# Rookie question on spring tails?



## carusd03 (Oct 24, 2017)

Probably a dumb question but this is one I can’t wrap my head around. In an Exo Terra/ZooMed style viv what keeps the springtails and other cleaner insects in the vivarium? Or do you end up with springtails all over the house? I get there importance in a bio active viv it I don’t want bugs all over the house. Again, sorry for the newbie question.


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## switherow (Feb 22, 2017)

Springtails and isopods thrive only in environments with high humidity; microfauna that escape would not be able to survive for long out of the vivarium environment without the humidity or food that they need. 


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## S2G (Jul 5, 2016)

They stay in the leaf litter pretty much unless you have some funky mold up top. I've never seen any close to escaping. Even if they did it would be very short lived.

Now fruit flies that's another story.


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## hp192 (Feb 28, 2016)

S2G said:


> They stay in the leaf litter pretty much unless you have some funky mold up top. I've never seen any close to escaping. Even if they did it would be very short lived.
> 
> Now fruit flies that's another story.


'Another story': Had a culture of 'flightless' FF that became 'non-flightless'...made the mistake of opening the container without checking. Also happened to be the night of a dinner party...everyone with a glass of wine had to keep their hand over their glass to keep the hordes of fruit flies out of their drinks. Guests thought it was hysterical...spouse, not so much. Springtails and Isopods have never been so ill-behaved.


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## goober17 (Nov 18, 2017)

hp192 said:


> 'Another story': Had a culture of 'flightless' FF that became 'non-flightless'...made the mistake of opening the container without checking. Also happened to be the night of a dinner party...everyone with a glass of wine had to keep their hand over their glass to keep the hordes of fruit flies out of their drinks. Guests thought it was hysterical...spouse, not so much. Springtails and Isopods have never been so ill-behaved.


Yikes. Definitely want to avoid that. What are some precautionary measures one could take to ensure that this sort of thing does not happen?


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

goober17 said:


> Yikes. Definitely want to avoid that. What are some precautionary measures one could take to ensure that this sort of thing does not happen?


Make sure that wild fliers don't get in. I usually mix media one day, and then because I don't have time to sit and watch it cool, add flies the next. I've caught wild fliers populated the new batches when I didn't clip the lid down. Also, don't mix flies of different types. There are several different mutations that keep the flies "flightless". If you mix different types of Melanogaster, say, that have different mutations then all the offspring are likely to be fliers. Even though I've known this I recently mistakenly mixed turkish gliders with traditional melano and got an unpleasant surprise when opening the container.

Also, in answer to the original question, the thing that keeps springtails from escaping the tanks is the same thing that keeps them from leaving your lawn and invading your house. You just don't have enough grass, soil, and leaf litter on the floor.


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## theeternalstudent (Jul 26, 2015)

You might have some escapees next to the tank but the lack of humidity will cause them to desiccate (I'm referring mostly to isopods in my experience, any escaped springtails I probably can't even see). 

Yeah, I think another variable is temperature? I feel like I had a culture of flightless ones become not so flightless, and I read one older posts that one possible mutant was an enzyme that folded correctly at higher temperatures...Also, would recommend DIY fly traps-either some apple cider vingear or lemonade with a few drops of water around the tanks.


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## carusd03 (Oct 24, 2017)

Thank you for the replies. I needed the re assurance that I wasn’t going to infest my house with Springtails. FF I kind of expected a few escapees here and there. That didn’t bother me so much. I usually get a small outbreak every summer of FF. My kids leave things laying around. It’s going to be more of a challenge not to contaminate fly flightless cultures than having a few rogue flies.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Cape sundews are good at catching fruit flies. They're carnivorous plants, and not at all hard to keep. They need very bright light, though, and minerals are toxic to them. To keep them happy, pot them in a non-clay pot full of rinsed sphagnum moss or sphagnum peat, preferably with perlite mixed in for aeration. Don't use Miracle-Gro anything, it has fertilizer. Water them with distilled water, RO water, or rainwater, and repot them into entirely new soil at least every two years, preferably every year. They catch flies by being nice-smelling (to flies, you won't smell it) and very, very sticky. Self-cleaning FF traps that occasionally flower as a bonus!


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## carusd03 (Oct 24, 2017)

Betta132 said:


> Cape sundews are good at catching fruit flies. They're carnivorous plants, and not at all hard to keep. They need very bright light, though, and minerals are toxic to them. To keep them happy, pot them in a non-clay pot full of rinsed sphagnum moss or sphagnum peat, preferably with perlite mixed in for aeration. Don't use Miracle-Gro anything, it has fertilizer. Water them with distilled water, RO water, or rainwater, and repot them into entirely new soil at least every two years, preferably every year. They catch flies by being nice-smelling (to flies, you won't smell it) and very, very sticky. Self-cleaning FF traps that occasionally flower as a bonus!


That’s a good tip. Definitely gonna give this a try. Sounds more attractive to look at than a cup of cider vinegar and Dawn


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