# culturing varieties of white"tropical" springtails



## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

just thought i`d start a thread on the diversity in the white tropical springtails and the different conditions under which they culture. ive noticed i have at least one large variety and one smaller which culture best under different conditions. the large variety cultures best on coco peat at 82 to 86f and crashes if its too wet and seems to be top leaf litter. the smaller variety does better around 80 and better on leca w/ water at the bottom and tend to be top to middle leaf litter. the third, common silver and possibly the irradescent purple variety do better in the mid 70`s and seem to like coco fiber the best and are fine under swampy conditions. they also seem to be mid to lower leaf litter variety. all seem to do well on active yeast though.
i just noticed a couple threads stating keep them wet" w/out anything in the thread about which type they were talking about.


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## sunimrette (Sep 2, 2006)

I've been wanting to try tropical springtails, but don't know where to find them. Many websites simply sell "springtails" and don't specify if they are tropical, temperate, much less which specific variety they are. I know that the kind I am currently culturing are temperate as they arrived labeled so. 

My apartment gets to the high 70's, low 80's, and I prefer coco w/ leaf litter cultures, so it sounds like tropicals would produce better for me. 

Anyone know where I could get the "large variety"?

~Rachel


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Black Jungle offers the tropical variety from time to time on their website and they always seem to have cultures on hand for shows. So you might just want to give them a call to see if they have any available.

Their phone number can be found on the website...
http://www.blackjungle.com

Good luck. I've certainly had better luck with tropical springs compared to temperate.

Bill


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

with insects time = temperature + food available. they all have their range adn can be 2 -3+ times as prolific by upping the temps(w/in their range) and feeding appropriately. 
it`s all about tweeking the equation to suite your needs. 
my ff`s wont use all the medium i provide if i dont keep them at a constant 78 or above. which means they dont do good in a dart room that droips to 70 or 71 at nite. darts are the same w/in there prospective temperature range. you can get clutches every couple days when you keep them warm w/ no drops but it is harder to get the right nutritional mix and you have to feed more to compensate for the raised metabolic activity.


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## naidahl (Jul 13, 2005)

i'd totally agree with aarons advice on conditions for each type of springtail, i bought a culture(large variety) from him at mwff and noticed how much drier his cultures were compared to my previous ones, i changed things up and have to say that every since saturday my cultures are much more booming then they ever were, i was keeping them more along conditions of the smaller variety, if you feel your cultures aren't quite up to par i'd take some of this info provided and give it a try


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## brettlt (Oct 5, 2006)

I would love to know how to get the third variety described. I want to add them to a paludarium and this kind would seem to be the best for that environment. 

"the third, common silver and possibly the irradescent purple variety do better in the mid 70`s and seem to like coco fiber the best and are fine under swampy conditions. they also seem to be mid to lower leaf litter variety."

Thanks.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

i`m beginning to believe that there are common white, silver and purple and black(i`ve been finding black ones in my tanks that aren`t the giant) and possibly more. i`ve started to culture a white variety that i found lots of them in the sand near a local damn and they seem to have shorter antennae and the body shape of the silvers although a little bigger. 
i believe the giant black springtails may need a cooling cycle to induce breeding. they bred great for me in the spring, i seeded my tanks and collected some to send out and then they havent really produced since then. i havent really been tryin to culture them but the one culture i have left has some black but the silvers seem to have taken over.
i may try to refrigerate the culture for a week to a month.
i`m sure there are a lot of varieties out there we haven`t tried and some that look like others but have different habits and preferred foods. 
next spring will be fun.


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## brettlt (Oct 5, 2006)

I did a little researching on springtails and they are quite varied over the entire world. This is a neat site:http://www.fathom.com/feature/122603/

Quote
"Worldwide, about 7,000 species of Collembola have been described; of these about 400 have been recorded in Britain and Ireland and about 2,500 are known from Europe. However, in view of the tiny size and cryptic lifestyle of many species, it is likely that less than 10 per cent of all Collembola have been described. Thus there could be as many as 100,000 species in the world, most living in the dwindling tropical rain forest"

"Some Collembola are multi-coloured. In Paralobella orousetii from the Philippines, the head and first two thoracic segments are yellow, the third thorax segment and the first three abdominal segments are red, and the remaining abdominal segments are white." They even have a picture of that one.

They were mistaken for a chemical spill in Austria once.
"On 26 May 1996 in Austria, firemen were called to what they were told was a chemical spill. On arrival they discovered a patch on the road comprising several million specimens of Ceratophysella sigillata (Hypogastruridae). Species of Ceratophysella often form enormous swarms on roads, glaciers, snow and on the surfaces of puddles. The members of these swarms all leap together in the same direction using the orientation of the sun to navigate"

I thought it was pretty neat. It makes me want to find some woods that I can explore and see if I can find some.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

What is the species that BJ carries? 

I just received my two cultures today in the mail.

What temperature is best for this type?

I think BJ told me on the phone they produce better at 80-90 degrees.


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## andy83 (May 31, 2006)

Here is a nice website with pictures. I havn't had the time to get a thorough look at it but it seems pretty nice.

http://www.collembola.org/


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## krowleey (Sep 21, 2006)

elmoisfive said:


> Black Jungle offers the tropical variety from time to time on their website and they always seem to have cultures on hand for shows. So you might just want to give them a call to see if they have any available.
> 
> Their phone number can be found on the website...
> http://www.blackjungle.com
> ...


i know for a fact vivarium concepts has the tropical kind, call cindy she is great to chat with and is no bs.


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## SLEDDER23 (Mar 17, 2005)

Wow, lots of good info/links here. What did I ever do before Al Gore invented all this??


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

Al Gore invented Dart Frogs???????????


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## SLEDDER23 (Mar 17, 2005)

HA! I guess I am misunderstood as was he.  I meant the internet, sorry. You know, all those tubes and things.

Dick Cheney invented dart frogs, silly.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2006)

If you still can't find them, I got mine at IAD, I'm pretty sure from Michael Shrom.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

what is the best way to heat the culture to 82 degrees? a heat pad raises the temp to 100 degrees or so. (I tested a sterile culture with nothing in it on a pad and it came up about that high on the lowest setting)/


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## SLEDDER23 (Mar 17, 2005)

Personally, I have mine in the stand of my African Cichlid tank. The water is heated to 78-80 and water going through the sump in the stand, plus pumps and all keeps the stand at about 80.

If you wanted to invest the time/energy/money, maybe an old cooler with water and an aquarium heater might make a nice storage/heater for springtail cultures. That might be an unrealistic solution though.


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