Hydropsyche and Arctopsyche are filter-feeding caddisflies (Order: Trichoptera; Family: Hydropsychidae) that are commonly used to monitor metal exposures in rivers. While tissue residue concentrations provide important bioaccumulation data regarding metal bioavailability, they do not provide information regarding the mechanisms of uptake and loss, or exposure history. This study examined the physiological processes that control Cu and Cd uptake and loss using a biokinetic bioaccumulation model. Larvae of each taxon were experimentally exposed to either water or food enriched with stable isotopes (⁶⁵Cu and ¹⁰⁶Cd). Dissolved Cu uptake (k_u) was similar between species (2.6–3.4 L^-1g ¹d^-1), but Cd uptake was 3-fold higher in Hydropsyche than Arctopsyche (1.85 L^-1g ¹d^-1 and 0.60 L^-1g ¹d^-1, respectively). Cu and Cd efflux rates (k_e) were relatively fast (0.14 d^-1–0.24 d^-1) in both species, and may explain, in part, their metal tolerance to mine-impacted rivers. Food ingestion rates (IR), assimilation efficiency (AE) of ⁶⁵Cu and ¹⁰⁶Cd from laboratory diets were also derived and used in a biodynamic model to quantify the relative contribution of dissolved and dietary exposure routes. Results from the biodynamic model were compared to tissue concentrations observed in a long-term field study and indicated that because dissolved Cu and Cd exposures accounted for less than 20% of body concentrations of either taxon, dietary exposure was the predominant metal pathway. An estimation of exposure history was determined using the model to predict steady state concentrations. Under constant exposure conditions (dissolved plus diet), steady state concentrations were reached in less than 30 days, an outcome largely influenced by rapid efflux (k_e).