# How often to add springtails and isopods?



## Venomgland (Dec 31, 2017)

Is it a one time thing or should I really look into building a culture?


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## Northstar (Dec 28, 2017)

It depends on a lot of factors. I have a viv with four frogs and I have to seed the viv roughly every couple months or so to keep it populated, but I have another viv with only a single frog that I only ever had to seed once and I still see springtails crawling around from time to time.

Basically, I'd say, if you have a decent sized viv with only a small amount of frogs, you'll probably only need to seed it once (as long as you allow them to populate for a few weeks before adding the frogs) but if you have a viv with a lot of frogs, there's the chance that you might have to keep seeding it every once in a while.


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## Roscoe09 (Dec 30, 2017)

It’s beneficial to have but not necessary. They can serve as a backup food source and cost little to take of. With Isopods if you have a gigantic culture you can easily sell 200 of them for at least $60 and make a little money while keeping them for your frogs. I would highly recommend it as I said it’s beneficial.


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## Venomgland (Dec 31, 2017)

Ok thanks guys! Sounds like I need to start some cultures of them too.


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## Just_Angela (Nov 5, 2016)

It depends on the situation, I have dart babies that are only really eating springs, so I replace fairly often (2-3x week). On the other hand...springs and small isopods don't seem to stand a chance in my other vivs... the frogs snack on them. My tincs and leauc are ravenous eating machines..... LOL


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## hp192 (Feb 28, 2016)

It also helps to add some supplemental food in your vivs for the microfauna in there. I like to add some fish flakes and dry rice or yeast sprinkled underneath some of the leaf litter. No scientific data to back this up, but it seems to make the populations last longer.


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## serial hobbiest (Mar 5, 2017)

Springtails you'll definitely want to culture. I have three 6"x6" containers, and simply harvest whenever they're swarming, and put most of them in. It sounds like a lot, but if the population dies down due to lack of food in the viv, who cares? We don't want our vivs full of springtail food, which is why we add them.

Isopods are beneficial, but not all that necessary. I couldn't be bothered to maintain a culture, but I acquired about 20 dwarf whites and 20 dwarf purples and threw them in when I picked up my frogs back at the end of July. They're doing fine on their own in the viv now, whereas in the fall, you would never know I had any in there, but now you can lift up any damp, rotting piece of leaf litter, and there they are.


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