It's weird to think that an hour ago I had never heard of springtails, and now I'm really fascinated by them. Thanks for introducing me to this interesting topic, and great work on the video =)
yeah same here ^^. i just watched his videos and i was so hyped a few days later i went to buy 5 very small glass containers to do mini terrariums. I also went in my garden and caught 10-15 wild springtails and took some of them to start a colony as he explains in this video. I hope i got enough of them to actually start a colony though, will see.
+The Hobbyist will do ^^ good luck catching them, they should not be too hard to find. I got mine in the soil of my garden plants, we have pine bark in there, just dig a little and you can see many of them jumping everywhere. The tricky part is to collect them, i just try to take the bark piece they are on and put it in a box, later i just pour some water in it to make them float and pick them up using a straw.
Can I just say how awesome it is to get step-by-step tutorials on terrariums from someone who really knows what they're doing. I've been considering trying out terrariums for a while but I haven't really been able to find high quality, informative, and easy to understand tutorials until now. Excellent work and please keep it up.
Will Eschberger two months ago I had no clue about any of this no knowledge of moss plants or terrariums I don’t even know how I ended up on his page fast forward two months later my room is being over taken by terrarium supplies and jars and plants 🤦🏾♂️ I’m addicted now...
You saved me from panic mode thinking my indoor houseplants were infested to feeling very relaxed and happy about God's free mold and fungus cleanups. Springtails for the win! 🥰
@@Tinker13ee To survive in the long term, they need a very airy substrate that will provide "bubbles" for their life and relatively high humidity. In addition, they are extremely sensitive to chemicals and can be killed by tap water if it contains large amounts of chlorine. I don't want to discourage anyone, but it's better to know the facts up front and then not be surprised. 🙂
Congratulations on being the best terrarium designer on RUclips! Almost every terrarium video I see is people adding plants small enough to fit the container but will soon outgrow the container. None of them seem to know about what moss to use, and when they do, they don't leave space for moss to grow,they simply fill the entire area with moss. And of course, they don't ever show an update on the terrariums because people will see their heinous coalition of life.
The purpose of this presentation is to show you the benefit of Springtails and to show you how to culture them for yourself. As stated in the video though, if you want to get serious about this hobby you really should consider it. However, I canceled the listing for the springtails as they basically got sold out! To provide you guys with the best product at the best prices and with good customer service I won't be selling them again until April. Thank you!
Could you explain why the coal is the preferred medium? I imagine it has to do with bacteria or other microorganisms, in that the carbon makes it difficult for them to establish. Orchid bark or mulch sitting in that water would likely break down quickly and be host to such nasties. I collect a variety of soil-dwelling and leaf litter insects using my berlese funnel but of course, they fall into alcohol and are dead! I couldn't imagine the pain of harvesting from the wild! Great video again, keep it up!
Charcoal tends to be the preferred medium, but a lot of people like to use a substrate mix. Springtails tend to breed better in a charcoal culture and as you have suggested the charcoal keeps the culture relatively sterile. As always thanks for watching!
Yes they will live. I ship them in foil bubble wrap along with a heat pack which keeps them nice and warm. Some will likely die off during the shipping process, but the culture should stay largely in tact.
I recently found a snail in my home and spontaneously decided to keep it as a pet. It’s been a little more than a week and I started seeing these little things scurrying around. Thanks to this video I can now confirm I have a wild colony of springtails in my snail tank. Apparently they are good to have in snail tanks so I’m not alarmed, but if anyone here has additional expertise on these little guys I’d appreciate it.
Last night maybe at 3am, I was watching some of your vids and thought of starting my own terrarium making hobby. My first question and problem was where can I get these springtails? 🤔 So I kept watching some vids and there I heard the magic word “decompose”. I instantly thought of my diy mini compost pit for my plants and I remember I see these small white critters roaming within the compost whenver I check it! And voila! My problem was solved! Little did I know that I already had a whole mini farm of springtails for months now! All I need to do now it to trap some of them and put then in a cultivating tray. I am sooo exited!! 😂
I didn’t know they existed they just showed up in a bag of coco coir. I thought I had a problem. So glad they are beneficial. I have thousands in just a few days.
Hell, I just put half a culture into my worm bin. They will definitely assist in breaking down compost further and dealing with any mold that crops up. Plus, it's great to have a composter that doubles as a multiculture for worms, springtails, AND isopods, all of which are regularly seeded in terrariums.
@@meganmorrison6354 :D I have gotten myself a bug (loose term - a tarantula), now I need to buy more bugs for its food, and luckily, the friend who sold me the first "bug" was kind enough to include a happy bunch of those tiny bugs for free. Now I need to rewatch "A Bug's Life" animated movie. :D
I’ve always had springtails appear in my terrariums and vivariums naturally. They arrived hitchhiking on mosses, bark and/or other natural organic elements I added. In the beginning I wasn’t sure what these little arthropods were called but they never appeared to be hurting the plants or animals. I soon learned they were actually very beneficial & desirable “housekeepers” in bio-active enclosures. I’ve also had “pill bug” (aka; roley-poley) colonies occasionally “appear” in enclosures. I knew they were benign critters and now I know they also help keep bio-active enclosures clean & tidy. You do a great job of informing & educating your community Tanner and you have an amazing sense of aesthetics. Good luck with your move and all future endeavors.
I had heard of springtails but didn't know much about them apart from being funky little decomposers, I found a swarm had grown in the substrate of my enclosure and started to panic because I thought I did something wrong or wasn't keeping it clean enough- but now I hope my snail enjoys their new roommates. Great video ☀️
I just shaved off charcoal from a charred pieces of fire wood. Used a bag from the store. Smash with a rock. Transfer the charcoal an throw out the bag. I've learned so much from you. This is the most relaxing and cheap hobby. I'm hooked.
I've been seriously thinking about starting to build terrariums again, and having these resources available from a trusted source is super helpful, so thanks, six years later, for leaving these up Tanner! I've appreciated your content over the years!
I've had springtails in my houseplants for as long as I can remember. You could probably start a culture of springtails from any well established house plant. Just make sure that you are getting springtails, not thrip. Thrip are about the same size as springtails, but they will destroy your plants. If you could see them clearly thrip have iridescent shells, while springtails are translucent. The easiest way to tell them apart is that springtails crawl and jump, while thrip fly or crawl.
OMG finally a comment I was looking for >.< going to investigate what I have right now. What happens if they don’t jump or fly?! 🤣 Nvm, dripped some water on them and they started hopping about.
@@AdriCr4ft I looked online and got a culture of tropical pink springtails. I am working on an idea. Springtails eat the same thing that fungus gnats do...soil fungi. fungus gnats also eat plant roots, but springtails can't because their mouths are not strong enough. Springtails spend their entire life cycle in the soil. Fungus gnats only spend their larval stage in the soil. My idea is that if you inoculate your pots with springtails, they will out compete the fungus gnats for food. I have been trying this for about a year now and it seems to be working. I don't expect to totally wipe out fungus gnats, but with reduced food supply, there seem to be a lot fewer gnats. As a side affect, springtail eat fungi and poop out minute quantities of bug manure. By the way, if you go online, you can buy sprinkle jars of springtail food. It's a handy way to keep your culture healthy and a jar lasts a long time. Of course rice grains or any kind of garbage that gets moldy will do just as well.
Emmit Stewart well if I am honest with you i know I’m going to sound dumb probably but I freaked out and as soon as I posted that comment i went ahead and changed the entire potting soil of that plant. Reason to why is that on searching what these were I found a lot of people asking how to get rid of them from bedrooms because their bed sheets were crawling with them! I am guessing you have not had a similar experience as otherwise you wouldn’t be continuing! I was scared they would jump out of the pot into my other plants and get into the actual wood of the house or something like other people were saying.
@@AdriCr4ft You are not the first to freak out. Springtails are totally harmless to plants and people. You are right that they will jump from pot to pot. If you don't want them, water your plant with a solution of Neem oil. The thing is that if you buy any more plants, the chances are 99.75% that they will have springtails in them. They are just that common. If you grow a lot of plants in your bedroom, it is possible that some will jump onto your bed, but they will quickly starve to death unless your sheets are damp and moldy. In some regards springtails are the earthworms of the potted plant world. Their effect on the ecology of the pot is entirely beneficial, but they aren't pretty, so a lot of people don't want them around. The fact is that the soil in your flowerpot is alive with fungi, bacteria, mites, and a thousand species of micro fauna. If it is not, it is unhealthy and your plants will not live long in it. The circle of life reaches into every living thing, no matter how hard we try to fence it out.
Emmit Stewart thank you so much for your time in replying to my comment and giving so much helpful information. I have only just recently got into houseplants and gardening so I have been finding myself researching everything right now as it’s been a few months and now things are starting to move lol Your comment was more informative than any of the pages I have read. If they don’t survive out and are harmless I guess it’s fine. Do you have any tip for small spiders in the soil? Hehe sorry for the question but you seem like a very smart on the subject patient person and upon inspecting my other plants I noticed these :) Thanks again I really appreciated it
i´d love to see an updated version Thanks to u i decided after following ur channel for 3+ years now to get back into Terrariums & Paludariums & soon into aquatics (will take 3-4 months thou ) i know u made some videos about isopods nd springtails but i´d figure u have way more to tell us now as u had 1 year / 2 year /4year / 6 years ago! :)
When I first started getting into bioactive setups I was completely winging it. I bought a starter kit of springs and isopods and dumped the whole things into my new tank. I ended up getting two more tanks to set up just for fun, the first one was for my treefrogs. I accidentally seeded the new tanks by dumping the frogs water dish into them (the springs love to hang out on the water) and now a month later there’s millions of springtails in all three tanks :) In conclusion, it’s worth getting springtails for your tanks because they’re just that easy to culture, you don’t even need to try. I will be trying this soon though :)
I filled my indoor plant with too much water and when I saw them floating in the pot i was shocked, didnt know what they were. So happy to know now that its nothing to worry about.
I’ve found springtails in my home, which does have a moisture problem, and thankfully knew enough to be thankful for their help rather than worry about pests.
This is such a well made video! I had only a basic understanding of how to cultivate springtails before watching, now I feel confident in raising my own and getting the right products the first time. The text overlay with the methods and details is great.
+Billy Villacis ; Did you mean to reply to a different comment than mine ? Sadly there are not trift stores in my area and the 'Antiaquariate' around the corner just closed :(
Thanks. I have these in my bathroom and I was pretty freaked out because I didn't know what they were. Your video help put my mind at ease that they are not dangerous.
I started a hobby last year breeding Isopods cause I was bored, that’s how I accidentally discovered springtails. At first I thought they were bad and I cleaned my tank out and did everything I could to get rid of them but they kept coming back. I finally learned what they were and that they are good tank buddies for isopods. Now that I’ve left them alone my tank is COVERED in springtails…It’s not hard to get them for free in your yard. The leaves and stuff I gathered from my yard for my isopod tank is what I believe brought the springtails in to begin with. Im still learning the whole isopod stuff. (I just like watching them.) if you want spring tails go gather leaf litter, bark, I even bring dig up plants and put them in the tank. Get that stuff, put it all in a tank or what ever container (I’ve noticed they really like potatoes to) wait a little while and eventually I bet you you’ll have spring tails in there. They breed fast!
I got a mason jar, some creek gravel, some rich soil from a rotten log, some charcoal from my fire, a bit of window screen, and tons of cool little plants. It looks great, thank you for helping me build my first terrarium!
Thanks for the clear and informative video. I bought some potting soil that turned out to be infested with them, but now I know I can just leave them be. My plants seem fine, but I wanted to find out what these creatures were. The tiny spider that's living in the pot of green onions on my windowsill also seems thrilled :)
This video helped me start my springtail culture and it is doing great so far! It was super affordable; I found a bag of charcoal for around 5 bucks and a small culture online for around 12 dollars. I am super eager to start using them to seed terrariums and vivariums, but I am trying my best to be patient and let them establish a decent population before I start more cultures and use them! Thanks so much!
The thoroughness of your tutorials is astounding. I’ve built my vivarium based on your videos and I’m working on assembling my cleanup crew. I was confused on some aspects of it but of course, you have another video explaining everything. Thank you sir!
OmG I totally skrewed up. I was totally freaked out when I saw a swarm if these things under the mulch of my potted lemon trees! I was so freaked out I scraped about 2 inches in each of the pot soil. At first I thought they were fungus gnats but they were jumping not flying. Dang it. I shouldve done my research first before I did anything. Now I want them back on my plants LOL :)
Tanner, I started my first intentional springtail culture this week! Have had them growing at the surface of some of my planted aquariums for years. After watching your video, I started a culture so I can grow some for future terrariums. Thanks for the great vids and ideas!
Everyone said springtails are good cleanup, so I got some, but I totally didn't know any more about them and did it wrong haha. They were kinda expensive so I was leery. It seemed so weird for them to be living on charcoal. So I poured them all into my small roach enclosure and my big monitor enclosure. And I never saw them again. I guess it must have dried out too much at some point :/ Now I know I should have held some back and learned how to feed them so they could keep cultivating! Next time I know better.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your informative videos! I actually attempted to make a couple little terrariums in jars, and to my horror, the beautiful, lichen spotted tree twig I put in one started growing mould! I looked it up and learned SPRINGTAILS eat mould! NOW I know why you would always add them to your terrariums! I just thought you did it to aerate the soil. Anyway, I phoned my local fish and reptile store and found out they had springtails, so after work, I rushed over there to buy some! The guy in charge of livestock was really helpful and since they also sold isopods, I mentioned Rubber Ducky Isopods and he said he could order them in!!!!!!!!! So anyway, I brought home my springtails, put them in a brand new terrarium in a big jar, and I will be taking the others to put in the mouldy branch one at work tomorrow. These ones aren't in charcoal......just wet soil....so I threw in some grains of rice for them.....the ones in the culture container. Anyway, I think I will eventually move up to Isopods in my terrariums soon if I have success with the springtails!!!!!!
Very inspiring and helpful. Unfortunately, here in Australia, it seems no one is selling the starter cultures, even if they were, I wouldn't be allowed to bring them into my state, we have the most strict quarantine laws in the world here. Anyway, I've set up some traps in my garden and will try and collect some to start my own culture... thank you for the information.
@@nowonmetube Australia is very protective of its flora and fauna, in the past, they’ve made mistakes with invasive species (look up the cane toad) but they don’t take any chances. (Even hamsters are prohibited in Australia, so sad 😔)
Omg I was just researching these critters because I was trying to get rid of them. I thought they were bad! But now I am learning they are good! Thank you so much for the info!
Great video! So many indoor gardeners are afraid of these helpful bugs. I've had so many questions from people that want to spray away the little helpers.
been binge watching your videos for weeks now, as in watching one video more than once! I have loads of houseplants and thought i would get into terrariums for the quarantine that is imminent, so in the last 2 weeks i bought everything i need for making some, except the plants, which i collected locally. I was thinking about buying some springtails to add to my terrariums, but i just went to transfer an ivy to a larger pot, and just noticed i have quite the colony starting up in the pot! Couldnt be happier, and am now watching this video to find out how to propagate them. :) Thankyou so much for your videos.
LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE! You have gained yourself a new subbie lol. I am 100% going to culture springtails (I didn't even know this was a thing). Thank you so much for such a comprehensive and complete video
I love how detailed you are in these videos! I was just looking up if i could use the lump wood charcoal in other applications, and then after i gave up so i could focus back on what you were doing, you answered my question lol
I’ve had an old whisky barrel that used to be used as a planter in my backyard for years. Thought it was full of termites the other day. Now realizing they are probably springtails. I just recently got into terrariums and I’m excited to try an get my first culture going
Hi @serpadesign. I've cultured a batch of springtails from the wild. They have been thriving well but these springtails are very small compared to the ones you've shown in your video. They are very motile too, way more faster than the ones you've shown. I'm from India and can this be a different species of springtail? They look exactly like the ones that you showcase in your video but only smaller. They are about 2mm. Thanks for the great videos!! Joseph
Most likely they are a different species, since you live in India. I have seen some around where I live that were about twice the size of the ones that I cultivate, but looked the same otherwise. Thanks for sharing Joseph!
I was getting so nervous that I had mites in my giant day gecko’s bioactive vivarium! I have several species of isopods but I just couldn’t identify this tiny little insect that’s been found all over the place (not literally everywhere) but you can see them within the layers of my substrates. After finding this video I am 110% confident I have springtails, they look EXACTLY like these little things. I also have a charcoal enriched substrate that I got specifically for my isopods made specifically for isopods . I am less concerned about harmful mites (never seen an invertebrate on my animals EVER) but it’s definitely a relief knowing what I’m looking at. And fascinating that they just sort of happened. But also, the guy I purchased my isopods from, also bred spring tails and there were a couple little ones in with my container with my isopods but I didn’t really think they’d reproduce. But this makes soooo much sense!
If I were to cultivate springtails from the wild would there be any downsides? I don't have a credit card to buy a starter culture online so I'd prefer to simply catch them myself
The downside is that it could take a really long time to cultivate a usable amount. You will have to keep collecting soil samples until eventually you see them starting to thrive. Then transfer them into a setup like this.
i have a very small enclosed terrarium with one small tropical plant growing in it. i am concerned because i think i see some spiderwebby fungus growing on the soil, and i think springtails oughta take care of that. I dont think its worth it to buy springtails or even cultivate them in a separate container, because im only trying to seed just one tiny container. could i just directly collect wild springtails and put them in the plant's terrarium to live? or is there something crucial about that charcoal that i am not understanding?
can these little buggies be used in succulent terrariums? i got four little plants im getting ready to move, and would like a way to keep away mold ^^ also; do they like jumping out of open sided terrarium setups? i would prefer not having little critters jumping on my face when i take care of my plants or have them wandering into my food.
I disagree DementedHounds spring tails enjoy moist and tropical places succulents prefer drying out completely before they next get watered so once it dries the spring tails will leave as it is not a moist environment.
Max Velocity: If you have mold growing in your succulent terrarium, you either have drainage problems., not enough ventilation, or you are giving them too much water. Frankly, I wouldn't have succulents in a terrarium. The main advantage of a terrarium is the higher humidity. Succulents abhor high humidity. The only reason why I would think of succulents in a terrarium is as a home for geckos or other desert fauna, and the kind of humidity that would allow mold to grow would also be bad for the geckos.
Brilliant informative instructional presentation - one of the best I have seen, short and very thorough and to the point. Well done sir - thank you. You will have converted and made a lot of pet keepers happy.
I keep springtails in ANY live tank I do - along with various species of isopods - and they are the MOST active critters. I see them walking around in the tanks more than I do the actual critter the tank was set up for half the time lol. And they are very low maintenance.
Well just heard springtails in another video of yours. Googled it, saw this random video title and back at your place lol. Great work man. Keep doing what you do btw. Highly enjoyable, calming and knowledgable content.
@Alyssa ReederBringa Container, Just find a bard, leaves or ground that had one, then just tack it on the container and remove some of non-springtails on it depends on you and place them on a terrarium.
I was so worried when i saw springtails near all the wood chunk mulch i had around my 6 avocado trees, once i researched them i was SO HAPPY to have them around to control any negative molds or fungi. They probably were also attracted because I inoculated all my trees with Mychrorizae fungi, EM-1, and Boogie Brew compost tea trying to keep my soil as alive as possible.
About to start my culture. Already started my isopod culture. Just came in the mail today. Will soon be able to start setting up terrarium projects. Can’t wait to see wait u bring to the Reef community!
Guessing bc it basically provides an inert environment. A substrate that will last and not rot while keeping an even moisture distribution. seems unlikely that an empty container with small pools of water and molding rice would be ideal for any insect.
rowan w Humans don’t fail to do it. We simply haven’t hit our maximum limit yet. It would be impossible for our population to keep growing if we did hit it.
Thank you so much for your upload. I've been racking my brain to come up with a way to make a healthier, more natural looking praying mantis enclosure, and I never thought to include springtails to clean up the debris. Your video explained the process of keeping springtails perfectly.
Wow, this was soo informative. I only heard of springtails within the last couple of weeks (frankly it might of even been on your channel I heard of them), but I just took a few minutes finally to find a definition of what they were and lo and behold, this very informative video. Well done. Thanks. And fascinating too.
I had tried to breed my own feeder crickets once (big mistake). After they had died off, I left the tub in a corner and forgot about it. I found it weeks later and, dreading the disgusting rotten sludge I would find, finally opened it. But no smell, no mold, no mess at all. Springtails had just appeared in there and eaten all of the mold and decay. These are magical little creatures.
I used my compost mixed with leaves sand and other organic matter including eggshells and vegetable matter and springtails are thriving in the terrarium!! I didn't mean for it to happen but I'm glad it did! I guess they were in my compost pile 😅
I forgot about a cutting in a pot with cling wrap over it for like two months came back and found a bunch of spring tails lol. I’m so happy I wanna try making a terrarium
"Although it is possible to cultivate springtails from the wild ..." I'm watching this in 2022 because I seem to have developed an accidental colony of two sorts of these little guys in one of my enclosures. Dunno where they came from, but they...they are welcome. One sort is white, and I showed up here just to check their movement against some really good footage of springtails and learn a bit. The other I somehow had less confusion over, they prefer the water and are an incredibly beautiful dark cool grey. So many websites I find when just looking for imagery calls them all pests, but I really struck gold here. I never set out to do bioactive but it's like bioactive keeps showing up at my doorstep with its bags in hand and a truck in the driveway.
So it looks like I'm gonna have to set out to make a bin specifically to culture them. Although they're doing fine in my critter's home, I worry a bit about propagating. To some degree I'm also content with just waiting for them to figure out that the other homes are close enough that they have space to spread out in, and there are goodies in all of those homes ready to be picked at. Really glad I didn't throw out that split palm piece (ram's horn pod or something, silly name that made it hard to figure out what it was) despite despising the smell of it. Lil springtails are in love with it.
Thank you. This was awesome. Another thing that makes my spring trail culture explode was watered down honey. I pour honey into a tiny glass jar half way then half with water then mix well. this will feed all my cultures and terrariums for a long time. The honey begins to go bad and smell a little funky as well as begging tio be a little merky. I use a little bit of this to feed in terrariums over an exposed piece of coal I the surface to feed them for MONTHS each application. A few drops goes a long ways. This also helps speed up the reproduction to am alarming rate along side sustaining foods such as uncooked rice. Do not mix the other foods with the honey.
Thanks so much for following up in the spring tail cultivation! I hope we have at least something like it in my back yard in Tasmania .. it's gets VERY wet & mossy & toadstool-y here, so I'm thinking carefully peeel back a sheet of moss & they should be jumping around everywhere .. I'm going to start a cultivation for a slightly larger project in the future. I just watched your mini bottle terrarium tutorial & I just happened to have some of those bottles!! So I'm VERY excited to try on such a small scale. And now knowing about these little critters I imagine I'll have much more luck. Thanks ever so much, you are so informative without dragging it on .. perfection basically :) Cheers mate .. I'll let you know here w I go! I may have to wait a month for better climate to get everything from the backyard though. Thanks for your effort & time & sharing your secrets (well some of them) with us 👍🏼😊😇
I occasionally buy isopods from the reptile expo just outside of Chicago and they ALWAYS come loaded with springtails and carbon. At first, I wouldn't use the springtails, I would just toss the carbon out into our garden and call it a day after retrieving the isopods. Then, earlier this year, I decided to get an emperor scorpion. I had it housed temporarily in a large critter carrier until I could get everything I needed for the permanent tank. The day I decided to set up the tank, I'd bought a deli container full of isopods AND springtails and - after adding the substrate, added them in, carbon and all. Needless to say, I haven't had to clean out the tank since I set it up, my plants are growing quite well, and I NEVER have any mold growth that lasts longer than a couple of days - and that mold growth is USUALLY a result of uneaten food left by crickets that are also kept in the tank as a food source for the scorp. Also, I have 2 juvenile dubias in there to help with larger clean up of organic matter. Recently, I just set up a small tank for my domino roaches. I wanted it to be bioactive like the scorpion tank. My original plan was to just go and buy another bucket of springtails but then it dawned on me that I have a source of them already. So I went in and scooped some out - along with some white dwarf and giant orange isopods - and then transferred them all to the roach tank. I NEVER expected to love the benefits of having these guys and now I will NEVER do another planted tank without them ever again.
I am so glad that I just happened to stumble on this channel. I've always loved watching animals and terrarium videos since I never have had the space or time to do it myself unfortunately. For the moment, I am living my terrarium-reptile enthusiast life vicariously through this channel and your outlook on this hobby makes these videos that much more re watchable, educational, and inspiring. Keep up the good work and hope you are able to accomplish all your goals within this hobby and share them with those that love these videos Take care :)
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It's weird to think that an hour ago I had never heard of springtails, and now I'm really fascinated by them. Thanks for introducing me to this interesting topic, and great work on the video =)
hypersapien same lol
yeah same here ^^. i just watched his videos and i was so hyped a few days later i went to buy 5 very small glass containers to do mini terrariums. I also went in my garden and caught 10-15 wild springtails and took some of them to start a colony as he explains in this video. I hope i got enough of them to actually start a colony though, will see.
Keep us updated, I want to try to do it with wild ones myself. :D
+The Hobbyist will do ^^ good luck catching them, they should not be too hard to find. I got mine in the soil of my garden plants, we have pine bark in there, just dig a little and you can see many of them jumping everywhere. The tricky part is to collect them, i just try to take the bark piece they are on and put it in a box, later i just pour some water in it to make them float and pick them up using a straw.
Good idea. Ill probably do the same thing with the ones I see in my compost pile. Thanks! :D
Can I just say how awesome it is to get step-by-step tutorials on terrariums from someone who really knows what they're doing. I've been considering trying out terrariums for a while but I haven't really been able to find high quality, informative, and easy to understand tutorials until now. Excellent work and please keep it up.
Will Eschberger two months ago I had no clue about any of this no knowledge of moss plants or terrariums I don’t even know how I ended up on his page fast forward two months later my room is being over taken by terrarium supplies and jars and plants 🤦🏾♂️ I’m addicted now...
@@naseanferguson8715 XD But I also consider making it into some small side hobby.
@@naseanferguson8715 same here.
Well did you ever get a start up going? If so how's it looking?
Any updates ?
You saved me from panic mode thinking my indoor houseplants were infested to feeling very relaxed and happy about God's free mold and fungus cleanups. Springtails for the win! 🥰
👍🏽
Right? I'm thinking about adding them to my house plants for that reason alone.
God is amazing haha
@@Tinker13ee To survive in the long term, they need a very airy substrate that will provide "bubbles" for their life and relatively high humidity. In addition, they are extremely sensitive to chemicals and can be killed by tap water if it contains large amounts of chlorine. I don't want to discourage anyone, but it's better to know the facts up front and then not be surprised. 🙂
Is your house super humid or something because springtails can’t survive outside of moist conditions?
I love how he recorded himself cooking on the grill, the editing on this channel is great.
That part made me hungry.
😂😂😂
Congratulations on being the best terrarium designer on RUclips! Almost every terrarium video I see is people adding plants small enough to fit the container but will soon outgrow the container. None of them seem to know about what moss to use, and when they do, they don't leave space for moss to grow,they simply fill the entire area with moss. And of course, they don't ever show an update on the terrariums because people will see their heinous coalition of life.
The Mad Hatter I agree with you and you also have inspired me to make updates the terrarium videos I have made. :)
I think the BIO DUDE does the best.
SlivikiShow and Terra-Tinkering do very good videos.
Heinous coalition of life. Lol.
Like the House of Representatives.
*OOF*
The purpose of this presentation is to show you the benefit of Springtails and to show you how to culture them for yourself. As stated in the video though, if you want to get serious about this hobby you really should consider it. However, I canceled the listing for the springtails as they basically got sold out! To provide you guys with the best product at the best prices and with good customer service I won't be selling them again until April. Thank you!
Could you explain why the coal is the preferred medium? I imagine it has to do with bacteria or other microorganisms, in that the carbon makes it difficult for them to establish. Orchid bark or mulch sitting in that water would likely break down quickly and be host to such nasties.
I collect a variety of soil-dwelling and leaf litter insects using my berlese funnel but of course, they fall into alcohol and are dead! I couldn't imagine the pain of harvesting from the wild! Great video again, keep it up!
SerpaDesign would these be harmed being shipped in winter at all? i live in maine and it's bitterly cold and i wouldn't want the little guys to die!
Charcoal tends to be the preferred medium, but a lot of people like to use a substrate mix. Springtails tend to breed better in a charcoal culture and as you have suggested the charcoal keeps the culture relatively sterile. As always thanks for watching!
Yes they will live. I ship them in foil bubble wrap along with a heat pack which keeps them nice and warm. Some will likely die off during the shipping process, but the culture should stay largely in tact.
if you put these little guys in a fully closed terrarium with live plants, would the plants make enough oxygen for them? or would they die?
First time ever heard of this,just living in isolation I guess,after 60 years one can still learn!
You should make one. 👍 let's see what a 60 year old can do 🤔
Old man I feel bad😪
ill help you get started man. Glad you are out.
I recently found a snail in my home and spontaneously decided to keep it as a pet. It’s been a little more than a week and I started seeing these little things scurrying around. Thanks to this video I can now confirm I have a wild colony of springtails in my snail tank. Apparently they are good to have in snail tanks so I’m not alarmed, but if anyone here has additional expertise on these little guys I’d appreciate it.
Last night maybe at 3am, I was watching some of your vids and thought of starting my own terrarium making hobby. My first question and problem was where can I get these springtails? 🤔 So I kept watching some vids and there I heard the magic word “decompose”. I instantly thought of my diy mini compost pit for my plants and I remember I see these small white critters roaming within the compost whenver I check it! And voila! My problem was solved! Little did I know that I already had a whole mini farm of springtails for months now! All I need to do now it to trap some of them and put then in a cultivating tray. I am sooo exited!! 😂
ItsSystemgenerated that’s awesome!! I’m jealous! I have to explain to my husband why I’m about to buy bugs! 😂
I didn’t know they existed they just showed up in a bag of coco coir. I thought I had a problem. So glad they are beneficial. I have thousands in just a few days.
Hell, I just put half a culture into my worm bin. They will definitely assist in breaking down compost further and dealing with any mold that crops up. Plus, it's great to have a composter that doubles as a multiculture for worms, springtails, AND isopods, all of which are regularly seeded in terrariums.
@@meganmorrison6354 :D
I have gotten myself a bug (loose term - a tarantula), now I need to buy more bugs for its food, and luckily, the friend who sold me the first "bug" was kind enough to include a happy bunch of those tiny bugs for free.
Now I need to rewatch "A Bug's Life" animated movie. :D
I’ve always had springtails appear in my terrariums and vivariums naturally. They arrived hitchhiking on mosses, bark and/or other natural organic elements I added. In the beginning I wasn’t sure what these little arthropods were called but they never appeared to be hurting the plants or animals. I soon learned they were actually very beneficial & desirable “housekeepers” in bio-active enclosures. I’ve also had “pill bug” (aka; roley-poley) colonies occasionally “appear” in enclosures. I knew they were benign critters and now I know they also help keep bio-active enclosures clean & tidy. You do a great job of informing & educating your community Tanner and you have an amazing sense of aesthetics. Good luck with your move and all future endeavors.
I had heard of springtails but didn't know much about them apart from being funky little decomposers, I found a swarm had grown in the substrate of my enclosure and started to panic because I thought I did something wrong or wasn't keeping it clean enough- but now I hope my snail enjoys their new roommates. Great video ☀️
I totally thought that they were fungus gnats at first, but I absolutely love these little dudes
I just shaved off charcoal from a charred pieces of fire wood. Used a bag from the store. Smash with a rock. Transfer the charcoal an throw out the bag. I've learned so much from you. This is the most relaxing and cheap hobby. I'm hooked.
I’ve known about springtails for years and seen them in the wild but I had no idea they were this useful and easy to manage.
I've been seriously thinking about starting to build terrariums again, and having these resources available from a trusted source is super helpful, so thanks, six years later, for leaving these up Tanner! I've appreciated your content over the years!
I've had springtails in my houseplants for as long as I can remember. You could probably start a culture of springtails from any well established house plant. Just make sure that you are getting springtails, not thrip. Thrip are about the same size as springtails, but they will destroy your plants. If you could see them clearly thrip have iridescent shells, while springtails are translucent. The easiest way to tell them apart is that springtails crawl and jump, while thrip fly or crawl.
OMG finally a comment I was looking for >.< going to investigate what I have right now. What happens if they don’t jump or fly?! 🤣
Nvm, dripped some water on them and they started hopping about.
@@AdriCr4ft I looked online and got a culture of tropical pink springtails. I am working on an idea. Springtails eat the same thing that fungus gnats do...soil fungi. fungus gnats also eat plant roots, but springtails can't because their mouths are not strong enough. Springtails spend their entire life cycle in the soil. Fungus gnats only spend their larval stage in the soil. My idea is that if you inoculate your pots with springtails, they will out compete the fungus gnats for food. I have been trying this for about a year now and it seems to be working. I don't expect to totally wipe out fungus gnats, but with reduced food supply, there seem to be a lot fewer gnats. As a side affect, springtail eat fungi and poop out minute quantities of bug manure. By the way, if you go online, you can buy sprinkle jars of springtail food. It's a handy way to keep your culture healthy and a jar lasts a long time. Of course rice grains or any kind of garbage that gets moldy will do just as well.
Emmit Stewart well if I am honest with you i know I’m going to sound dumb probably but I freaked out and as soon as I posted that comment i went ahead and changed the entire potting soil of that plant.
Reason to why is that on searching what these were I found a lot of people asking how to get rid of them from bedrooms because their bed sheets were crawling with them!
I am guessing you have not had a similar experience as otherwise you wouldn’t be continuing!
I was scared they would jump out of the pot into my other plants and get into the actual wood of the house or something like other people were saying.
@@AdriCr4ft You are not the first to freak out. Springtails are totally harmless to plants and people. You are right that they will jump from pot to pot. If you don't want them, water your plant with a solution of Neem oil. The thing is that if you buy any more plants, the chances are 99.75% that they will have springtails in them. They are just that common. If you grow a lot of plants in your bedroom, it is possible that some will jump onto your bed, but they will quickly starve to death unless your sheets are damp and moldy. In some regards springtails are the earthworms of the potted plant world. Their effect on the ecology of the pot is entirely beneficial, but they aren't pretty, so a lot of people don't want them around. The fact is that the soil in your flowerpot is alive with fungi, bacteria, mites, and a thousand species of micro fauna. If it is not, it is unhealthy and your plants will not live long in it. The circle of life reaches into every living thing, no matter how hard we try to fence it out.
Emmit Stewart thank you so much for your time in replying to my comment and giving so much helpful information.
I have only just recently got into houseplants and gardening so I have been finding myself researching everything right now as it’s been a few months and now things are starting to move lol Your comment was more informative than any of the pages I have read. If they don’t survive out and are harmless I guess it’s fine.
Do you have any tip for small spiders in the soil? Hehe sorry for the question but you seem like a very smart on the subject patient person and upon inspecting my other plants I noticed these :)
Thanks again I really appreciated it
i´d love to see an updated version
Thanks to u i decided after following ur channel for 3+ years now to get back into Terrariums & Paludariums & soon into aquatics (will take 3-4 months thou )
i know u made some videos about isopods nd springtails
but i´d figure u have way more to tell us now as u had 1 year / 2 year /4year / 6 years ago! :)
When I first started getting into bioactive setups I was completely winging it. I bought a starter kit of springs and isopods and dumped the whole things into my new tank. I ended up getting two more tanks to set up just for fun, the first one was for my treefrogs. I accidentally seeded the new tanks by dumping the frogs water dish into them (the springs love to hang out on the water) and now a month later there’s millions of springtails in all three tanks :)
In conclusion, it’s worth getting springtails for your tanks because they’re just that easy to culture, you don’t even need to try. I will be trying this soon though :)
I like how you go about the right care and my springtails just appeared in my pots one day and kinda chill there lol
I filled my indoor plant with too much water and when I saw them floating in the pot i was shocked, didnt know what they were. So happy to know now that its nothing to worry about.
I’ve found springtails in my home, which does have a moisture problem, and thankfully knew enough to be thankful for their help rather than worry about pests.
amazing video. this is truly one of the highest quality videos on springtails. know you are helping alot of new keepers
This is such a well made video! I had only a basic understanding of how to cultivate springtails before watching, now I feel confident in raising my own and getting the right products the first time. The text overlay with the methods and details is great.
Nice thanks for making this video and listening to comments.
No problem. I was actually making this before you asked a few weeks ago.
FirstDagger I have found some great jars at the trift store! I'm a fan of cork, so it works out for me that most of those jars are old.
+Billy Villacis ; Did you mean to reply to a different comment than mine ? Sadly there are not trift stores in my area and the 'Antiaquariate' around the corner just closed :(
FirstDagger
any sort of washed out ziplock, or fast food containers can work, as long as the little buggies can't escape!
(๑• ₃ -๑)✧
Thanks. I have these in my bathroom and I was pretty freaked out because I didn't know what they were. Your video help put my mind at ease that they are not dangerous.
now I just want to have springtails .... just to have springtails. They look so cute .....
Triasic they might be more cute if they get in to your ear. !!😁
why would they ?! XD
Triasic so creepy crawly and adorable
I captured springtails from the wild and now I have gobs of them XD
You can come get some of mine lol! Tons in my indoor soil. I’ve heard thats how you know your soil is good👍
I started a hobby last year breeding Isopods cause I was bored, that’s how I accidentally discovered springtails. At first I thought they were bad and I cleaned my tank out and did everything I could to get rid of them but they kept coming back. I finally learned what they were and that they are good tank buddies for isopods. Now that I’ve left them alone my tank is COVERED in springtails…It’s not hard to get them for free in your yard. The leaves and stuff I gathered from my yard for my isopod tank is what I believe brought the springtails in to begin with. Im still learning the whole isopod stuff. (I just like watching them.) if you want spring tails go gather leaf litter, bark, I even bring dig up plants and put them in the tank. Get that stuff, put it all in a tank or what ever container (I’ve noticed they really like potatoes to) wait a little while and eventually I bet you you’ll have spring tails in there. They breed fast!
i didnt know ANYTHING thing about this....i learned alot from this video....and if i learned soemthen you know you made a good video,,,nice job
Anything thing?
I got a mason jar, some creek gravel, some rich soil from a rotten log, some charcoal from my fire, a bit of window screen, and tons of cool little plants. It looks great, thank you for helping me build my first terrarium!
Thanks for the clear and informative video. I bought some potting soil that turned out to be infested with them, but now I know I can just leave them be. My plants seem fine, but I wanted to find out what these creatures were. The tiny spider that's living in the pot of green onions on my windowsill also seems thrilled :)
This video helped me start my springtail culture and it is doing great so far! It was super affordable; I found a bag of charcoal for around 5 bucks and a small culture online for around 12 dollars. I am super eager to start using them to seed terrariums and vivariums, but I am trying my best to be patient and let them establish a decent population before I start more cultures and use them! Thanks so much!
I'm converting all my reptiles vivs over to bioactive. Love this video as I like growing my own feeder insects and such.
The thoroughness of your tutorials is astounding. I’ve built my vivarium based on your videos and I’m working on assembling my cleanup crew. I was confused on some aspects of it but of course, you have another video explaining everything. Thank you sir!
OmG I totally skrewed up. I was totally freaked out when I saw a swarm if these things under the mulch of my potted lemon trees! I was so freaked out I scraped about 2 inches in each of the pot soil. At first I thought they were fungus gnats but they were jumping not flying. Dang it. I shouldve done my research first before I did anything. Now I want them back on my plants LOL :)
Coochie Coo They'll come naturally as they did before!
I got bonsi mix on Amazon and put it on my soil surface to combat fungus gnats and that's how I got mine
After watching so many videos that are terrarium related, this is by far my favorite. Great information. Thanks 🙏
You should make a video aBout good starter animals and Insects. It really hard to decide where to start
you mean starter Pokemon?
Yeah what is this animal you speak of?
Tanner, I started my first intentional springtail culture this week! Have had them growing at the surface of some of my planted aquariums for years. After watching your video, I started a culture so I can grow some for future terrariums. Thanks for the great vids and ideas!
Awesome! Hope they will serve you well!
Everyone said springtails are good cleanup, so I got some, but I totally didn't know any more about them and did it wrong haha. They were kinda expensive so I was leery. It seemed so weird for them to be living on charcoal. So I poured them all into my small roach enclosure and my big monitor enclosure. And I never saw them again. I guess it must have dried out too much at some point :/
Now I know I should have held some back and learned how to feed them so they could keep cultivating! Next time I know better.
Watching you, I learn things I NEVER would have thought of. Thank you so much.
just started my first colony! hopefully it goes well :> thank you for all the great info!
Hey, it's been 4 years. How did it go?
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your informative videos! I actually attempted to make a couple little terrariums in jars, and to my horror, the beautiful, lichen spotted tree twig I put in one started growing mould! I looked it up and learned SPRINGTAILS eat mould! NOW I know why you would always add them to your terrariums! I just thought you did it to aerate the soil. Anyway, I phoned my local fish and reptile store and found out they had springtails, so after work, I rushed over there to buy some! The guy in charge of livestock was really helpful and since they also sold isopods, I mentioned Rubber Ducky Isopods and he said he could order them in!!!!!!!!! So anyway, I brought home my springtails, put them in a brand new terrarium in a big jar, and I will be taking the others to put in the mouldy branch one at work tomorrow. These ones aren't in charcoal......just wet soil....so I threw in some grains of rice for them.....the ones in the culture container. Anyway, I think I will eventually move up to Isopods in my terrariums soon if I have success with the springtails!!!!!!
Very inspiring and helpful. Unfortunately, here in Australia, it seems no one is selling the starter cultures, even if they were, I wouldn't be allowed to bring them into my state, we have the most strict quarantine laws in the world here. Anyway, I've set up some traps in my garden and will try and collect some to start my own culture... thank you for the information.
Wtf, why are they prohibited? There must be an explanation for that. Which one?
@@nowonmetube Australia is very protective of its flora and fauna, in the past, they’ve made mistakes with invasive species (look up the cane toad) but they don’t take any chances. (Even hamsters are prohibited in Australia, so sad 😔)
@@Pivaxi oh that makes sense, but it sound a little too strict to say the least.
Omg I was just researching these critters because I was trying to get rid of them. I thought they were bad! But now I am learning they are good! Thank you so much for the info!
Great video! So many indoor gardeners are afraid of these helpful bugs. I've had so many questions from people that want to spray away the little helpers.
been binge watching your videos for weeks now, as in watching one video more than once! I have loads of houseplants and thought i would get into terrariums for the quarantine that is imminent, so in the last 2 weeks i bought everything i need for making some, except the plants, which i collected locally. I was thinking about buying some springtails to add to my terrariums, but i just went to transfer an ivy to a larger pot, and just noticed i have quite the colony starting up in the pot! Couldnt be happier, and am now watching this video to find out how to propagate them. :) Thankyou so much for your videos.
i swear, i was just about to ask you this video
than you so much!
You're welcome. It was one of the top suggested videos.
Just want to say your guides are so well made. Keep it up man
LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE! You have gained yourself a new subbie lol. I am 100% going to culture springtails (I didn't even know this was a thing). Thank you so much for such a comprehensive and complete video
AWW THEY'RE SO CUTE!!
I love how detailed you are in these videos! I was just looking up if i could use the lump wood charcoal in other applications, and then after i gave up so i could focus back on what you were doing, you answered my question lol
Very informative, thanks!
I’ve had an old whisky barrel that used to be used as a planter in my backyard for years. Thought it was full of termites the other day. Now realizing they are probably springtails. I just recently got into terrariums and I’m excited to try an get my first culture going
Hi @serpadesign. I've cultured a batch of springtails from the wild. They have been thriving well but these springtails are very small compared to the ones you've shown in your video. They are very motile too, way more faster than the ones you've shown.
I'm from India and can this be a different species of springtail?
They look exactly like the ones that you showcase in your video but only smaller. They are about 2mm.
Thanks for the great videos!!
Joseph
Most likely they are a different species, since you live in India. I have seen some around where I live that were about twice the size of the ones that I cultivate, but looked the same otherwise. Thanks for sharing Joseph!
Joseph Mohan there are many spicies of them. In single compost pile you can find at least few different forms of springtails.
I really appreciate that you show multiple methods for each step.
Is it okay to put springtails, isopods, and earthworms in the same terrarium?
Yes
I was getting so nervous that I had mites in my giant day gecko’s bioactive vivarium! I have several species of isopods but I just couldn’t identify this tiny little insect that’s been found all over the place (not literally everywhere) but you can see them within the layers of my substrates. After finding this video I am 110% confident I have springtails, they look EXACTLY like these little things. I also have a charcoal enriched substrate that I got specifically for my isopods made specifically for isopods . I am less concerned about harmful mites (never seen an invertebrate on my animals EVER) but it’s definitely a relief knowing what I’m looking at. And fascinating that they just sort of happened. But also, the guy I purchased my isopods from, also bred spring tails and there were a couple little ones in with my container with my isopods but I didn’t really think they’d reproduce. But this makes soooo much sense!
If I were to cultivate springtails from the wild would there be any downsides? I don't have a credit card to buy a starter culture online so I'd prefer to simply catch them myself
The downside is that it could take a really long time to cultivate a usable amount. You will have to keep collecting soil samples until eventually you see them starting to thrive. Then transfer them into a setup like this.
+SerpaDesign okay thanks so much! Your videos are super helpful and inspirational to me :)
i have a very small enclosed terrarium with one small tropical plant growing in it. i am concerned because i think i see some spiderwebby fungus growing on the soil, and i think springtails oughta take care of that. I dont think its worth it to buy springtails or even cultivate them in a separate container, because im only trying to seed just one tiny container. could i just directly collect wild springtails and put them in the plant's terrarium to live? or is there something crucial about that charcoal that i am not understanding?
SerpaDesign It only took about 2 months for my springtails to have a large population. Also I used a Berlese Funnel to capture several to start off.
Connor Amlee
The charcoal is just a surface area for them to crawl on and it's easier to see them on the black charcoal.
I use these in my orchid pots and need to do a bunch of repotting. Thanks for this, now I can build my own culture. :)
can these little buggies be used in succulent terrariums? i got four little plants im getting ready to move, and would like a way to keep away mold ^^
also; do they like jumping out of open sided terrarium setups? i would prefer not having little critters jumping on my face when i take care of my plants or have them wandering into my food.
Max Velocity yes. also if the set up is right, they'll have no reason to want to jump out. they have it all right there
I disagree DementedHounds spring tails enjoy moist and tropical places succulents prefer drying out completely before they next get watered so once it dries the spring tails will leave as it is not a moist environment.
Max Velocity: If you have mold growing in your succulent terrarium, you either have drainage problems., not enough ventilation, or you are giving them too much water. Frankly, I wouldn't have succulents in a terrarium. The main advantage of a terrarium is the higher humidity. Succulents abhor high humidity. The only reason why I would think of succulents in a terrarium is as a home for geckos or other desert fauna, and the kind of humidity that would allow mold to grow would also be bad for the geckos.
Just got my first culture and I'm really excited can't wait to watch them grow :)
Great Video! You really need to create another video on Isopods. =))
I am at some point in the near future. A lot of people want to see it!
Brilliant informative instructional presentation - one of the best I have seen, short and very thorough and to the point. Well done sir - thank you. You will have converted and made a lot of pet keepers happy.
Springtails is going to be my next pet.
Next? What happened to the others?...
I keep springtails in ANY live tank I do - along with various species of isopods - and they are the MOST active critters. I see them walking around in the tanks more than I do the actual critter the tank was set up for half the time lol. And they are very low maintenance.
are*
Your voice is so soothing you’re like the David Attenborough of bioactives haha your work is amazing!! 🌱
my whole fucking body itches
chooch tech lay off the meth!
Cthulhu Has Risen people need their meth to do little hobbies
love the level of detail and care that went into this video
“And you can even do some grilling in the process”
Well just heard springtails in another video of yours. Googled it, saw this random video title and back at your place lol. Great work man. Keep doing what you do btw. Highly enjoyable, calming and knowledgable content.
I have wild spring-tails in my terrarium, they ate all the fuzzy mold in it saving my plants, the fuzzy mold killed my first terrarium.
@Alyssa ReederBringa Container, Just find a bard, leaves or ground that had one, then just tack it on the container and remove some of non-springtails on it depends on you and place them on a terrarium.
I’ve been looking into creating a bio active vivarium (I’m new to the hobby) and this changes EVERYTHING
I've had the critters in my bonsai soil and they were feeding on the solid plant food, and now I need them and can't find any haha
Bart M its always like that! when we dont need it, we saw it anywhere, but when we needed it, it dissappeared! (not just springtails)
Bart M Put a piece of rotting vegetable or fruit on top of the soil and within an hour you will see 1000 🐜🐜🍌🍎🍄
I was so worried when i saw springtails near all the wood chunk mulch i had around my 6 avocado trees, once i researched them i was SO HAPPY to have them around to control any negative molds or fungi. They probably were also attracted because I inoculated all my trees with Mychrorizae fungi, EM-1, and Boogie Brew compost tea trying to keep my soil as alive as possible.
Yeah, but how do they taste?
Everything taste like chicken.
@@alexandrebardin8444 That's just what the machines want you to think :)
Snake reference? 😂
Calm down, Big Boss.
that's what i think every time the dark den adds them to one of his enclosures.
About to start my culture. Already started my isopod culture. Just came in the mail today. Will soon be able to start setting up terrarium projects. Can’t wait to see wait u bring to the Reef community!
I can't find anywhere a reason to use charcoal. Why charcoal? What's the reason?
theclipreaper same, plus its not a common material
Purification probably, and its easier to pick them out.
Guessing bc it basically provides an inert environment. A substrate that will last and not rot while keeping an even moisture distribution. seems unlikely that an empty container with small pools of water and molding rice would be ideal for any insect.
This is super helpful. Thank you so much. Just got my spring tails this past week.
Is overpopulation a common issue with Springtails? If so, what is the best way to combat it?
Maddie Nance not an issue. They naturally balance out themselves according to the amount of resources in the given habitat
Frog.
Something humans fail to do.
Hypoaspis Miles. Its a predatory mite that attacks springtails and fungus gnats
rowan w Humans don’t fail to do it. We simply haven’t hit our maximum limit yet. It would be impossible for our population to keep growing if we did hit it.
Thank you for this video and love your channel. Creativity at an economical level helps ppl like me on tight budgets
Thank you so much for your upload. I've been racking my brain to come up with a way to make a healthier, more natural looking praying mantis enclosure, and I never thought to include springtails to clean up the debris. Your video explained the process of keeping springtails perfectly.
Thank you! This is a great video. Now I feel confident to start my own culture.
Really useful info. I use springtails in my hobby and this will help me keep their numbers up.
Wow, this was soo informative. I only heard of springtails within the last couple of weeks (frankly it might of even been on your channel I heard of them), but I just took a few minutes finally to find a definition of what they were and lo and behold, this very informative video. Well done. Thanks. And fascinating too.
I had tried to breed my own feeder crickets once (big mistake). After they had died off, I left the tub in a corner and forgot about it. I found it weeks later and, dreading the disgusting rotten sludge I would find, finally opened it. But no smell, no mold, no mess at all. Springtails had just appeared in there and eaten all of the mold and decay. These are magical little creatures.
I used my compost mixed with leaves sand and other organic matter including eggshells and vegetable matter and springtails are thriving in the terrarium!! I didn't mean for it to happen but I'm glad it did! I guess they were in my compost pile 😅
02:48 that fadeover was beuatiful and very professional made sir!
I forgot about a cutting in a pot with cling wrap over it for like two months came back and found a bunch of spring tails lol. I’m so happy I wanna try making a terrarium
"Although it is possible to cultivate springtails from the wild ..."
I'm watching this in 2022 because I seem to have developed an accidental colony of two sorts of these little guys in one of my enclosures. Dunno where they came from, but they...they are welcome. One sort is white, and I showed up here just to check their movement against some really good footage of springtails and learn a bit. The other I somehow had less confusion over, they prefer the water and are an incredibly beautiful dark cool grey. So many websites I find when just looking for imagery calls them all pests, but I really struck gold here.
I never set out to do bioactive but it's like bioactive keeps showing up at my doorstep with its bags in hand and a truck in the driveway.
So it looks like I'm gonna have to set out to make a bin specifically to culture them. Although they're doing fine in my critter's home, I worry a bit about propagating. To some degree I'm also content with just waiting for them to figure out that the other homes are close enough that they have space to spread out in, and there are goodies in all of those homes ready to be picked at. Really glad I didn't throw out that split palm piece (ram's horn pod or something, silly name that made it hard to figure out what it was) despite despising the smell of it. Lil springtails are in love with it.
Very well done. Straight to the point and very informative. TY
thank you so much for all the videos and information, you've helped me get into this hobby and saved me from making a lot of mistakes.
WOW.... how cool! Never heard of these before. Thanks.
You are amazingly knowledgable! And good at presenting information. I'll be checking out more of your terrarium videos.Thanks for sharing.
Just as I was wanting to make my first terrarium! Got everything but just waiting for the glass to be shipped. Thanks for the inspiration Serps!
Your welcome!
Thank you. This was awesome. Another thing that makes my spring trail culture explode was watered down honey. I pour honey into a tiny glass jar half way then half with water then mix well. this will feed all my cultures and terrariums for a long time. The honey begins to go bad and smell a little funky as well as begging tio be a little merky. I use a little bit of this to feed in terrariums over an exposed piece of coal I the surface to feed them for MONTHS each application. A few drops goes a long ways. This also helps speed up the reproduction to am alarming rate along side sustaining foods such as uncooked rice. Do not mix the other foods with the honey.
Interesting maybe I will try this out some time. Thank for the tip!
I've had this in my watch later for quite some time now. I see you're almost at 1,000,000 subscribers, that's awesome Tanner!
I made a small closed terrarium with a pond in a jar a few months ago, opened it up today to find loads of springtales!
Thanks so much for following up in the spring tail cultivation! I hope we have at least something like it in my back yard in Tasmania .. it's gets VERY wet & mossy & toadstool-y here, so I'm thinking carefully peeel back a sheet of moss & they should be jumping around everywhere .. I'm going to start a cultivation for a slightly larger project in the future. I just watched your mini bottle terrarium tutorial & I just happened to have some of those bottles!! So I'm VERY excited to try on such a small scale.
And now knowing about these little critters I imagine I'll have much more luck. Thanks ever so much, you are so informative without dragging it on .. perfection basically :) Cheers mate .. I'll let you know here w I go! I may have to wait a month for better climate to get everything from the backyard though. Thanks for your effort & time & sharing your secrets (well some of them) with us 👍🏼😊😇
Best how-to I’ve seen. Now on to isopod. Cheers
I occasionally buy isopods from the reptile expo just outside of Chicago and they ALWAYS come loaded with springtails and carbon. At first, I wouldn't use the springtails, I would just toss the carbon out into our garden and call it a day after retrieving the isopods. Then, earlier this year, I decided to get an emperor scorpion. I had it housed temporarily in a large critter carrier until I could get everything I needed for the permanent tank. The day I decided to set up the tank, I'd bought a deli container full of isopods AND springtails and - after adding the substrate, added them in, carbon and all. Needless to say, I haven't had to clean out the tank since I set it up, my plants are growing quite well, and I NEVER have any mold growth that lasts longer than a couple of days - and that mold growth is USUALLY a result of uneaten food left by crickets that are also kept in the tank as a food source for the scorp. Also, I have 2 juvenile dubias in there to help with larger clean up of organic matter.
Recently, I just set up a small tank for my domino roaches. I wanted it to be bioactive like the scorpion tank. My original plan was to just go and buy another bucket of springtails but then it dawned on me that I have a source of them already. So I went in and scooped some out - along with some white dwarf and giant orange isopods - and then transferred them all to the roach tank. I NEVER expected to love the benefits of having these guys and now I will NEVER do another planted tank without them ever again.
I am so glad that I just happened to stumble on this channel. I've always loved watching animals and terrarium videos since I never have had the space or time to do it myself unfortunately. For the moment, I am living my terrarium-reptile enthusiast life vicariously through this channel and your outlook on this hobby makes these videos that much more re watchable, educational, and inspiring. Keep up the good work and hope you are able to accomplish all your goals within this hobby and share them with those that love these videos
Take care :)
Those springtails are so cute! Thanks for the video!!
Great informative video! I’ve watched a lot but yours was the most helpful. Thanks!😀
Wonderful Video! THank you for making one so information-packed!