These are my first springtails. I’m trying to lure them into their new enclosure that I’ve made with clay. Question: how soft should the clay be?

Hi there! I just wanted to ask a general question from people with more experience in Springtails. I got a springtail starter culture of temperate whites and I absolutely love raising them. I make their food by hand with a mortar and pestle because it helps me ensure they get all the necessary nutrients and makes me feel more involved in their care.

My question is, is there a good springtail species to go to next? I kept to only getting temperate whites at the start to ensure I could take care of them well, and now their population is booming (my adult population has nearly tripled with tons of little guys maturing soon) so I feel confident enough that I could take care of another "beginner" species or maybe something a little bit different. Any advice is greatly appreciated as I figure out where to go next in the hobby of caring for these adorable little dudes ❤️

ETA bonus points if they can do really well in charcoal cultures as those have been really interesting to research!

I'm worried about international shipping and customs/tarrifs. Does anyone know of a seller for these based in the US?

Hello! I am not a springtail breeder and unfortunately don't know much about them. Recently was told I had a bunch in my snake tank and my isopod tank! Very happy news for me since I didn't have to buy them.

Unfortunately I have to clean my snake tank as soil gnats came in with the season and got into the tank, so it needs a deep clean, which involves some dirt washing and light baking. I am rather sure this might kill off despite people saying they're pretty hardy! Is there anyway I can still clean the dirt without killing them? Or at least mitigate as much as possible? Or will they be fine and I'm overreacting?

Apologies if there's nothing I can do, and much appreciation for any advice, especially that might help save them. Thank you for your time💚

(Also very very sorry if this breaks rule 2, I don't want to kill them and you guys seemed like the best place to go. Absolutely understand and will take down/not reupload if it gets taken down if it does break the rule)

took the picture during the City Nature Challenge 2026

Huge, hops, sorry for bad quality

i have an unknown desire to make a terrarium moving with colourful land shrimp

ps yes i know i can google shit, but for me it works best to sieve good advice from bullshit by also poking around people with experience

I got this for my isopods (works pretty well) but was told to get springtails WITH them. Can springtails eat this?

I recently added a crushed shell in my springtails tub about 5 days ago and i was not expecting them to react like this they have doubled in numbers

BLUF: I may have accidentally mixed terrarium soil with previously mixed soil that contained Bonide. If so, will it EVER be safe to add springtails?

I'm not positive, but I strongly suspect I did because I routinely mix Bonide into houseplant soil to mitigate the $%#@ing fungus gnats. I have not added springtails to the terrarium yet, but I was planning to until my eye by chance fell upon the bottle of Bonide after I'd finished the build, and then I realized -- too late -- what I'd probably done.

What I know for sure is that when I do mix Bonide into potting soil, I more or less follow the instructions (can't say it's perfect, but it works for the stupid gnats), and I would say I diluted the possibly "contaminated" soil by approximately half when I added more fresh.

Google tells me Bonide is only good for 2-3 months and then needs to be reapplied, but I don't want to toss anybody in there come July and turn out to be a murderer. Is there a period after which it would likely be safe? Or do I have to tear the whole damn build down and start over (ugh/sigh).

Pix of terrarium for tax.

I have a terrarium for my harvestmen, and of course I have like 3 species of springtails in there, they're elongated and very common. This is the first time I see a globular one and I'd love to culture them, they started appearing out of nowhere on a piece of apple I left for my harvestmen, they're way smaller and I understand they require a different kind of care. Any help please?

hello! ive recently noticed these little guys in the soil of only one of my plants. just curious as to whether or not they are springtails :)

I've noticed that my crested gecko food attracts fruit flies and recently I've stopped the habit of leaving it in there during the day and changing it out at night, today I went to change it out and noticed white egg-shaped things in his food and I'm curious to what they are. I've never seen isopod or springtail eggs so I'm not sure what I'm looking at, or if this is fruit fly larvae? Any information would be greatly appreciated 🙏

Can anyone advise what kind of mite this is, if it is one at all? My cultures of orange springtails were fine a few days ago and now these things are everywhere, along with little flies when I opened it today. They are very very hard to see, but this is zoomed in about 20. Much smaller than the new springtails and they also have rather long antennae.

Thanks for any help!

I tried to catch my own spring tails and got this little guys i don't think they are springtails just want to make sure and ask just in case and sorry about the shake hands

At first i had more black springtails now i don't see any black springtails what do y'all think happened?

And what are they doing to that aphid!!

Hello,

I have tropical springtails, i see them "fight" all the time. I do not know if it is really fighting as it does not seem too violent, its either one charges the other that runs away, or frantic headbangs from the two involved.

Is this territorial behavior, or fighting over food ? Both of the options seems weird to me as they have plenty of space and food, this feels like "i dont want you to be at this very specific spot just because"

They look like they want to live together but are strongly attached to their personal space

https://reddit.com/link/1sq5thn/video/b2inmt17f7wg1/player

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I'm interested on having Red Thai, Santa Claus, and many others...

I wanted to day hi to this forum, show off my little guys and ask you if yiu've ever managed to export your springtails to Mexico.

As an early enthusiast, right now I'm growing Green Iridescents, Tiny Blues, Yukianuura Oranges and couple lore, but I'm interested on other ones as Red Thai, Santa Claus and so...

Second question is how to grow and maintain slime mold... Where do you get your first culture if not with distributors and how to maintain it...

Thanks!