# Springtails



## AustinDuBoisfrogguy (Mar 19, 2017)

Hello everyone was just wondering what you guys fed your springtails to get them to boom and breed I have a large culture but I am not seeing the production that I want any tips / tricks would be appricated 

Thank you


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

I feed active yeast, fish flake food, and a rice formula dry baby food.

But, what I've found is that it's not so much what you feed. It's more about how much you feed and how often. I sprinkle enough on my cultures to last about 3 days and then I feed them every 3 days.


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## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

(I have moved this thread to the Food & Feeding subforum)


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

I feed only brewers' yeast and get really good yields. I use plastic shoeboxes and use charcoal as the only substrate. I find that it matters quite a bit how much water there is in the culture as to how many springtails I have in there. Seems like enough of the substrate has to poke above the water level...but not too much. I don't really understand what the mechanism that is at work here is. Mine seem to prefer to forage on dry land but hang out in the water. Maybe that's the ticket? Anyway, it works pretty well for me. 

Mark


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

AustinDuBoisfrogguy said:


> Hello everyone was just wondering what you guys fed your springtails to get them to boom and breed I have a large culture but I am not seeing the production that I want any tips / tricks would be appricated
> 
> Thank you


What species are you cultivating? There are some culturing differences between different types. 

some comments 

Ed


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## AustinDuBoisfrogguy (Mar 19, 2017)

They are tropical white springtails


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Are you housing them on ground cocofiber or ABG style mix? If so what did you add for calcium? 

some comments 

Ed


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## topher (Oct 9, 2013)

I have always cultured temperate springs and have had best yields on charcoal. Tropical species will do fairly well on cocofiber, as well. 

I feed a mix of brewers yeast, dry (uncooked) lentils, brown rice, mushroom powder, and active yeast all blended together to get a relatively fine powder. I keep my cultures in shoeboxes and divided in half every 6 months or so. I think a lot of peoples issue when culturing springs is that they do not start with a large enough initial population. Splitting heavily producing cultures in half has always helped with this issue, for me.

I feed every 3 or 4 days with a very, very light dusting of my mix over the top of my cultures. The quickest way to destroy a spring culture is to load them up on too much brewers yeast and close the lid. Feeding small amounts has absolutely done the trick for me in more frequent intervals. 

I keep around 20 shoebox cultures of springs going at any given time and divide when they begin to look like the one pictured. I think figuring out springtails is one of the most important steps in keeping adults healthy (supplemental feedings) and raising froglets, especially Oophaga. 



















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## AustinDuBoisfrogguy (Mar 19, 2017)

Damn that is a lot of springtails ! Not had that many of them ! I do have 6 blue jean pumillo that's why I am trying to get enough cultures going to were I can feed them primarily springtails


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## topher (Oct 9, 2013)

They still need well supplemented fruit flies, but springs are an extremely important supplemental feeder for adults and an essential feeder item to have on hand if you've got froglets.


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## skimmy (Aug 14, 2016)

So I just got two of the 32 oz cultures from joshs. Should I let them get a good population going in the containers there in or should I go straight to the shoe box? Would I have better luck starting one box with both cultures or splitting them up into two boxes? 

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## AustinDuBoisfrogguy (Mar 19, 2017)

Oh yea I feed them the fruit flies as well they just seem to like the springs more


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

topher said:


>


WOW!!!

I guess I know where I'm getting my next batch of springtails from


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## chillplants (Jul 14, 2008)

One more thing I would like to add, I always use the lid to fan my cultures when I open them up to get fresh air moving around inside. I have small vents, but CO2 can still settle at the bottom and I use this extra step to make sure the cultures have plenty of good air to breath.


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## topher (Oct 9, 2013)

skimmy said:


> So I just got two of the 32 oz cultures from joshs. Should I let them get a good population going in the containers there in or should I go straight to the shoe box? Would I have better luck starting one box with both cultures or splitting them up into two boxes?
> 
> Sent from my LGL53BL using Tapatalk


I would absolutely start a shoebox culture with both of the 32 oz cultures if you start them right away. What I have done in the past is divide those joshs frogs cultures into 2 16 oz cultures to really get them going in a smaller setup, then build up to a shoe box culture. In my opinion, I don't think the joshs frogs cultures ever really have enough springs to immediately start a shoebox culture off right, but given time I am sure they'd get going. 

For example, when I start new cultures I literally just split a culture like I posted a photo of in half. That is likely overkill, sometimes, but you are going to be able to pull from that culture much much quicker and still have enough to keep the population going.


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## topher (Oct 9, 2013)

gary1218 said:


> WOW!!!
> 
> I guess I know where I'm getting my next batch of springtails from


Any time! I over culture springs, to be honest. I could probably get away with around 12 of those shoebox cultures but I am pretty obsessive about never running out of springs haha


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## skimmy (Aug 14, 2016)

topher said:


> I would absolutely start a shoebox culture with both of the 32 oz cultures if you start them right away. What I have done in the past is divide those joshs frogs cultures into 2 16 oz cultures to really get them going in a smaller setup, then build up to a shoe box culture. In my opinion, I don't think the joshs frogs cultures ever really have enough springs to immediately start a shoebox culture off right, but given time I am sure they'd get going.
> 
> For example, when I start new cultures I literally just split a culture like I posted a photo of in half. That is likely overkill, sometimes, but you are going to be able to pull from that culture much much quicker and still have enough to keep the population going.


Is there a better place to order. I've only seen about five running around in between the two cultures

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## topher (Oct 9, 2013)

Yeah that is not even close to enough to get a good culture started. When i first started culturing springs i got them from local buddies. Ask around to see if there is anyone near you that can help out. 

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## rjs5134 (Feb 1, 2017)

Skimmy, same thing here... If I look closely for a few minutes I MAY see 1 or 2.


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## topher (Oct 9, 2013)

It is kind of ridiculous that people ship out springtails like that, to be honest. The argument is always that there is eggs about to hatch in there but ive never really found it to be true. I have always had the best success having adults shipped or buy adults local if i run lower than I like. 

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