Springtail cultivating

[Orlauskas]

Hello everybody, its me again

Yesterday I have bought two tubes of sprintgails cultures and reading now in Internet about feeding them and making culture to grow. Everybody shows different ways, somebody says feed with 100% pure brewers yeast. , other fish flakes , third milk free oats.
And about base: people says use ''We suggest using charcoal as a substrate to breed springtails over coconut fiber & other mixed media.'' others like in this video : Making New Springtail Cultures - "collembola" Part 1 - YouTube Use peat based substrate. So which receipt you can advice to me please?

[jz24]

Hi Orlauskas,

I would put put one tube directly in your vivarium. The second tube, I would culture in distilled water and charcoal and feed a little bakers yeast. When you need to feed out, just pour off your springtails ( they float)! The springtails in your viv will reproduce and provide snacks for your frogs. Take care and best of luck to you.

Judy

[Orlauskas]

Can I use just bbq charcoal ? Or need get some special one from somewhere?

[kueluck]

I've always use activated charcoal found in aquarium supplies, & for food I put a few grains of white rice which will mold and they feed off that in the culture. You just need to make sure you keep putting new rice in so it molds before they consume the other ones. They also love bug burger by Repashy.

[Mentat]

Can I use just bbq charcoal ?...

If it is natural hardwood lump charcoal that looks like this product pic and has no chemical additives, it's OK . Might need to smash large pieces with hammer; do wear eye protection and respiratory mask if doing so. Do not recommend using compressed briquettes because of binders and chemicals in them.

[Heatheranne]

I use the fish tank type activated charcoal also. BBQ charcoal has chemicals in it to get a fire started. This will poison and kill your springtails.

Take a peek at the video on this page.

[URLhttp://www.joshsfrogs.com/food-nutrition/feeder-insects-supplements-2/springtails-2.html][/URL]

[Orlauskas]

Nice job done with your comments guys, thanks for help will get fish tank.... STOP do you mean
ACTIVATED CARBON like : 700 G ACTIVATED CARBON AQUARIUM FILTER MEDIA FISH TANK WATER POND FILTRATION | eBay , yes?

[Heatheranne]

Yes, aquarium type charcoal is what you're looking for .

[flybyferns]

I keep mine in ( unvented) containers on ABG / moistened with distilled water/ feed them - only- active - dry yeast

this is a 1 pound deli container:

[Orlauskas]

Sounds as well see many people growing them by self and have different tactics .

[dmallia]

I grow mine in unventilated cointainers on coco fibre as substrate and feed them bakers yeast. I tried several food types like rice, banana, mashed apple, papaya but they go crazy for bakers yeast. I don't recommend food with cerial grain like rice since they can have mites and ruin your culture. I got my first 2 cultures 3 weeks ago and 1 week after I made my own culture and now there is one huge colony in the container.

[slimninj4]

I make my own using distilled water and charcoal. Put a small bit of rice in there and they grow. Then I put a couple spoonfuls of them in the viv. I will have to try the yeast.

[Mmfh]

Wow, I never heard about raising springtails this way. I keep mine on millipede soil relatively dry with one spot I spray with declorinated tap water every two days. I feed them cucumber, potato, celery, grapes....you name it and they eat it. Currently my cultures are out of control lol.

[Ash]

Everyone has given good advice which they personally use. I will just add that different varieties of springtails may require or rather thrive more on a "soil" type substrates whereas others do better on charcoal. We currently culture Silver, Tropical, Temperate and Tropical Pink Springtails, We have found by Our large master cultures of springtails that silver springtails do better on ABG type substrate whereas Our temperate springtails really boom on charcoal and then we transfer them to soil. When you receive your Springtail cultures split them onto different media and grow them out before transferring to your viv noting what seems to work best..

[slimninj4]

So I changed how I feed the springtails. I do not have brewers yeast so I just got some yeast packets and tried it out. In one week the culture quadrupled in size and this is the biggest increase in population I have had. So much better than using rice ( which I found fruit flies would grow out of. I have no idea how that happened). Next I will split this culture and try a substrate instead of just carbon and distilled water.

[Ash]

Yeast is good as it will be more immediately available for food as it will ferment faster than a rice grain and is already broken down. Our own Springtail Culture Food is composed of immediately available Vitamins serving as the best of Nutrients for your Springtails and is already broken down for Quick Assimilation. Grains like rice often contain eggs from several varieties of pests like gnats or moth. It is good to use these procedures you are doing in order to determine what will cause your colonies to thrive.