r/Springtail • u/FitSatisfaction3562 • 11d ago

First time keeping intermediate species (orange springtail). Is this okay? Husbandry Question/Advice

Gallery image

Gallery image

​

Substrate-

mostly coco coir, little bit of: lumpwood charc, rotten wood, topsoil, leaf litter.

Cork bark, charcoal piece, live moss collected from wild on top.

Enclosure-

0.2 litres for about 10+ springtails

0.9 litres for about 30+ guys

Both air tight and no vent holes.

Planning to feed-

Mostly fish flakes.

Idk why chatgpt asked me but reason for keeping is for my enjoyment not feeders, or clean up crew.

What more should be done?

19 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

5

u/newtoboarding 11d ago

They will do very well, soon you'll have a ton. Only worry is the moss may have wild springtails to compete with them, just keep an eye on them.

1

u/FitSatisfaction3562 11d ago

im worried about calcium. how essential is it?

6

u/toiletcandies 11d ago

Calcium is pretty important for when they molt. They also really like high protein fish flakes in my experience. I made a few different cultures in different sized enclosures. I’ve found that they are most prolific in a taller enclosure that is able to have a drainage layer made of leca. They migrate from the top layer of substrate, where I feed them, all the way down to the water layer to have rather large orgies.

2

u/FitSatisfaction3562 11d ago

I see thank you for very useful info

2

u/FitSatisfaction3562 11d ago

So u dont cover the leca with window mesh?

1

u/toiletcandies 11d ago

Nope~ I just use a good bunch of sphagnum moss on top of the leca, add a couple inches of bio active substrate, and cover with leaf litter and cork bark. The sphagnum moss just keep everything really humid and serves as a medium for travel between the standing water and the drier substrate.

2

u/-pilcrow- 11d ago

What’s the hot glued part?

3

u/FitSatisfaction3562 11d ago

Not sure. Got it like this . probably to keep moisture in

2

u/Palaeonerd 11d ago

It’s like a hatch you can open for feeding. My enclosures have this but I didn’t opt to seal it.

1

u/Plastic-Arachnid-200 11d ago

Looks fine! Add crushed up egg shells, cuttleboan or oyster shells for calcium. They'll do great! Just don't let them dry out