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Temperate Springtails Care Guide (Folsomia candida)
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PostPods
Details
- Origin
- postpods
- Last opened
- Oct 22, 2026
How it was checked
Checked on Oct 22, 2026 by a web request. The registry returned: Temperate Springtails Care Guide (Folsomia candida).
Where this source is used
Cited by 23 statements
Bioactive
- A planted enclosure with soil and a cleanup crew, so that waste breaks down inside it instead of being removed by hand.
Cleanup crew
- Small animals kept in an enclosure to eat mold, waste and dead plant matter. Springtails and isopods are the usual choices.
Culture
- A colony of springtails kept on purpose in a container, usually in damp substrate with regular food. On this site a culture also means a line of animals that keepers pass around under one name.
Dart froglet
- Sellers say springtails serve as a self-renewing live food in dart frog and small gecko setups, and describe feeding springtails from a culture to a tiny dart froglet. (at In the enclosure)
Feeder culture
- A culture kept to feed other animals, such as small frogs, instead of to live in an enclosure.
Folsomia candida
- Young adults of twelve laboratory strains measured about 1.2 to 1.8 mm. One seller gives 1 to 3 mm for cultures in general. (at Folsomia candida introduction)
- It has no eyes. (at Folsomia candida introduction)
- Living animals are white to cream with no colour pattern. (at Folsomia candida introduction)
- Keeper and retailer advice for this species spans 15–22 °C59–72 °F at one UK seller, 18–27 °C64–81 °F at one US seller and 21–27 °C70–81 °F at another. They agree that sustained heat above about 27 °C81 °F slows breeding. (at Folsomia candida care summary)
- Hobby advice and laboratory data disagree about warmth. Some sellers call 21–27 °C70–81 °F ideal for breeding. The laboratory life-history study found the highest egg output at 15 °C59 °F and a steep fall at 26 °C79 °F. The strain studied may differ from your culture. (at Folsomia candida care summary)
- Keepers culture it on calcium clay, charcoal, plaster, coco coir or soil. Several sellers report clay as the easiest to harvest from. (at substrate)
- Granulated or brewer's yeast, once or twice a week, is the standard food. The laboratory method feeds twice a week and removes uneaten yeast before adding more. (at feeding)
- A sliver of mushroom, a few grains of rice or fish food are used as occasional alternatives to yeast. These come from single sellers. (at feeding)
- The substrate should be damp all the way through, like a wrung-out sponge, and never waterlogged. A dry culture crashes and standing water drowns animals. (at moisture)
- The simulator reads damp-but-not-waterlogged as a wetness index of 0.6 to 0.9 on a 0 to 1 scale. The index is a model scale and not a measurement. The bounds follow keeper descriptions, not a laboratory test. (at moisture)
- A tight lid with a few mesh-covered holes, or lifting the lid at feeding time, gives enough air exchange. Heavy ventilation dries cultures faster than they can be watered. (at container)
- It is rated the easiest species to start with. It breeds quickly on damp substrate with yeast, and sellers describe a starter portion becoming a working culture within weeks. (at introduction)
- It readily builds a self-sustaining population in damp bioactive enclosures with leaf litter and a little food. (at role in a setup)
- Keepers use it as a cleanup crew in tanks, as a feeder culture for small animals, and laboratories use it as a research model. (at role in a setup)
- Several sellers in the United States and the United Kingdom stock it as Common White or Temperate White springtails. (at introduction)
Isopods
- One seller says isopods may eat a springtail that is dead or too weak to move, but it found no record of an isopod catching a healthy springtail. (at In the enclosure)
Start your first springtail culture
- Folsomia candida, sold as the temperate or common white springtail, is the species most of these sellers use for their standard cultures. (at Title and introduction)
Substrate
- The material the animals live in and on, such as soil, charcoal, clay or plaster. It holds moisture and gives them somewhere to hide.