Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do yinz have any thoughts on rasing a colony of springtails in the substrate of your vivarium?

While springtails will reproduce in most terrarium substrates, they are usually under something and seldom visible for the frogs to catch. One trick is to put a piece of flat wood or charcoal slab on top of the substrate, then turn it over periodically to give the frogs a place to lap them up before they go back under cover. The bolder frogs will learn that this means food, but the shy guys usually miss out.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus

I have this gigantic false bottom raised about 6 inches off the floor with a trap door to get to it when I want to set up a pump to do a H2O fall when I'm ready. I find at least 1/2 the springtails I place into the tank fallen down there. I scoop them back up and put them back into the tank. Some I can't reach and they just stay in the little pool of water down there. There's not even anything to eat and they just keep breeding. Some folks say that the heat in the dart tank won't allow a thriving colony to get established. Well, mine just hides inside the Oak logs, feeding off of dying/decaying plant matter. When its too hot, they seem to go downward and fall into the false bottom(which does seem a bit cooler since the light does not reach the bottom through the substrate)then I scoop them back up again. My adult Imitators have no problems doing the hunt for them. They wait near cracks in the logs and when one comes out-wham! It helps to place the springtails in the same spot each time so there is a higher concentration of them in one place. Do not expect your juvis frogs to feed well like this though. Mine are too shy/skittish to get dinner like this especially since the parents are so aggressive with the hunt.

Frog on,

Maggie

Thanks the advice was very helpfull to me. My set up also has at least six inches of substrate. For a few months now I have been feeding my frogs springtails by placeing a plastic tray next to a log. Then I put a clump of substrate and a piece charcoal on the tray. And in the end my frogs hang out by the log looking for food. I have four D. Auratus that are six months out of the water and they not at all shy. They hang out all day long on the log, plants, and on the glass. The olny time they hide is in the late afternoon/ early eveing. For my frist Darts I coundn't be more pleased. Anywho enough bragging....To make a long story I've decied to start a colony of springtails in my tank. Thank again thank you for the advice.
-Scott