Okay, I have noticed something about one of my springtail cultures that seems a bit . . . odd.
When one culture in particular begins to get very populous and I see a large hatch of young-un's, I can guarantee that if I feed heavily they will all end up dead. By dead, I mean rolled over on their back, back arched, legs sticking straight out dead. No joke.
The particular container these are in has a very tight sealing lid, so I am wondering if perhaps the high populations and heavy feeding cause a metabolic boost that releases too much CO2 into the air and uses up the available O2. Has anyone else seen this? All I tend to do is leave the lid off for a few hours, close it back up, and the culture will repopulate in a week (presumably from eggs laid previously). It's pretty wild.
When one culture in particular begins to get very populous and I see a large hatch of young-un's, I can guarantee that if I feed heavily they will all end up dead. By dead, I mean rolled over on their back, back arched, legs sticking straight out dead. No joke.
The particular container these are in has a very tight sealing lid, so I am wondering if perhaps the high populations and heavy feeding cause a metabolic boost that releases too much CO2 into the air and uses up the available O2. Has anyone else seen this? All I tend to do is leave the lid off for a few hours, close it back up, and the culture will repopulate in a week (presumably from eggs laid previously). It's pretty wild.