Experimenting with detritivores

[Ponerinecat]

Wow, those Morulina are so cool looking! :O How easy have they been to culture so far, other than their slow development? Any specific food or substrate requirements?

I'm not sure what they eat actually, but something in the bin was edible. Maybe it was the yeast I sprinkled in but there were other species cohabiting with the Morulina that may have been eating it. Substrate was plaster with wood sprinkled on top but that didn't seem to work so well, will have to experiment with other stuff next time.

On the topic of odd springs, I am currently breeding these Tomocerus minor (ID'd by Frans Janssens). Despite these being one of the smallest of the genus, they are HUGE compared to any other springs I've seen in person, about 4mms long! They are breeding slowly but steadily for me, have not tried using them as cleaner crews just yet. First colony got infested with Sinella curviseta, so I had to start a new one from scratch.

How do you keep them? My Tomocerus never do well, always suspected it was too hot for them.

 

[Ponerinecat]

The Cyphodera have survived so far on charcoal.

But after collecting one of the "symphylans" from the wild they turned out to be Rhabdura!
They're pretty interesting to watch, any luck keeping these lads?

I do have some diplurans in with my symphylans, they're growing unnaturally slowly so I could be doing better but they're reproducing faster than the symphylans. I think I'll add some sterilized grass cuttings to replace the sphagnum they have right now, which should encourage growth. Will probably do that with certain springtails as well. Starting to realize many springtails may be near impossible to easily raise on bare substrate.

 

[Hisserdude]

I'm not sure what they eat actually, but something in the bin was edible. Maybe it was the yeast I sprinkled in but there were other species cohabiting with the Morulina that may have been eating it. Substrate was plaster with wood sprinkled on top but that didn't seem to work so well, will have to experiment with other stuff next time.

Good to know, sounds like they may just be general scavengers then! Would love to keep some one day, they look so cute, and big too!

How do you keep them? My Tomocerus never do well, always suspected it was too hot for them.

I keep mine on a substrate of old, partially eaten flake soil, and top that off with bark and chunks of rotten wood. I'm keeping them at around 70-73F if I had to guess, pretty cool since I found them in cool and humid microhabitats.

 

[Ponerinecat]

I keep mine on a substrate of old, partially eaten flake soil, and top that off with bark and chunks of rotten wood. I'm keeping them at around 70-73F if I had to guess, pretty cool since I found them in cool and humid microhabitats.

Nice, I'll have to try that. They're not easy to collect alive either, I often accidentally overheat/completely descale them in the collection container, which desiccates them very quickly.

 

[Hisserdude]

Nice, I'll have to try that. They're not easy to collect alive either, I often accidentally overheat/completely descale them in the collection container, which desiccates them very quickly.

Yeah the descaling thing is annoying for sure, I've had the best luck just collecting whatever wood I found them in, bringing that back to my house and taking them from the wood there.

 

[Ponerinecat]

Good news for once! I collected a small handful of the undescribed siera species for an experiment, and they actually bred! Reused one of the old brick setups but sprinkled bits of dry grass over the surface and used a lid with good ventilation. They seem to prefer relatively low humidity, as expected, but still require some level of moisture to be retained in the substrate. My past enclosures were either too stuffy or too dry. The juveniles lack the striped appearance of the adult but are a seemingly solid coppery color. Some intermediate stages have a really nice striped pattern that still retains the copper color.