is my AFS Eating springtails

[adam james]

Any of your scorpions eat the springtails in your enclosure? I have a 3rd instar AFS that i currently house in a roughly 4 gal tank. In there i have springtails (folsoma candida) and use false bottom/ coco fiber/sphag mix. I give my little guy an inverted bottle top as a water dish. I noticed that the water has been getting emptied each night recently(ever since the springtails started going to the water dish). there are no cracks in the dish, and no siphoning is taking place. I got to thinking, i wonder if he is sitting there eating the little springtail mass in the middle of the dish, in turn splashing all the water out? I have not caught him doing this yet, but i know its not evaporating and it has to be going somewhere. I upgraded him to a larger flat shallow reptile style water dish that he can play a while longer in without getting it dry.

 

[Veno Manus]

Honestly I think they would be to small. It's not an impossible thought but I don't see that really happening. Do you have pictures of the setup? Without moving anything I wanna take a peek.

 

[Tentacle Toast]

Any of your scorpions eat the springtails in your enclosure? I have a 3rd instar AFS that i currently house in a roughly 4 gal tank. In there i have springtails (folsoma candida) and use false bottom/ coco fiber/sphag mix. I give my little guy an inverted bottle top as a water dish. I noticed that the water has been getting emptied each night recently(ever since the springtails started going to the water dish). there are no cracks in the dish, and no siphoning is taking place. I got to thinking, i wonder if he is sitting there eating the little springtail mass in the middle of the dish, in turn splashing all the water out? I have not caught him doing this yet, but i know its not evaporating and it has to be going somewhere. I upgraded him to a larger flat shallow reptile style water dish that he can play a while longer in without getting it dry.

Capital F what ANYBODY says, SEVERAL of my LARGE T's have purged their enclosures of isopods, thoroughly; I've seen the exos upon their fangs..
If THEY do it, no doubt your scorpions do it, too....

This isn't unique to my collection...

 

[Veno Manus]

Well I feel dumb lol. I keep mixing isopods and springtails together.

Yes this can 100% happen. My jumping spiders have a hay day with them. Lol

Capital F what ANYBODY says, SEVERAL of my LARGE T's have purged their enclosures of isopods, thoroughly; I've seen the exos upon their fangs..
If THEY do it, no doubt your scorpions do it, too....

This isn't unique to my collection...

 

[Tentacle Toast]

Well I feel dumb lol. I keep mixing isopods and springtails together.

Yes this can 100% happen. My jumping spiders have a hay day with them. Lol

I've got the biggest spiders eating the tiniest little termite lookin' things LoL. All I can figure, is SOME of them must be on par with chicken wings (IRRESISTIBLE), considering the way they slurp these little things down, LoL.

 

[Veno Manus]

Please explain your user name haha.

I've got the biggest spiders eating the tiniest little termite lookin' things LoL. All I can figure, is SOME of them must be on par with chicken wings (IRRESISTIBLE), considering the way they slurp these little things down, LoL.

 

[Tentacle Toast]

Please explain your user name haha.

NSFW, friend...

 

[ForTW]

I doubt it. and the hydrophobic behavior of the springtails will make it almost impossible.

 

[adam james]

Here are some pics of the little guy and enclosure. i am sorry they are not all that good, most are video frame grabs. He was sold to me as a het spinifer, and i was looking for one of those in specific, but he looks very silenus to me. I was assured it was identified as spinifer by a trustworthy source (this came from a breeder). The telson is very dark. however i think it has thorns on its pedipalps on the section that attaches to the claw. it is still 3rd instar according to the breeder.

 

[adam james]

to clarify, I am talking about folsoma candida, they are springtails. I do not have any isopods (sowbugs?) type cleaners in there... just the tiny white jumpers i culture in a charcoal cup. I may be wrong here though, as i am pretty new to this. I chose these guys as i was scared by the posts of isopods eating my little guy when he molts.

 

[adam james]

Also since that pic of the enclosure (i took that few days before he arrived), i have cut off that tube (that i use to feed the false bottom water) to about 2.5 or 3" above the substrate (plugged it of course). I have also removed the pink plant and now use a larger flat water dish in its place. I also have changed one of his hides to a pet store hermit crab half coconut type of hide (its synthetic though). the other is still a half-buried solo-cup shot glass. I gave him the new one so he could burrow if he wanted, and he did start a little one in the coco hide.

 

[fiendish foe]

I've never had any issues with my scorps eating their springtails. I did have a juvenile eat all of the powder blues I put in her enclosure that also loves eating dairy cows.

 

[RoachCoach]

i was scared by the posts of isopods eating my little guy when he molts.

Sprintails only eat detritus/dead biological matter. My guess is they are still in there but their numbers are too low to be noticed in such a large enclosure. When I kept powder orange and F. Candida the springtails would show up on the little bit of leftover catfood. They are still in there they just don't have anything foodwise to congregate on.

 

[adam james]

Are springtails isopods? I was calling isopods the sowbug type, and i thought springtails were different?

 

[fiendish foe]

Springtails are hexapods but aren’t insects. They’re little skittish dudes. I get them in my Venus flytraps that I keep on moss.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

Are springtails isopods? I was calling isopods the sowbug type, and i thought springtails were different?

Springtails (Collembola) and isopods are totally different. The word isopod is derived from the scientific name of the order isopoda, so it's just a more accurate/scientific name for the creatures that go by many names like pillbugs, sowbugs, rolly pollies etc.

 

[adam james]

Springtails (Collembola) and isopods are totally different. The word isopod is derived from the scientific name of the order isopoda, so it's just a more accurate/scientific name for the creatures that go by many names like pillbugs, sowbugs, rolly pollies etc.

That is what i thought. Thank you!
So I guess I was correct in having a worry about isopods (sowbugs,pillbugs,rolly's) eating a molting small scorpion?
But I am ok in assuming that the springtail is safe. That is what my research led me to and why i have only springtails in there.

I just wanted to confirm really, that the folsoma candida species of springtail i chose is ok as i see other species being used by folks on here. Mine came from Josh's Frogs.

Is my AFS too young to ID yet? It was sold as a Heterometrus spinifer of course, and I was assured it was by the breeder. It is 3rd instar (breeder told me). The pics are not all that good, i will get better ones in the future.

 

[Veno Manus]

That's a third instar? Looks more then that to be honest. My Emperor Imperator is at 3i and it's way smaller then yours. That looks more of a 4i but in my opinion.

That is what i thought. Thank you!
So I guess I was correct in having a worry about isopods (sowbugs,pillbugs,rolly's) eating a molting small scorpion?
But I am ok in assuming that the springtail is safe. That is what my research led me to and why i have only springtails in there.

I just wanted to confirm really, that the folsoma candida species of springtail i chose is ok as i see other species being used by folks on here. Mine came from Josh's Frogs.

Is my AFS too young to ID yet? It was sold as a Heterometrus spinifer of course, and I was assured it was by the breeder. It is 3rd instar (breeder told me). The pics are not all that good, i will get better ones in the future.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

Springtails are safe. I have heard stories of certain species of isopods eating molting scorps, but I've not experienced it personally.

I agree that your scorpion looks more like an i4. It seems to be a Heterometrus silenus.

 

[Veno Manus]

I have a good healthy bundle of isopods and springtails in all of my enclosures and they all have molted with no issues.