Culturing Springtails?

AltarMantis · Dec 6, 2016

Hi all, a bit of a rookie here... I've recently boughta fruit fly culture which hasn't worked quite aswell as hoped. While working on that I figured I would ask if any one had a comprehensive list on the steps I would need to take to start a springtail culture. As well as what is needed to be done to maintain the vitality of feeders within the mantis enclosure. I've ended up with a lot of dead ff's and springtails in my containers and a lot of hungry children.

CosbyArt · Dec 6, 2016

@AltarMantis I thought I saw something about you were watering the fruit flies daily, so I will say that is not needed and likely killed them. Personally I have never watered my fruit flies beyond mixing the FF food medium at the start. Read my post here about culturing FF, and a link to a great starter guide by Orin.

My Springtails...

For a step-by-step guide on springtails I'll make one up quickly for you..

Get a plastic shoebox container (Sterilite 6 Qt. 5.7 L #1851 0 7314918518 1 - it has the best fitting lid and only $0.97 at a local Walmart).
You then fill it half full with clean potting soil, compost, or other soil that does not have additives (Tends to be about 4 pounds worth).
Thoroughly soak the soil with water. Let it set and absorb about 30 minutes, and pour off any excess water.
Add your springtails to the completed shoebox.
Do not poke any holes anywhere in the shoebox. That will keep the humidity high as they need, and when you feed them their will get more than enough fresh air (plus the shoebox is not airtight).
Feeding springtails/Watering
A. To feed your springtails simply sprinkle mash potato flakes, ground oats (food processor to grind), ground dry cat food, or any other finely ground dry food. Personally I use my homemade cricket feed and the springtails thrive on it.
B. I find a parmesan cheese container works great to sprinkle the food, just cover the top of the dirt in a thin solid layer.
C. Then you need to mist the food so it gets wet - the springtails eat the mold not the food. If the soil is not damp spray extra too, so they are kept moist.
D. I find feeding them twice a week is more than enough to keep many tens of thousands of springtails happy in the culture.
Harvesting springtails
A. Tilt the shoebox container at about 30 degrees, and spray the culture with water. The springtails will begin to accumulate, floating in the water near the base.
B. You can carefully pour the water and springtails into a mantids habitat (the soil can fall out if tilted too far). Or you can use a eye dropper or empty medicine syringe, to suck up the springtails and spray into the mantids habitat.

I personally keep two springtails cultures, one is for backup in case one dries up too much and the springtail population dies off. With the backup culture I have kept my springtails going from the original culture I bought back in December of 2014.

I have also sold/traded/given away many starter populations to various members on the forum. The springtails population grows to the point in just a few weeks that they all can never be used for cleaning crews, prey, or otherwise - at which point they are almost a pet like isopods.

You can see more about my springtail cultures on my post here.

AltarMantis · Dec 7, 2016

Thank you so much! I'll start right away with the Springtails.

What I intended to say was that I had out a small surplus of ff's in with my mantids and have been misting them once daily. I'm two of my containers the ff's died, and in the other I had no plroblem for a few more days (currently looking for a correlation). I bought a second ff culture and will be starting that tomorrow aswell.

CosbyArt · Dec 7, 2016

AltarMantis said:
Thank you so much! I'll start right away with the Springtails. What I intended to say was that I had out a small surplus of ff's in with my mantids and have been misting them once daily. I'm two of my containers the ff's died, and in the other I had no plroblem for a few more days (currently looking for a correlation). I bought a second ff culture and will be starting that tomorrow aswell.

Your welcome, and best of luck with both the springtails and fruit flies.

I used the springtails guide as a excuse to put together a quick video on culturing them step-by-step too. I filmed it a few hours ago and just finished getting it online. It is my first video besides my short "1950s mantis commercial" so be gentle.

spider_creations · Dec 7, 2016

23 minutes ago, CosbyArt said:

Your welcome, and best of luck with both the springtails and fruit flies.

I used the springtails guide as a excuse to put together a quick video on culturing them step-by-step too. I filmed it a few hours ago and just finished getting it online. It is my first video besides my short "1950s mantis commercial" so be gentle.

I enjoyed your video! I really like the end were it shows the culture in just two weeks

CosbyArt · Dec 7, 2016

spider_creations said:
I enjoyed your video! I really like the end were it shows the culture in just two weeks

Thanks.

I figured I should show what the culture looks like so anyone watching could see how easy it really is. Of course depending on how well they are kept, and how many springtails are added to start the culture, the population can vary.

Also most of the springtails are actually in the soil, which most find out by digging a few spoonfuls of soil to start new cultures.

AltarMantis · Dec 7, 2016

The video was very well done! I started a smaller version last night for when I can get a larger container! Thankyou for all your help!

CosbyArt · Dec 7, 2016

AltarMantis said:
The video was very well done! I started a smaller version last night for when I can get a larger container! Thankyou for all your help!

Thanks, and your welcome. Glad to see you started a culture already to blossom the population for use a feeders, and to fill a larger culture.

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