How often to clean with a cleanup crew

[proserpina]

Hello all! Planning to get P. imperator (or H. spinifer) as well as Hadrurus arizonensis in the next couple of months. For the clean up crews I am planning to get springtails/isopods for the imperator/spinifer and blue death feigning beetles for the arizonensis to clean up dead feeder remains and droppings plus I will spot clean.

My question is, how often should I deep clean the enclosures or do I even need to? I know arizonensis/imperator likes to burrow so I would hate to destroy all its hard work.

 

[Gnarled Gnome]

I'm fairly new to bioactive enclosures, but I think it will depend on what kind of ecological balance you're able to achieve. Ideally, you wouldn't have to clean much at all. Maybe just any grime or detritus that the cleaners dont take care of. Deep cleaning would not be necessary unless the balance of bioactives and fauna gets upset or you run into an out of control bloom or something like that. The best I can say is to play it by ear and see how it goes. I'm interested to see what others with more experience have to say. Can you put up any pics of the setup?

 

[proserpina]

Thanks for your response! I don't have any setup yet - I like to figure everything out before putting setups together for an animal, hence why I'm asking this question

 

[Bob Lee]

You should never completely clean your container unless you have a mold/mites outbreak

 

[proserpina]

You should never completely clean your container unless you have a mold/mites outbreak

Really? Wow, glad I asked here. Thank you so much!

 

[Jayvicularia]

Anyone keep springtails cultures outside of thier main vivariums? How often and how much should they be fed? I started out with a quart i got at the Morgantown expo last week they are in a sphagnum moss and charcoal base. I srinkled a few grains of bakers yeast and misted the moss. How long can i keep them like this? They are at about 76 degrees.