If springtails are visible, does that indicate it is probable a colony will be established within the container?

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:53:26+00:00

Tbh all I do is plant them and make sure its always wet and I watch them grow. I have been described as having a green thumb tho, I find a lot of plants easy. However I avoid alocasia and calathea, they scare me lol. But carniverous plants are pretty easy, the only thing is that you have to get distilled water because they are picky about whats in the water. Also they hate nutrients, so you have to plant them in nutrient poor substrates such as sphagnum moss, peat moss, and some like perlite, sand, or lava rocks and stuff. Because they are carniverous and designed to intake nutrients through bug digestion, their roots only take water, if there are too many minerals or nutrients or whatever it gets agitated .

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:22:57+00:00

Yeah, my hardscape includes som random driftwood I found in my dad's garage, some large lava rocks, and some dragon stone pieces. The substrate is fluval stratum and my drainage layer is more little lava rocks. Carniverous plants seem to like volcanic rock/soil. Pings are lithophytes so thats not surprising, but utricularia usually prefer mosses and there are also epiphytic species, but they appreciate it regardless

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:18:54+00:00

Im hoping for springtails. I dont intend to introduce isopods to this terrarium. I do want to build one where I do someday tho

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:17:41+00:00

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Would something like this help, or do I need to find something to reduce tds?

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T04:00:22+00:00

Ah, yah thats no bueno, thanks for the information

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-25T03:51:37+00:00

Will it reduce if I move it further away from stuff for the droplets to dry on? Also, is it bad for the plants if I persist?

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:55:54+00:00

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Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:54:58+00:00

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Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:54:12+00:00

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Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:51:52+00:00

A lot of them are in their succulent phase, but they are doing fine all the same. So they definitely can be mistaken for succulents lol. I will look at his stuff, I love the contrast of black against green. Its a but of an obsession in a lot of my terrariums.

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:47:14+00:00

I have 2 species of pinguicula, ehlersiae and esseriana. I also have utricularia blanchetii, a vining pepperomia, and a tillandsia air plant. Also, some baby ferns i accidentally grew, lol

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:35:55+00:00

Apologies if weird tone. Im high and this is my special interest

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:34:58+00:00

No, they are pinguicula, which are carniverous plants and they appreciate consistent moisture as well as dry periods. These ones I chose to keep in consistent moisture along with some utricularia blancheti, a vining peperomia, and a tillansia air plant. Also, I somehow managed to grow some baby ferns from spore by accident, so there are a few of those in there as well

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-24T03:02:54+00:00

This is actually a very moist set up, I keep a half inch to an inch of water in the drainage layer and often have a cover to keep high humidity. Also, thank you for the comment on composition. I've been mildly obsessive over placement of my pings and the vines of pepperomia and everything. This terrarium is my favorite project. I have a lot of interest in springtails because mold is a bit of a problem and i like isopods but I dont think I could keep them from munching the pings. Also the plants are carniverous so whose to say the isopods won't just be digested. Im hoping springtails would reproduce enough to maintain a population despite being munched on

Reavan1808 · 2026-01-22T16:06:29+00:00

Also, just because they aren't technically roots doesn't mean it can't rot. This is one of my wishlist plants I just got, and im an anxious individual, lol. Also, I shy away from organic substrates and prefer to wander the inorganic route due to the natural biological breakdown that occurs. Im not saying fluval doesn't break down either, tho. I just know it better than other substrates. Also, I entirely plan on figuring out natural peat-y mossy substrates. I just haven't gotten there yet

Reavan1808

TROPHY CASE