# Culturing wild Springtails



## MonarchzMan (Oct 23, 2006)

So, for the first time I can remember, we've got an explosion of collumbela (sp?) on the snow here. These are larger than the ones that I culture at the moment. They're also black as opposed to white like the ones I've got now. So I've been thinking, would these be a better source for culturing? Has anyone tried doing this? I'm kinda thinking that it won't be successful as they seem to thrive on the snow, and I'd be housing them at room temperature. So has anyone tried it?

I may just have to try it for the heck of it because there are a ton of them outside.


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## Curt61 (Jan 16, 2007)

Hey, I havn't tried it before. I know that you can breed some spring tails that are black but I"m not sure if those are the same ones that you found on the snow or not. I would give it a try just for the fun of it.

Good luck with it, Curt


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

Yeah, that'd be an intersting experiment. If ya really need to, I suppose you could just pop one culture into the fridge, and one in your frog room. See which does better.

Good luck!


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## titan501x (Dec 7, 2006)

go for it!


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## joeyo90 (Nov 5, 2006)

they may be the type aaron has 
deffinatly give it a try  
you got a pic of them on the snow?


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## MonarchzMan (Oct 23, 2006)

Well since I have nothing better to do, I went out and collected a couple hundred of the little guys and set up a container for them in my room. We'll see how well they do. Tomorrow, I'll go collected another couple hundred and start a culture in the refrigerator and see what ones do better. It'd be nice if they'd be easy to culture since they're probably twice the size of the ones that I've got now. They're probably about 1/16 of an inch long. Maybe a little bigger than that.

Unfortunately, I've never created my own culture of colombella, so I don't know if this'll work. I just got some carbon pellets from a pet store, added water and rice, so hopefully that'll be enough.

Here's a picture of the little guys. They're everywhere! It's hard to step in the snow without stepping on them.


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## bluedart (Sep 5, 2005)

I dunno if I'd use carbon pellets. Use either charcoal, or preferrably coco fiber.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Snow fleas for frogs? LOL that is pretty far out. Anyway, let us know how it goes.


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## OneTwentySix (Nov 11, 2004)

I had wanted to do the exact same thing last year, but I never found any that year. =(


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I want snow fleas! If I ask nicely, can you send me some?

Think about it... a bug you can ship during the winter time  And anyways, I'm always up for trying a new species if I can get my hands on them.


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## MonarchzMan (Oct 23, 2006)

Well, we'll see how it goes for raising them. I'd pass them out, but after making this thread, it snowed a bit and I haven't seen them since. I only got enough for one culture. They seem to be doing well at room temperature. I'm noticing shed skins, which has to be a good sign. They're a lot more docile than the ones that I have and slightly larger (and fatter). There may even be the possibility that they're dustable. The method of collection may be interesting, though you could probably filter them out with a fine mesh without too much difficulty. If all works, they could be very good for thumbnails and froglets.

Here's a picture of a fruit fly, one of JP's Snow Fleas (I'll tell ya, if they work out, I may have to market them as that, it's rather catchy), and one of the springtails from Josh's Frogs.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Nice intermediate size... lemme know how they do. I believe I might have collected them in the past... or at least they were large black springies... they didn't reproduce well tho 

Not sure how the fleas part of the name will go over lol, I mentioned it to my mom and she was like... no fleas in the house! Aren't common names fun? :roll:


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## OneTwentySix (Nov 11, 2004)

KeroKero said:


> Not sure how the fleas part of the name will go over lol, I mentioned it to my mom and she was like... no fleas in the house! Aren't common names fun? :roll:


Always makes talking about water fleas a joy at swimming events.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Yeah, I specifically call my culture "Daphnia" not water fleas LOL.


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