Springtail cultures
(Folsomia Candida)

Springtails are a vital componet of any bioactive terrarium. They help to breakdown organic waste and debris. They also serve as a suplimental food source for smaller animals such as poison frogs and are the staple diet of many newly metamorphized frogs, such as Oophaga pumilio. My springtail cultures are best suited for tropical environments and will do best in more humid enclosures.

Availability: I have previously kept springtail cultures on charcoal and have found that clay is much easier to manage. My cultures come in air tight 16 ounce screw top containers with a clay substrate. A small vial of springtail food (brewers yeast) is included with each purchase. The cultures only need be be misted and fed every 7-14 days. The provided vial of food will last for months, if not a full year. Additional food can also be provided to add variation to their diet, but is not required for a thriving culture. Springtails can easily be shaken out as needed and the culture mained for future use. I typically have around 10 cultures available at a given time. Cultures are also allowed to develop for a minimum of 1-month, which ensures there are addequte springtails available to immediately add to an enclosure while allowing the culture to continue growing.

Dwarf White Isopods
(Trichorhina tomentosa)

Isopods are another key ingredient to a healthy bioactive terrarium. They help to breakdown organic waste and debris and can help provide variation in a frogs or other amphibian or reptiles diet. Dwarf white isopods do well in high humidity and lower ventilation setups which makes them a great addition to a poison frog enclosure. This species is also parthenogenic (e.g., they can clone themselves without a mate) which means a single indivudal can esablish an entire colony.

Availability: I have several estasblished colonies. Any dwarf white isopods purchase will come with ~20 invididuals in a small plastic container with sphagnum moss. The entire continaer should be added to a terrarium or used to seed your own culture.

Orange Koi Isopods
(Porcellio scaber)

Just like the dwarf white isopods, orange koi can be another great addition to a healthy bioactive terrarium. This species is much larger than the dward white isopods. They also help to breakdown organic waste and debris. They can provide variation in diet to larger species of frogs or other amphibians and reptiles. However, given how large they are they will likely never be oveconsumed in a poison frog setup. This species also does well in high humidity.

Availability: I have several estasblished colonies. Any orange koi isopod purchase will come with ~10 indviduals in a small plastic container with sphagnum moss. The entire continaer should be added to a terrarium or used to seed your own culture.

Dairy Cow and Marbled Isopods
(Porcellio laevis)

Dairy cow and marbled ispods can be another great addition to a healthy bioactive terrarium. These are two color morphs of the same species with similar requirements. This species is the largest that I currently keep and are even larger than the orange koi isopods I mentioned above. They also help to breakdown organic waste and debris. They can provide variation in diet to larger species of frogs or other amphibians and reptiles. However, given how large they are they will likely never be oveconsumed in a poison frog setup. I would also steer away from this species if you have very small frogs, especially metamorphed frogs (just to be safe). This species also does well in high humidity and is a fairly hardy species. Given their size and overall bold nature, they also make a great pet isopod species as well. The dairy cow isopod morph is shown here.

Little Sea Isopods "Orange"
(Cubaris murina)

This is the orange moprh of the little sea isopod. This species is larger than the dwarf white isopods, but still small compared to the other species that I keep. Like all of the isopods that I maintain they are fairly hardy and do well in more tropical environments. Just like the other isopod species they also help to breakdown organic waste and debris. They can provide variation in diet to larger species of frogs or other amphibians and reptiles.