Springtails
Donald Dunham - 1/17/2009
If
you need tiny tiny food for very small animals springtails are a good source because they are easy to raise and
don't take up much space, fish breeders have been using this insect for years.
They belong to the Collembola family and are considered to be the most primitive of all the true insects.
You can keep them in a plastic shoe box half full of a good top soil mix, keep the soil moist at all times, I use a
spray bottle with bottled water in it and spray the surface once a day, just make it moist not wet.
To feed them i use cheap fish flakes and worm chow* placed in one corner of the box, avoid getting it wet so it
wont get moldy, if it does, just scoop it out and replace it with new food.
In nature they feed on soft molds, algae, decaying leaves, rotten wood and a lot of the stuff in the dirt you house
them in, I use Wall Marts humus peat potting soil, heck, some times you can find springtails in the bags of potting
soil all ready when you open the bag.
They can be found out side under piles of leaves under boards in moist dirt under rocks where ever there is moister
and decaying organic matter.
*See the cricket care page.
Back to
Top
| 
