How to Culture Springtails- Care, Feeding, and More!

A general overview of culturing and caring for springtails, specifically tropical (Collembola sp.) and temperate (Folsomia Candida) white springtails. Springtails are some of the most popular and effective decomposers in terrariums. They are essential to properly setting up and maintaining a bioactive enclosure.
They are called springtails due to their furcula, which is an appendage that allows them to jump up to several inches. In order to land properly from these large jumps, they have an organ on their abdomen called the collophor. This organ assists them in grounding themselves and assists in stabilization when jumping and landing.
Most springtails range from 1-4mm in size, making them hard to see with the naked eye. Because of this, many species are yet to be discovered or well documented, and even fewer are present in the hobby. In North America, there is an estimated 700 species and there is an estimated 6000 species worldwide.
To shop products in this video, visit our website westcoastcreatures.com!

[@calebgrindstaff1322]

I just bought your springtail culture kit. The original shipment did not come but, west coast responded to my message promptly and had it sent out immediately. It arrived packaged very well with all the springtail containers thriving. Only complaint is I did wish it had a brief instruction on how to set up, care for, and tips. I also wish the food had a label explaining what is in it since I am afraid I will accidentally leave it in kitchen and wife think its spices or something lol. Those are not deal breaking complaints in the least just more so ease of life. But, this is a fantastic company will definitely order again in the future. I am very glad I found a How To video from you guys.

[@westcoastcreatures]

Thank you for the input and the kind words! We will start with labels and care guides to further enhance our customer experience. Glad you find our video though! Let us know if you have any questions :)

[@orang375]

What do you feed them?

[@berthaday3473]

Loved ur simple, concise video. I need ur advice. Two weeks ago, I was given some springtails in a tiny container with some kind of soil substrate. Only saw 3 or 4. But I kept it damp. Added a few tiny pieces of charcoal, & leaf litter. I fed them nutritional yeast alternate w/ white rice, 3 X week. Gave them 8 hr.a day filtered sunlight inside near a window. They are multipling great. But notice about 10 tiny maggot looking creatures on inside lid of enclosure this morning. What are they? What can I do? Please advise. TY

[@westcoastcreatures]

It could possibly be fruit fly larvae or some type of grub, Springtails will usually outcompete other insects but I recommend removing the maggots and cleaning the lid, Thank you!!

[@berthaday3473]

@@westcoastcreatures Oh thanks WCC. I was so happy to see my 1st springtails multiply & didn't wanna lose them. I subbed to ur channel ! 💐