Spring Tails

[SikmT7]

Any thoughts on spring tails? A good friend of mine is going to send me some. I have done a little research on them as I have heard they are enclosure janitors, cleaning left over bolus, mold, or anything that may pose a bacterial threat to the T's. Would anyone in here reccomend them? I was going to use them to clean my balfouri enclosure being that it is quite difficult to pick out bolus and clean the excrement out, being that they burrow deeply and web up their entrance to their hide. I did a quick clean up of my balfouri enclosure a few weeks ago and lost a bristle off of my paint brush due to my female balfouri throwing a fit . I'm newly discovering spring tails and any advice or suggestions are appreciated. Thank you forum family!

 

[Crax]

Any thoughts on spring tails? A good friend of mine is going to send me some. I have done a little research on them as I have heard they are enclosure janitors, cleaning left over bolus, mold, or anything that may pose a bacterial threat to the T's. Would anyone in here reccomend them? I was going to use them to clean my balfouri enclosure being that it is quite difficult to pick out bolus and clean the excrement out, being that they burrow deeply and web up their entrance to their hide. I did a quick clean up of my balfouri enclosure a few weeks ago and lost a bristle off of my paint brush due to my female balfouri throwing a fit . I'm newly discovering spring tails and any advice or suggestions are appreciated. Thank you forum family!

I have a spring tail plague. They moved from one enclosure to the rests. Some are so prolific, they are stressing some of my tarantulas out.

For your enclosure though, if it's not near anything else, go for it. See what happens.

 

[Jess S]

I have a spring tail plague. They moved from one enclosure to the rests. Some are so prolific, they are stressing some of my tarantulas out.

For your enclosure though, if it's not near anything else, go for it. See what happens.

Sounds like you've been a little too successful, now you'll have to get something to eat the springtails and so on, will it ever end pmsl!!!

Are they like mites where you can keep the numbers down by allowing the enclosures to dry out temporarily?

 

[ilovebrachys]

Sounds like you've been a little too successful, now you'll have to get something to eat the springtails and so on, will it ever end pmsl!!!

Are they like mites where you can keep the numbers down by allowing the enclosures to dry out temporarily?

I have found if the enclosure is kept dry they seem to die off so that seems to work

 

[Arachnoclown]

I have a spring tail plague. They moved from one enclosure to the rests. Some are so prolific, they are stressing some of my tarantulas out.

For your enclosure though, if it's not near anything else, go for it. See what happens.

Sounds like your enclosures are too wet. That would stress your spiders out more then springtails. Theres only a small handful of tarantulas in the hobby that benifit from springtails.
I breed cultures of springtails for my moisture dependent spiders.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Any thoughts on spring tails? A good friend of mine is going to send me some. I have done a little research on them as I have heard they are enclosure janitors, cleaning left over bolus, mold, or anything that may pose a bacterial threat to the T's. Would anyone in here reccomend them? I was going to use them to clean my balfouri enclosure being that it is quite difficult to pick out bolus and clean the excrement out, being that they burrow deeply and web up their entrance to their hide. I did a quick clean up of my balfouri enclosure a few weeks ago and lost a bristle off of my paint brush due to my female balfouri throwing a fit . I'm newly discovering spring tails and any advice or suggestions are appreciated. Thank you forum family!

I'd use isopods with balfouri. You have to keep the substrate really moist to keep the springtails alive. I'm not sure how moist your keeping your balfouri set up.

 

[Crax]

Sounds like your enclosures are too wet. That would stress your spiders out more then springtails. Theres only a small handful of tarantulas in the hobby that benifit from springtails.
I breed cultures of springtails for my moisture dependent spiders.View attachment 42337

You think I would keep a swamp for all 20 spoods? Sorry this is why I don't like people assuming too much.
I live in Sweden where it's so dry during the winters, it's painful.

All spiders, including slings have water dishes. I don't let the water dishes dry out, that would be irresponsible on my part. Where do you think the tails live? In, around, and under those dishes. So unless I undertake a massive project and rehouse, redo, and renovate all enclosures on the same day, it will always be the same.

 

[Arachnoclown]

You think I would keep a swamp for all 20 spoods? Sorry this is why I don't like people assuming too much.
I live in Sweden where it's so dry during the winters, it's painful.

All spiders, including slings have water dishes. I don't let the water dishes dry out, that would be irresponsible on my part. Where do you think the tails live? In, around, and under those dishes. So unless I undertake a massive project and rehouse, redo, and renovate all enclosures on the same day, it will always be the same.

I dont have to assume **** if you have an abundance of springtails...dry your **** out.
Springtails are 100% harmless to tarantulas and will not stress out tarantulas unless the substrate is too wet. They will die out if the substrate dries out. Obviously yours is still too wet. Period...open and shut case.

 

[SikmT7]

I'd use isopods with balfouri. You have to keep the substrate really moist to keep the springtails alive. I'm not sure how moist your keeping your balfouri set up.

Just overflow their water dish and lightly mist a corner. I keep it on the dry side for the balfouris, so spring tails would be a no go. Guess I will just have to deal with the backlash of them when i change their substrate lol. Where do you get isopods and what exactly are they?

 

[Arachnoclown]

Isopods are woodlice....pill bugs, rolly pollys. Lol
They eat mold, fungus and waste. I would water your balfouri a little heavy and dump these guys in and let them go to work. They will probably die once it dries out for a while but they will get inside and clean up for you. No worries if a spider grabs one or two for a snack though.
I'd recommend the dwarf white or purple. You can buy them from Josh's frogs online.

Josh's Frogs

www.joshsfrogs.com

 

[SikmT7]

Isopods are woodlice....pill bugs, rolly pollys. Lol
They eat mold, fungus and waste. I would water your balfouri a little heavy and dump these guys in and let them go to work. They will probably die once it dries out for a while but they will get inside and clean up for you. No worries if a spider grabs one or two for a snack though.
I'd recommend the dwarf white or purple. You can buy them from Josh's frogs online.

Josh's Frogs

www.joshsfrogs.com

Bet bro thank you for the info!