Culturing Springtails
Springtails (Collembolla) are small hexapods (they are not considered insects!) which make great live food for smaller exotic pets and reptiles. They are particularly favoured by dart frog keepers, used both as a food source and as vivarium custodians, living with the frog consuming debris and faecal matter helping to keep the vivarium clean.
The most commonly used species are the tropical springtails (Folsomia candida and Seira spp.) and the European black springtail (Tomocerus longicornus). The tropical species are probably more commonly used, they are a little more prolific but require temperatures of approx 25c, whilst the European species will thrive at room temperature.
Luckily all of the springtail species commonly cultured are really easy to maintain and breed, requiring very little attention once established. You will need a tub with restricted ventilation (or even no ventilation at all), in to which you should place a mix of half coco fibre/organic pesticide free compost, and half bark chips. This substrate medium must be kept moist at all times, if you let it dry out then the culture is lost. This is easily achieved by keeping an eye on the culture and misting it every couple of days.
For food there are a number of options, the most important thing is only to feed small amounts (remember even a large culture with a few thousand springtails will still only have a small biomass), any leftover food will quickly mould up in the humid culture. There a few commercial springtail cultures which are relatively inexpensive and quite effective, plus they usually come with instructions directly applicable to that culture medium (no guess work involved). You can also use cheap fish flakes, porridge oats or vegetable matter. If you opt for either of the latter two options, it would be a good idea to add a vitamin and mineral supplement such as nutrobal.
