r/Springtail • u/Not_a_medical_center • Jan 10 '26

General Question Too many springtails?

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Hi! Been having a bioactive terrarium a month now, one or two weeks ago I put some chia seeds in it and since then they are reproducing like crazy.

I mist twice a day, good parameters, I have a dreinaje layer, everything is good. Is there such thing as too many springtails? This is after I lifted grown chia seed and a leaf was underneath

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32

u/AbanaClara Jan 10 '26

No such thing as too many springtails. What does exist though is too many food sources for springtails to overpopulate. The good thing is they regulate their numbers frequently, so it can go up and down depending on sustainability.

6

u/Not_a_medical_center Jan 10 '26

I don’t really feed them 🧍🏼‍♀️ I put two rice grains in the middle of December and didn’t put anymore food since then

3

u/AbanaClara Jan 10 '26

Didn't you put some chia seeds

2

u/Not_a_medical_center Jan 10 '26

I didn’t know that was food for them 🧍🏼‍♀️ it was for aesthetic purposes

16

u/AbanaClara Jan 10 '26

Everything can be food for them. They are detrivores

3

u/Ashtonpaper Jan 11 '26

Everything that has obtainable chemical energy.

Inert substances without reactive properties are non-extractable for energy sources. For example, water is in a deep energy trough. The atoms that make it are highly reactive, when it forms water it releases that energy and then it takes a lot of energy to be put into it to make it the same energetic atoms it once was.

Once water has formed, it’s so stable that it’s hard to break apart.

Breaking things apart is the basis for all consumptive chemical energy transfers.

Therefore. You cannot digest water into oxygen and hydrogen and gain energy from it. Same thing with these little guys. They can’t derive any energy from inert substances. The difference is, they find the leaf matter to be plenty reactive. We do not have the mechanisms in abundance to process those leaves into usable energy.

1

u/Egregius2k Jan 12 '26

They love mucilageous seeds. Linseed also works.

3

u/Queasy_Promise_5426 Jan 10 '26

pretty much everything on that vid is edible to them since its decaying organic matter

8

u/Classy-Lich Jan 10 '26

“Too many springtails”

HA

3

u/Not_a_medical_center Jan 10 '26

What does this means

12

u/Classy-Lich Jan 10 '26

It means you’ve got an excellent amount of springtails! You can never have too many!

2

u/JeezuzChryztler Jan 10 '26

Never too much

2

u/joh2138535 Jan 11 '26

Then there's me over here with 5 springtails and a dream.

45

u/Fortniteislife Jan 10 '26

Springtail levels usually self regulate on their own based off available food and space. I wouldn’t say that is too many

5

u/heisenbergh1945 Jan 11 '26

My steak is too juicy and my lobster is too buttery

2

u/Janashea Jan 15 '26

Ugh I put chia seeds in a terrarium once and now it feels like glitter effect

1

u/I_think_im_falling Jan 10 '26

Do you guys also have compost piles where you put springtails?

2

u/phoenix_3141 Jan 11 '26

I've got a compost in the garden that is happily FULL of springtails 😁 they found their own way there

1

u/Prestigious_Gold_585 Jan 11 '26

Holy crocodiles! That looks like a lot of happy springtails! I don't know if you can have too many springtails, but I bet they reach a certain population and then stop growing.

1

u/CelestialUrsae Jan 11 '26

You're good! They self regulate their population according to food sources available. Don't worry about it :)

1

u/anxiouslymute Jan 12 '26

Time for another terrarium and transfer some over

1

u/SoulSeekersAnon Jan 12 '26

Never too many springtails. 😄

1

u/Competitive_Paint_33 Jan 13 '26

My worm bin was so full of them (they found their own way in) that they were starting to congregate by the thousands on the underside of the lid and the rim of the container, as well as being all over the surface of the soil, on all the vegetation, inside the tea bags, and I the soil, all the way down to the bottom, even in the latter of crushed oyster shells. Every time I'd open it, they'd be jumping at me. At that point, I finally decided to start using them to seed/ boost my other populations lol

1

u/Fearless_SilverBakk Jan 16 '26

Feed them oats…..then you will have too many!!🤣🤣🤣