Porcellio Laevis “Dairy Cow”
Dairy cow isopods are a popular morph of the woodlouse Porcellio laevis. With their large size, and impressive mottled coloration, they are one of the most popular isopods kept in captivity.
The cosmopolitan woodlouse, Porcellio laevis (Latreille) is large and distinctive, and was formerly
recorded widely in Britain and Ireland, mainly in urban and strongly synanthropic situations. In recent
decades the species has been recorded in a decreasing number of localities.P.Laevis likely originated in northern Africa according to this source.
These energetic species are easy to keep eating almost anything and everything placed into their enclosure. Due to their large size we use larger enclosures for this isopod then some other commonly kept species. A gradient from wet moss and moisture to a dry side gives them the ability to choose what level of moisture they need.
One interesting thing about dairy cow isopods is that many keepers have tried to make an “orange dalmatian” type of morph with laevis but none have succeeded. It has been theorized that the populations have been kept separate for so long that they are no longer capable of interbreeding. Seeing how large, active, and prolific dairy cows are compared to other laevis types I wonder if they are even the same species?
