# cant find my springtails?



## dynekevin (May 24, 2011)

Hey guys i just finished my vivarium and seeded it with spring tails (18x18x24 zoo med). Its been a week or so and i cannot see any spring tails. Is this normal? I have not looked through the leaf litter i just would like to know they are reproducing and did not die on me lol!


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

They don't often come out in plain site. Sometimes you can see them on the glass within the leaf litter, but you will likely have to move things around to find them, unless you have a bunch of hungry frogs eating them faster than they can reproduce.


dynekevin said:


> Hey guys i just finished my vivarium and seeded it with spring tails (18x18x24 zoo med). Its been a week or so and i cannot see any spring tails. Is this normal? I have not looked through the leaf litter i just would like to know they are reproducing and did not die on me lol!


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Have you been feeding them? There is not much rotting and molding in a new viv.


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## dynekevin (May 24, 2011)

i did put in a piece of uncooked pasta. Will the be efficient as food? Tons of leaf litter though


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

They will eat pasta but Active Bakers Yeast is better. Leaf litter is great but they can't eat it until it starts to break down some. I like to sprinkle a teaspoon or so of bakers yeast UNDER the leaf litter when I seed out a viv. It really gives them a nice jump start. A mushroom or two would be great too.


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## dynekevin (May 24, 2011)

okay thank you


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## Percularis (Mar 22, 2011)

How thick should the leaf litter be? I have five magnolia leaves in my vivarium because my viv is small. Will moss culture the springtails too?


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

Patience did it for me before I started seeing any, and putting some food under the leaf litter.
I think I must have put 1000`s in my tanks before they set up shop.
Check first thing in the morning when the lights go on, thats when I see mine running for cover.
I also add them at night when my frogs are dug in, so they at least have a fighting chance.
As far as thickness goes, when my leaf litter is really broken down I just cover it with new leaves. I know I have at least one tank where it`s probably at least 1 inch thick.
I don`t use moss anymore... for me it just dies, and leaf litter is a more natural setting.

John


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Mushrooms do GREAT to feed them to. When I feed mine mushrooms they always boom.


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

One more thing, be careful what you wish for, I had a sprintail explosion in my Azureus tank.
It was so bad they were crawling on the frogs.
Just too much of a good thing!

John


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Percularis said:


> How thick should the leaf litter be? I have five magnolia leaves in my vivarium because my viv is small. Will moss culture the springtails too?


LOTS of leaf litter. Most of my vivs have sections where it is 2 inches thick and even thicker.


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## tim13 (Feb 1, 2011)

Try throwing a slice of cucumber in the tank. My springs will swarm on a piece of cucumber.


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## brod322 (May 27, 2011)

Could Feeding mushrooms consistently could cause mite production in a viv?



heatfreakk3 said:


> Mushrooms do GREAT to feed them to. When I feed mine mushrooms they always boom.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

I always feed mushrooms, and have never had a problem...


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

brod322 said:


> Could Feeding mushrooms consistently could cause mite production in a viv?


I wouldn't call that a bad thing anyways, the frogs will snack on them just as hard as any springtail. 

As long as your FF cultures are far enough away, no problem. EDIT- (and that's making the assumption that they are the same mites in both situations, IIRC mites on mushrooms would usually be some sort of detrivore mite while FF mites are grain mites.... I could be wrong there.)


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

tclipse said:


> I wouldn't call that a bad thing anyways, the frogs will snack on them just as hard as any springtail.
> 
> As long as your FF cultures are far enough away, no problem. EDIT- (and that's making the assumption that they are the same mites in both situations, IIRC mites on mushrooms would usually be some sort of detrivore mite while FF mites are grain mites.... I could be wrong there.)


Following Tclipse' assumption. If they are detrivore mites, they could readily invade your springtail cultures, so keep your springtail cultures away from them.
Regarding mites in vivs. 99% to 100% of vivs will end up with mites, but as mentioned, that's no problem. I don't use mushrooms in my cultures anymore but I sure like to toss em in my vivs.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Pumilo said:


> Following Tclipse' assumption. If they are detrivore mites, they could readily invade your springtail cultures, so keep your springtail cultures away from them.


Touche sir, and obviously right. I haven't had my coffee yet


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## AeroWRX (Jul 9, 2011)

What kind of mushrooms is good to feed spring tails? Would ones from grocery store work


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## D3monic (Feb 8, 2010)

AeroWRX said:


> What kind of mushrooms is good to feed spring tails? Would ones from grocery store work


Yes, When I am cooking I break the stems off white or portabella mushrooms and instead of throwing them away I feed them to my cultures. Waste not want not.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Any type of mushrooms, fresh or dried. No canned. Well, maybe not the psychedelic ones!


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## froggymike (Jan 11, 2010)

I second Mike's approach of using mushroom doomed for the trash. I really only use scraps to feed them. Any mushroom works for them, they really are not picky.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Enlightened Rogue said:


> One more thing, be careful what you wish for, I had a sprintail explosion in my Azureus tank.
> It was so bad they were crawling on the frogs.
> Just too much of a good thing!
> 
> John


I had the same problem in one of my Tinc tanks. Holding back flies for a few days fixed that.


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## gootswa (Mar 16, 2011)

I added some to my tank just recently, but I am almost positive that my frogs already ate them all up.


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