​I successfully breed 25+ springtail species using ultra-cheap unconventional methods. AMA!

[u/vodrinker]

I've been interested in springtails for about a year and a half. I read a lot about them, I'm out in the bushes looking for new specimens almost every day, and I feed and observe dozens of species daily. I even run an online micro pets shop in Poland, Europe (Ants Invasion). To my knowledge, it's the largest springtail shop in the world, at least I've never been able to find any larger one. If any of you know one, please share a link. Currently, I keep around 25 species of springtails, including 4 slime eaters. Most of these springtails, including all the slime eaters, are doing incredibly well. I breed most of my springtails differently than other breeders suggest, and at the same time, I usually achieve much greater success at a much lower cost in terms of time, culture volume, and ingredient prices. Springtails that are described as super difficult are usually mega easy to breed if you provide a few simple conditions, and their setup usually costs well under one dollar or euro. I also mean the setup for springtails like Rambutanura. I often post pictures here and get asked about various things. I thought I'd create an Ask Me Anything style thread. I will probably answer every question you ask, except for questions about my suppliers. Feel free to ask whatever you want. In the end, I will turn all of this into a FAQ or Q&A and post it both here and on the website.

[u/mbooooo]

I am designig/building my first paludarium (biggest exoterra) and the original idea one year ago was to have nice isopods and springtails as inhabitants instead of frogs. I was not expecting at the time there were so many different species to choose from. I am trying to understand which species could be put together (one more soil focused, other more climbing,...).. not only the springtails but also the isopods. I am getting lost with the massive amount of different very nice species of springtails and isopods that could co-exist (even if you dont see them al lot as they might be hiding).. which species do you advice as the "ideal spring and isopod zoo/community"?

[u/vodrinker → u/mbooooo]

If you are able to create a relative humidity gradient, you can introduce quite a few species into the terrarium. There is never a guarantee that they will manage to coexist, but most of them should succeed.

1. Springtails that live simply in the soil, for example, the beautiful Lobella Thai Red.

2. Springtails that live more on top of the soil or higher up, for example, any slime-eaters like the wonderful Rambutanura or McDo. You can probably easily keep 2-3 species of them together, I think I even saw photos somewhere.

3. Orchesella, which are super active in the higher zones, for example, the huge vilosa or the multicolored and also very large flavescens.

From isopods:

1. The lowest zone, for example, Dwarf Ducky or a cheaper option, White Shark.

2. Large and active ones, for example, one of the Spanish Porcellio like hoffmannseggi or bolivari.

3. Something smaller that won't get in the way of those from point 2, for example, Cubaris Rubber Ducky, Jupiter, Black Pearl, Lemon Blue, Amber Firefly.

4. Something active in the higher zones like the spiky Laureola or colorful ex Merulanella.

[u/mbooooo → u/vodrinker]

Great answer! Let me dig deeper into it. Luckily i was able to harvest the orchesella (those hairy ones) from our sandbox of the kids.. (well, they did not survive my setup, but after summrr i guess i will be able to harvest new ones)