICAL: Hygrometric management is crazy. A drop in humidity instantly dehydrates their lower gills causing death from a heart attack in 3 hours. However, if the ground smells like a stagnant swamp without high ventilation (holes on the lid necessary), lethal tropical mites or lung molds will wipe them out in a day.
Feeding and Supplementation: Meticulous Calcareous Fungivores and Wood Eaters. Provide micro-doses of very high quality fish pellets. They live mainly by consuming Flake Soil (soggy white rotten wood) and brushing the vital cuttlefish bone to develop and maintain the thick exoskeleton necessary not to evaporate in the jungle.
Compatibility: Exclusive for Collection (Total Isolation). Absolutely incompatible with reptiles or amphibians: they would be eaten like euro candies or crushed. Even mixing them with invasive isopods (like Powder Orange) is prohibited, since the aggression of others would block the ethereal reproductions of the Silver Ghosts forever.
Health and Common Diseases: Dryness Syndrome / Spectral Molt Failure (Lethal collapse ). If the air becomes just dry, or water stress strikes. the isopod will not be able to break the old silver armor in half to molt. It will get stuck in a half moon and will die in a slow asphyxiating agony, prisoner of its own old skin.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Underground karst caves and ravines perpetually dripping with water wrapped in the asphyxiating Thai jungle.
Origin
Central America and CaribbeanSouth and Southeast 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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