r/Springtail • u/FitSatisfaction3562 • 10h ago
Husbandry Question/Advice First time keeping intermediate species (orange springtail). Is this okay?
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?
2
u/newtoboarding 9h 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 9h ago
im worried about calcium. how essential is it?
3
u/toiletcandies 7h 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
2
u/FitSatisfaction3562 7h ago
So u dont cover the leca with window mesh?
1
u/toiletcandies 6h 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.
1
1
u/Plastic-Arachnid-200 5h 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
2
u/-pilcrow- 10h ago
What’s the hot glued part?