I've used calcium bearing clay substrates in vivs for several years, and recently started culturing my springtails on clay (as described in previous threads). I also got my first pumilio this past spring, so I'm having fun figuring out ways to get supplemental nutrition to small offspring.
Enter calcium bearing clay feeding/soaking stations:
https://youtu.be/axnoPqY6ctw
I used small containers, roughly the size of film canisters, as cultures. I spread a very thin layer of clay in them because there's not much room to spare, seeded them with temperate white springtails, and fed active dry yeast. It took 1 month for them to be booming with various sized springtails.
I can now place the opened containers in the leaf litter of vivaria to serve as feeding and belly patch bathing stations. Once they are nearly emptied of springtails, I can remove them, refeed, and wait for a reboom. They seem to bounce back much faster than compared to initial start up.
I've only been deploying these for a couple weeks, but I've seen the pumilio babies actively congregated and foraging at the mouth the container. And the adults.
Some bullet points:
*I think the risk of clay impaction is an important subject and should not be quickly dismissed. Interrogation of new methods is good. I do not maintain constant access to these clay-loaded springtails.
*I also keep small cubes of Repashy Bug Burger in the pumilio viv (and thumbnail grow outs) as a means of gut loading microfauna and fly maggots.
*In the pumilio viv, the adults can claim these small cups as their own. In fact, the male keeps going inside them and calling.
*I wouldn't cross contaminate different vivaria with the same container (remember that I'm reusing/refreshing them), but I worry about creating a parasite hot-spot where the frogs eliminate and feed in the same spot for extended periods. I hope for feedback regarding this possible issue.
Also, I've spent the last 38 minutes trying to figure out how to embed video in vBulletin.
Enter calcium bearing clay feeding/soaking stations:
https://youtu.be/axnoPqY6ctw
I used small containers, roughly the size of film canisters, as cultures. I spread a very thin layer of clay in them because there's not much room to spare, seeded them with temperate white springtails, and fed active dry yeast. It took 1 month for them to be booming with various sized springtails.
I can now place the opened containers in the leaf litter of vivaria to serve as feeding and belly patch bathing stations. Once they are nearly emptied of springtails, I can remove them, refeed, and wait for a reboom. They seem to bounce back much faster than compared to initial start up.
I've only been deploying these for a couple weeks, but I've seen the pumilio babies actively congregated and foraging at the mouth the container. And the adults.
Some bullet points:
*I think the risk of clay impaction is an important subject and should not be quickly dismissed. Interrogation of new methods is good. I do not maintain constant access to these clay-loaded springtails.
*I also keep small cubes of Repashy Bug Burger in the pumilio viv (and thumbnail grow outs) as a means of gut loading microfauna and fly maggots.
*In the pumilio viv, the adults can claim these small cups as their own. In fact, the male keeps going inside them and calling.
*I wouldn't cross contaminate different vivaria with the same container (remember that I'm reusing/refreshing them), but I worry about creating a parasite hot-spot where the frogs eliminate and feed in the same spot for extended periods. I hope for feedback regarding this possible issue.
Also, I've spent the last 38 minutes trying to figure out how to embed video in vBulletin.