The Hissing Armadillo

Hello and welcome. 🙂

Last year was one of the toughest in recent memory for me and my family, but it was ended with a glimmer of isopod-shaped hope. At this time I acquired what is to current day one of my absolute most prized species and one which has brought me much joy. That's enough with the jibber jabber and what not, let's get into this thing.

2018 was stupendous for growing my collection, but garbage for just about everything else. It started off just fine until somewhere around March. My dad began experiencing rather extreme back pain and this eventually led to numbness in the lower half of his body. He couldn't get a straight answer about what was going on with him until he finally had to go to the emergency room after he had all but ceased being able to walk. They quickly diagnosed him with a spinal arteriovenous malformation and he had (a successful) surgery maybe a day later. If he hadn't gotten the surgery when he did, there is a very real chance that he could have been without the use of his legs permanently, which, of course, is a scary thing to think about. Following the long, tricky road of rehab, he is thankfully back to normal for the most part aside from a few lasting effects that he will have to deal with indefinitely.

December rolls in and we get an announcement from my mom's direct family (who all live in Canada) that my grandma has very unexpectedly passed away. Passports and such were gathered and we were out to Canada the next day. Unfortunately, our stay was in a crummy motel, but obviously prime comfort wasn't on the checklist of this mission and we wouldn't be there for long anyway. The funeral was full of emotion and the experience of the Native American ceremony (my grandma was a full-blood native) that took place was certainly something I will never forget. There is one thing I haven't mentioned though - right before we left for Canada, I had been in correspondence with a hobbyist by the name of Pat Kline for some isopods that I spotted on an ad of his. Shortly after we arrived back home, the order was ready to be picked up. Though the shipping container had no ventilation and food placed inside it had turned the substrate basically into a solid mat, all 16 or so Armadillo officinalis arrived alive and well! Let's dig into this not so mammalian Armadillo.

Armadillo officinalis is one of at least two Armadillo species being cultured in the hobby right now; the other I know of being Armadillo tuberculatus. The attribute of this isopod that goes above and beyond the rest is its very unique hissing ability. By rapidly rubbing portions of the legs together (a form of stridulation), a shrill hissing noise is able to be created that is reminiscent of the mating calls of some Orthopterans more than anything else. In nature, this ability is utilized to deter attacking predators, but in captivity, they will often employ it simply when picked up and gently rolled between two fingers. To my knowledge, this is still the only isopod known to produce audible sound. This species is also quite interesting because of it's bluish coloration, habit of resting volvated (rolled up in a ball), and large size. Not counting Helleria brevicornis, it may actually be the largest pillbug in the hobby (or very close) in regards to length!

My now large colony is housed in a 6 qt. Sterilite container with eight 1/4" holes on each end for ventilation. The substrate is a rather moderately moist mix of compost soil, topsoil, cypress mulch, and perlite, which I keep at between 2 and 3 inches in depth. Besides that, there is also a couple pieces of bark in there for hiding, some dead leaves for consumption/hiding, and a piece of baby carrot and cuttlebone for munching on.

The light in the dark of 2018.⬇️

Large individuals

Mixed-size individuals

Enclosure

I hope you guys didn't mind the more somber tone of the main portion of this post and found pleasure in reading about one of the most remarkable isopods that has made its way to the hobby to date! That'll be about it this time around and I'll meet you right where I always do - next post. 🙂