Spring tails

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Antmanboy
Posts: 330
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:12 pm
Location: Converse,Texas,United States

Spring tails

Post: # 76003Post Antmanboy
Fri Mar 19, 2021 6:31 pm

I have a question. Can a ant setup with no dirt house spring-tails? If so how can I get spring tails? I appreciate any help because I think my colony could use some help cleaning :mrgreen:.

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AM1C39
Posts: 1012
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2020 12:17 pm
Location: Canada, ON
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Re: Spring tails

Post: # 76010Post AM1C39
Sat Mar 20, 2021 7:17 am

Springtails will live in a nest that has no earth as long as there is stuff to eat. You can probably get them at a pet store or you can catch them. these are two ways to catch springtails:
https://youtu.be/Zg0wKosxG34
https://youtu.be/CBWIBLVkgMw
My current colonies:
-Miniature Military(formica neogagates)
-Black Hearts(crematogaster cerasi)
In search of new camponotus colony
[Have a look at antmaps.org]

Antmanboy
Posts: 330
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:12 pm
Location: Converse,Texas,United States

Re: Spring tails

Post: # 76012Post Antmanboy
Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:13 am

Thank you. What would I feed them if garbage in the nest ran out? Do I need to give them their own food or will they eat leftover ant food?

adragondream
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun May 31, 2020 9:21 am
Location: Shenzhen

Re: Spring tails

Post: # 76015Post adragondream
Sat Mar 20, 2021 9:34 am

Hi!

Leftover ant food will work, but you will have to clean out pieces that have started to spoil. Springtails in the wild eat a lot of fungi (read MOLD) which is a reason why they are such good cleanup crews. A kind of easy substitute is some active dry yeast granules (normal yeast). Control the amount you give them though, if you don't want a sudden population boost.

I'm guessing you don't want the dirt since the ants might nest in it and it might house harmful microbes. If you're keeping your spring tails without dirt, I recommend some leaves or bark for them to hide under, they will still come out to clean at night. While charcoal is a common and good springtail substrate, but I think it's too clumsy to put in an outworld.

For your situation my solution would be to raise a group of springtails in a separate container (Takeout box with airholes?) filled with charcoal and grow them. I'll feed them yeast or dry rice (another good springtail food) until they explode in numbers, then I'll take a piece of charcoal, tapping it over the ant setup to put some springtails in. I'll continue taking care of the original takeout box of springtails. This will mean I'll have an almost never-ending source of springtails for any future ants or if the springtails in the ant setup die or are eaten.

JZ

Antmanboy
Posts: 330
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:12 pm
Location: Converse,Texas,United States

Re: Spring tails

Post: # 76017Post Antmanboy
Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:09 am

Thank you for the tips! The reason I don't use soil is because there is no room in the foraging area. It is a bottle with a small hole cut on too so to add soil would just be too much of a hassle. Thank you for the tips however and good luck with ant keeping!

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