u/livimary

Hello : )

I am interested in giving my guys some lichen to enjoy. I keep seeing loads in my local area (NW UK) and the online options seem to be all sold out or pretty expensive (esp because most places also sell isopods so one day shipping is the only option).

How would I go about sterilising lichen and making sure it's safe for my guys while also keeping as much of the goodness in it as possible? I've seen people say at least for leaf litter, boiling can sap a lot of the nutritional value. Does anyone have like a recipe?

I also buy leaf litter right now, but also have to throw away a load of leaves that collect on our porch, so if anyone has advice for sterilising those too that would be nice

Hello!

I currently have 1 habitat with isopods and springtails.

I started with introducing ceratophysella isabellae. I could only afford 25 at the time, and I got a bit paranoid that they wouldn't grow in number quick enough to handle the isopods. I know this was dumb now because the population exploded basically overnight

BUT I had already panicked and supplemented with cheaper springtails (collembola sp. I presume but I don't even know if the product listed which ones). I also get a lot of the same type of springtails popping up out of nowhere in plants that are too damp (I live in Manchester so everything is a Bit Too Damp ™) and I think some possibly joined the initial introduction. Anyway, I am now seeing these dudes everywhere!

Now I do not want to look any gift horses in any mouths, and having a population of any springtails is better than none, but I wanted to ask if my lilacs (and some yellows) will be able to survive, or will the temperates drive them out? They are a bit cuter and I genuinely love their little shape. I supplemented them eventually with about 50 lilacs and 75 yellows. I haven't seen them as much as the temperates recently, but I am aware that the temperates are way more visible than the lilacs which outnumber the yellows, so I may not be able to figure it out.

Do two different species of springtails thrive in a habitat, or will one eliminate the other's food sources eventually? Considering my climate, if the latter is the case I think I need to give up on lilacs for now 😞 although I plan to get a colony of magic potions, so will try then!

Thank you!

Hello!

I am a lowly political philosophy postgrad who has, in an act of genuine insanity (sorry mr foucault I know how you feel about that) chosen a critical theory sociology module and chosen an essay question on foucault. The question is...

Is the genealogy of critique proposed by Foucault a viable project? Does critique survive the operation?

I'm pretty worried that I don't fully understand his genealogy of critique (I've found reading crit theory scholars pretty hard because 1. I'm used to poli theory which loves clarity and 2. I am disabled and have a pretty poor working memory - I keep getting to the end of sentences and forgetting what they said at the start). As I understand it:

• Critique involves the relationship between knowledge, power and the subject.
• We would expect knowledge to free us from the coercive force of power, but in fact power is able to use knowledge to empower it's coercive force.

In the seminar on the subject, the lecturer seemed to describe it as a bit of a cycle where there is no truth at the end of the rainbow, just more levels of power.

At the moment, I'm thinking of making a bit of an argument that

1. the genealogy of critique is a viable project - it is important that critique is a continuous or cyclical process, constantly regenerating society, rather than a search for an answer. Acknowledging how power uses knowledge gives us a reason to continue asking questions.
2. Critique survives because, while knowledge can be used by power, we have also seen in recent times how misinformation can be wielded the same way (alternative facts, fake news), and in a world with the internet we cannot expect the moderation to be done for us.
3. Power's use of knowledge to coerce has become far easier in the age of the internet due to how easy it is for those in power to reach us. In this light, mistrust is a way of retaining our agency in whatever way we can and will, hopefully, ultimately reduce the coercive potential of knowledge and misinformation both.

My question is basically: am I barking up the wrong tree re: the theory and is my potential answer to the question totally off course?

Would be very appreciative of any support!!! : ) Thank you!

Hello I just wanted to ask for advice bc I have been taking any death to heart 🥲

Found a death today and they didn’t look too big - they were weak this morning and kept turning on their back and not getting up. I have roughly 20 adults and a lot of babies of different ages. So far I had a couple of deaths when they arrived which I presumed was just travel and the fact they were big. So deaths I’ve noticed are 1 every 3 or 4 months.

Is this too much for the colony? Or does the fact they are breeding say they’re ok?

Thanks!

This is just out of interest, does anyone notice their colonies having favourite foods? I’ve started to notice 100% that mine are picky picky.

They do NOT like to eat their veggies. Most veggies, fish flakes, isospring mix is just not their thing. I will see them have a bite or so now and again, but nothing thrilling. However, here are some favourites…

- MEALWORMS. Jesus do they love a mealworm. Lucky for me bc I like to feed starlings (uk based!) so I keep loads. If I put mealworms in, I will see about three munching away in like a blink.
- spirulina wafers. What I’ve noticed with these and mealworms is I always put them in a little bowl to try and ensure I can get rid of them when 24 hrs is up. Does it stay in the bowl? Does it fuck. Trying to make sure they don’t hoard rotten food is like a hard mode where’s wally, lifting and pushing every plant and hide to see where they’ve buried their precious this time.
- cucumber, the only veg they will eat. I have tried like everything else. This is tragic, because I don’t really vibe with cucumber. Had a housemate ask why I was only having a slice of old cucumber a week. Rip.

Hi! I have had yellow zebras since January. These are my first isopods.

After about a week I caught them getting freaky for the first time. Babies appeared! Yay!

Since then, the rate of one on one fun has risen exponentially. These days basically every time I look over they are mate guarding, sometimes two couples at once, sometimes for hours and OFTEN with gravid females, which feels like a waste of energy.

Should I be… concerned? Mate guarding looks rlly stressful for the poor girls, are they being harassed too much? Will it affect them poorly? If it’s bad for them, is there something in a set up that affects breeding behaviour like that?

(I mean, the upside is I seem to have 5 million mencae of all sizes right now. Every time I look at one side of the glass I count like 15 and I’m already getting some which are pretty much little adults!)

Hiya!

I am at a bit of a crossroads in my life. I’ve been working for a youth charity for four years and honestly I suck at it. Not the supporting the kids bit - I’m (not to be immodest) great at that, and I always win kids over who are a bit nervous. But the problem with my job is it’s not a big charity so I am responsible for EVERYTHING. Expenses, budget, recruitment, data, reporting, risk assessment, and that’s only off of the top of my head.

At the start I was coping, but I almost got made redundant last year and I’ve been on a downward spiral since. I feel like I’m putting all of myself into the job, have no time for my social life, but still every supervision I feel so ashamed and useless.

I had a meeting recently where I got pulled up on my programmes underperforming (not meeting recruitment targets) and I just burst into tears, which is mortifying. Manager has put in a strict order of priorities, which I’m sure is on all these “supporting neurodivergent employees” training courses but feels like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.

I have two programmes both with the responsibilities listed above, and only two days on each. I struggle to do things without making mistakes if I don’t take more time than my coworkers, so either I don’t get everything done or I work overtime (we only have toil and I only take it for insomnia). I’m also autistic, and I’ve made it clear several times that phone calls are extremely anxiety inducing for me but there’s no attempt to adapt. I’ll send emails but be told that that’s not good enough. Even though we happily make adaptations for our young people who hate phone calls.

Basically long story short I can’t deal with constantly feeling like a failure anymore. It’s killing me. I’m asking to drop my days at least, but ideally I want to find a job I can do and stop crying after every supervision.

Does anyone have advice for jobs that work for adhd? I wish I’d gone into graphic design or something honestly. Some factors…

1. I am also autistic and struggle around food and noise, so restaurants and bars are out unless I can use ANC while working

2. I’m studying political philosophy and the dream is to go into academia. Work is eating into my study and my grades are slipping so I’m even pessimistic about this.

3. I am pretty creative.

4. I’m good with IT and processes. No formal training, but where coworkers can’t find answers I can usually come up with resolves. I kind of love using excel. Basically any IT/ops stuff that doesn’t have lots of little tasks to balance or a big social element I tend to enjoy.

5. I have a tooon of knowledge, lived, learned and experienced, on working with disability - particularly LD and neurodivergence but I’ve learned a lot about the way processes work for disabled people and I feel strongly about disability justice.

This has gotten rlly long. At the very least I’m hoping to start therapy again. I appreciate any advice, even if it’s not what career I should have. Thanks!