# Springtail Hotel



## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Ok, so I've been looking for a better way to culture my white springtails. I currently growing them up on coco fiber, which is getting me large numbers of them, but they are hard to collect. Scaring them into jumping into a container is the best way I have found so far, but is suboptimal. I tried putting cardboard in the container, and shaking it into the tank, but all the spring jump off the cardboard when I carry the culture over to the tank. These are the species I'm talking about.









Yesterday, I decided to make a springtail hotel, with hopes of making this easier on myself. Luckily, I work in biology lab, so I have access to equipment which makes obtaining pure cultures (ie no mites or worms) of springs possible. I use this stereo microscope (dissecting scope) 








and put my springs on petri dishes with plaster on them, like this.








The spring grow very well on the plaster, but surface area is limited, and they can crawl out if so inclined. So avoid these problems I decided to use a fly container with cardboard for surface area.








I then covered everything in plaster. The plaster is Plaster of Paris with a little activated charcoal mixed 1:1 with water.








And the finished hotel...








We'll see how well it works. I hope to be able to shake out of this and potentially dust them. Lately I have been experimenting with feeding them fish food with color enhancers, with the hopes of gut loading them.
-mark


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

Can you explain the purpose of growing them on plaster?


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

I see this as very pointless and dangerous ......... 

Take some plaster and swallow it cause that's preaty much what you will do to your frogs if you feed them springtails from this container... ( this is ridiculous )


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

Growing them on plaster is the standard for lab culture of springtails. The purpose is the provide a surface which the can walk on and will release high humidity but will not decay. When grown on plaster, you can invert the culture and the springs fall out, but the plaster stays in, so that you can feed like a fly culture. Plaster (calcium phosphate) is completely harmless, on the off chance that the frogs ingested some. It's even an ingredient in food. Some evidence even suggests it can be used as a calcium source (though I find this unlikely to be true).

That said, I realize that this seems a little over the top to some of you. The fact is that I just like trying new ways to culture bugs, so this is fun for me. The generation time of the white springs is about 2 weeks, so I'll post back in 2 weeks with an update.
-mark


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

If you are going to tell me that plaster is safe in any possible way you are out of your mind ... sorry but i am not nor will i ever agree that plaster in my frogs stomach is good for them .. 

You state that its hard to get the springs out of the cocoo containers and yu want something easier to use ....... cocoo with some cork bark pieces on top ( large ones ) , all u do is take the bark out and shake , not hard at all .....


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. That said, there shouldn't be any plaster coming out of the culture anyway. Excelsior is much more troubling than plaster, IMO.


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## dom (Sep 23, 2007)

sounds like it could work and if it does.. im definetly gonna try that.



goodluck!


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## somecanadianguy (Jan 9, 2007)

intresting to say the least , not something i would have ever thought of .please post detailed results mark im very intrested to see how this pans out.
craig


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## brettlt (Oct 5, 2006)

I had read before that springs are kept on plaster commonly in lab settings. This idea seems to make a lot of sense. Of course for my temperate springs I mainly keep them on charred wood and water, so I use the turkey baster method. For my tropicals, I use leaves on top of coco, and transfer with the leaves, or I put some coco in a petri dish and put the dish into the viv.
I am interested to hear about your results.


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## flyangler18 (Oct 26, 2007)

Mark,

What a great adaptation of lab culturing methods into the hobby! I'd be very interested to see what kind of results you have and may try experimenting with these methods myself. 

Jason


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Very cool adaptable of lab practices to the hobby, I like. I especially like the lack of loose substrate... and am definately not worried about if the frogs ingest it... frogs ingest lots of different substrates all the time and the plaster isn't made of anything they don't ingest via other means anyways. I like the idea of opening up and pouring, vs. trying not to have the springs jump off a leaf because you disturbed them... the charcoal/water pouring is ok but many of my springs don't do well on that.


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## Mywebbedtoes (Jul 2, 2007)

I agree with the consensus, I like this idea a lot. I do not find great difficulty with my springs, but this idea seems much easier.

If it works you could whip up a batch for local shows.


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## Dendro Dude (Jun 15, 2008)

Thats really smart.


you should get a patent on them and try to sell them. you could make some big bucks of them if they ever cuaght on. :mrgreen: i would buy them from you if you tried to sell them.


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## RPN (Mar 25, 2007)

Very Interesting Mark.
What I find the best about this, is that you are sharing it with all of us. You could have chosen not to, but you did. Nice and clear for all of us to see. 
I agree that our frogs are put into some worse off situations than eating springtails with plaster o paris on them. 
I think your idea is excellent. Nothing worse than picking up hunks of charcoal and blowing spring tails off into the tank. Or spraying into the container and draining them out with the water. Often dumping chunks of whatever in as well.
Hats off to you and let us know how it works out.
Better yet, let us know how your colonys expand or decrease for you.


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## npaull (May 8, 2005)

> If you are going to tell me that plaster is safe in any possible way you are out of your mind ... sorry but i am not nor will i ever agree that plaster in my frogs stomach is good for them ..


Do you have any evidence to support the intensity of your opposition to this idea?

Calcium and phosphate are two very common soil ions. While ingestion of very large quantities of either one could be dangerous, do you know for a fact that this occurs on a plaster base?

I guess I just find this passionate opposition odd unless it's based on something solid.

Although, I agree with you that raising springtails on traditional substrates is not hard. Even better than cork bark are small pieces of tree fern fiber. The springs infiltrate them and can be easily shaken off.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

froglet said:


> If you are going to tell me that plaster is safe in any possible way you are out of your mind ... sorry but i am not nor will i ever agree that plaster in my frogs stomach is good for them ..
> 
> 
> > In the wild one of the major sources of calcium is through the ingestion of soil particles stuck to the invertebrates. I guess I don't see the difference here... or the difference between the amount of calcium dusted onto an invertebrate and then ingested by the frog. Large pieces are one thing, the small amount stuck to or ingested by the springtail are another item (and do we know for sure that they are ingesting the plaster or are simply using it as living space?)
> ...


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## rozdaboff (Feb 27, 2005)

Please keep us posted on the production of cultures and ease of collection.

Also - how and what are you feeding in this type of setup. I can see certain food sources (mushrooms for example) might make this a bit messier.

Oz


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## SLEDDER23 (Mar 17, 2005)

Sounds like it would work, agreed. I think the purpose could be realized with less effort though. I just use sterilized compost, mixed in with bits of charcoal and one or more (depending on container size) larger pieces of charcoal. The springs congregate on the charcoal and I can take the larger pieces and tap them into a cup. Another option is to scoop a handful of media, put it into a smaller container and that into a larger container, so kind of like a bowl inside a bowl. Flood the first bowl to the top and stir. Springs float and will go over the sides into the second bowl.

Regardless, not sure why anyone would bash someone for trying something new. This board is largely free of that kind of stuff and I hope it remains so.

I'm sure the first guy to create the wheel probably had some yahoos laughing at him or her for pounding on rocks too. For that matter, where did all our knowledge of frog husbandry come from? By experimentation and the failures and successes of our predecessors. Good luck, and post back.


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## Frognut (Jan 31, 2005)

I might try this as well on my blue springs as you cant see them on substrate. these things are only about a 10th the size of a temp spring.


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## Frognut (Jan 31, 2005)

I also had an idea for feeding. a fine powder sprinkled into the container after misting should make it stick and not so messy.


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## Brock (Jun 29, 2007)

Great idea,
I'm not sure exactly what kinda substrate you're gonna keep them on, but I'd suggest improving that design by putting some sphagnum moss in the bottom of each section there, packing it down so it's nice and tight, and then finding some way to secure it down so it doesn't fall out when the container is dumped upside down.

Maybe squeezing some mesh screen down in there, maybe a piece that's too big so it's kinda wedged in there, or shaped like a triangle or something. Maybe when you're making the container, you can put dry sphagnum in and then when the plaster is still wet you can press the screen down so it's kinda glued in there securely.

Then all ya gotta do is keep the sphagnum wet and feed them something simple like fish flakes, as the flakes will stick to the wet sphagnum and not fall out when it's tipped over.

Hope this idea works out.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

if the only reason you are doing this is to make them easier to feed to the frogs can't you just blow the sprigs in. thats what i do and it gets tons in.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

> if the only reason you are doing this is to make them easier to feed to the frogs can't you just blow the sprigs in. thats what i do and it gets tons in.


No, the reason I am doing this is that I like to come up with complicated solutions to simple problems. :wink: Also, I would like to be able to dust them and treat them like flies, which are the easiest to work with, IMO. Plus I think I could get more efficient harvests with these and I have some longer term goals which will require the ability to harvest large numbers of clean bugs and quantify them.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

"complicated solutions to simple problems," i see. i guess thats kinda neat, but not really necessary. keep us updated though.


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## IN2DEEP (Aug 7, 2007)

Update? This sounds like a great idea. Anyone else give this a try?


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I added about 15 springs shortly after setting it up and didn't see any offspring for about a week and a half. Now the hotel is teeming with immature springs, so I think if I give it another couple weeks I can harvest them. I think these guys are growing much slower at room temp than at 83F, where I examined their growth curves, so patience will be key. In the future I will seed my hotels with many more springs.


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Interesting.

Anyone who has removed wallpaper from REAL plaster walls can tell you, the plaster doesn't fall off the walls when it is wet for short periods of time. Extended exposure to water will cause issues, but it will fall off in chunks. 

All the coated cardboard is being used for is to increase surface area in the culture, not to feed the culture.


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

Just curious if anybody else has tried this method yet?

Mark, how are the hotels working out? Are you getting a lot better production with the more surface area? There was an article posted on another thread using the plaster/charcoal mix where they got better production staying with just small 4oz containers.

I've got some activated charcoal powder on the way to give this a shot.


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## NathalieB (Apr 23, 2007)

I made 5 "plaster" cultures this weekend, so to early to have an opinion yet


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I would suggest following the instructions in this post. I have been having some problem with mold (I think coming from the cardboard).


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

markbudde said:


> I would suggest following the instructions in this post.


 Yep, that's the one I was referring to. Thanks.


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## NathalieB (Apr 23, 2007)

I read the other post. Thank you for sharing the information!
I don't have activated charcoal so these are just test-cultures to see if it would work without it.
I have made 3 with cardboard and 3 without. I used fairly small containers. I'm feeding them a paste made of yeast + naturose + water. This way the springtails turn red/pink and I can check the production of the cultures more easily. Also this paste sticks to the plaster so you can still shake the springtails out without shaking out the food.


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## markbudde (Jan 4, 2008)

I would also suggest adding a large number of springs to start the culture. Which kind are you using?


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## NathalieB (Apr 23, 2007)

I have no idea since over time my springtail cultures turned into mixes of at least 4 different kinds of springtails.
I did add what I think is a large amount, but that's very open for discussion ofcourse. What would you call a large number.
I will try to take pictures and post them. 
my springtails are doing great on peat, charcoal and wood-chips (not mixed, different cultures) but I'm always open to try new things that might even work better.


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## edwardsatc (Feb 17, 2004)

Got an update for us?


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## Beau (May 12, 2007)

I haven't been on the forums for quite a while but I try to keep things simpler... If I need to add springtails to a viv, I take about a cup of the coco fiber and put it in a planter basket and drop it into the viv. Frogs gather round, they eat, typically after the springtails get a foothold in a tank, they don't need any help keeping up their numbers though..


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## Invert (Aug 20, 2008)

Just to settle some debate on safety of calcium phosphate.
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=582.1217
This might help =)
(Googled Calcium phosphate FDA, gotta love how easy the internet makes research!)


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## PingKing (Sep 28, 2008)

I am really wondering if any of you had success with the hotels?

This threat died off without any pictures.


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## NathalieB (Apr 23, 2007)

I am having some success in the sense that the cultures are still producing and I can feed from them from time to time.
Not more productive then my other cultures (I have cultures on cocospeat, on charcoal, on corkbark and on woodchips) but they do seem to last much longer (maybe because the humidity stays higher) and I can forget about them for weeks and they will still have survived.

I don't have a picture, because all the pictures I tried to make were blurry and I haven't thought of re-doing them yet. It's basicly a small jar for jam and I coated the inside with just plaster (no activated charcoal, as I didn't have any at the time).

I think these cultures of mine are much too small, but it does look very promissing. So I will be making new ones in much bigger jars, with much more area for the springtails to walk on (I will be using plastic mesh that I will put in the jars like the cardboard in mark's original try, and cover it with plaster). I will also be adding the charcoal to the plaster to see if it makes a difference.


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