# Buying Springtail cultures



## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

I have been preparing for my first frogs for several months now and I decided to place an order from a DB Board sponsor for some springtails. The plan was to seed the crap out of my terrariums and get several cultures going. So when I received my cultures I opened them up and didn't see any springs. When I transferred the cultures to shoe boxes I decided to flood them out just to see how many I had. I counted 35 in the first culture and 5 in the second. 

Is this normal for spring starter cultures? 

Or should I expect the cultures to be a bit more established? 



-B


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

That totally depends on who you get them from. Give them time though, they'll bloom. Sorry you didn't get bigger, better cultures from whoever you got those from.


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## flapjax3000 (Jul 4, 2009)

I have seen them vary in range. I would not be too worried. Just make sure to feed them and leave them be for a month or so. They reproduce quite heavily depending on species and substrate.


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## MeiKVR6 (Sep 16, 2008)

Not sure who you bought the culture(s) from... Two things.

1) Springtails shipped on charcoal tend to disappear (ground up to nothing). There are threads about cultures arriving looking awful but they almost always bounce back after a few days/weeks. That's the disadvantage to charcoal, but it breeds springs with ease.

2) Springtails shipped on mixed media should fare better, but some can/will still die off in shipping. Giving them a few days/weeks to reestablish themselves in the culture before splitting it will make for better results.

35 springs in a culture is extreme. I know a lot of the sponsors who sell springs (I'm one of them) and I don't think anyone on here would do that. I'd like to think it's probably more of a shipping issue. 

Springs & Isos are detritivores... They eat decay. It doesn't take much to make a few bug bodies disappear among dozens of hungry bugs.


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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

35 is extremely good or bad? 

I bought 2 cultures one of them had 5 springs and the other had 35. 

They were both shipped in charcoal. 


-B


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## Adven2er (Aug 17, 2008)

I wouldn't sell a culture unless it had hundreds of springs in it. It is possible that the springs perished during shipping and they were consumed by the others. Don't be too discouraged yet though. There are likely many unhatched eggs in there. Add a little live yeast to the culture and let it sit for a couple of weeks.


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## flapjax3000 (Jul 4, 2009)

I have received cultures that had no visible springs in them. After about a month and with feeding they became established enough to split. Some springs do fair better than others. What type of springs did you purchase?


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

If you're willing to pay the shipping cost I'll ship you a springtail culture LOADED with springs so you'll know what to look for next time.


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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

When I saw that the cultures were lacking. I immediately contacted a few members on the board to purchase additional cultures and ISOs. I decided to spread the love around and get product from several board members. I also wanted to see if what I initially purchased from the sponser was normal.

Gary, 
I have two cultures of dwarf White ISOs coming from you. You never mentioned you had any spring tails! PM me with what you have.

I also placed orders with Feelin Froggy and JeremyHuff. 


All three of these members were extremely easy to work with. (Just an FYI for other NOOBs in the same boat as me.) I have not received the cultures yet but I will be sure to leave feedback. 


The only springtail variety I was unable to obtain was blue. So anyone with a culture or two they would like to sell please PM me. 


-B


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