This is something that we get queries with from time to time and due to this I thought it would be good to put together a short article/blog explaining the reasons why they can appear dead when shipped and what you can do to help them.
Springtails are harder to post (in my opinion) than isopods for the most part as you are limited on how you can add ventilation to the tub as they are often able to escape even the smallest of holes and due to this, one of the main reasons they can appear lifeless during transit also known as diapause (a period of suspended development in an insect, other invertebrate, or mammal embryo, especially during unfavourable environmental conditions) due to the buildup of CO2 in the container as though springtails can survive in conditions with minimal ventilation - they still require some level of air exchange to survive/trive so at points where they don’t have this they can ‘shut down’ as a defence mechanism.
During the shipping process, the springtail containers can get quite warm inside and which can also lead them to go dormant/into diapause as a way to cope with the environmental factors.
Another issue we also found when speaking to other friends in the hobby is air pressure, when you press down the lid of the container and the changes of temperature as well as the CO2 increase ( basically everything from above) the air pressure in the tub can increase too
We never really thought too much about this as in our experience we have always had springtails sent the same way we sent them to you - in a 2oz tub with springtails in the substrate we grow them in. Until one day we had 3 people report the same issue (this was the day we sent out 2 weeks worth of orders in a single day) but we knew we couldn’t leave this to chance again given the above and wanted to do what we could to fix this ASAP.
We asked a few of our friends in the hobby how they ship springtails, one friend who just sells springtails sends them the same way ours were sent, another put food on a piece of wood and then when the springtails gathered onto the wood they would brush them off with a makeup brush into a tub and then count them into a tub with moss and a little bit of fish flake which we thought was a great idea. This may help them getting crushed in the soil if bashed about in shipping and give more space for air but it wouldn’t fix the buildup of CO2 nor the other issues stated.
We have our leather hole puncher/marker we have always used for our isopod tubs on the lid and more recently started to punch in holes around the sides of the containers too in order to add more ventilation so could use this however we felt the holes this produces may still be too big so we needed another line of defence for the springtails.
After a short google search we then saw that people had used 400 mesh organza to stop mites entering springtail enclosures and as springtails are generally larger than mites we thought this would be a perfect addition to our tubs.
Credit to Ben Glover for the photo below which shows a mite and it’s eggs sat onto of the 400 grain organza mesh
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10168134768955201&set=pcb.2285581351631468
With all this now ordered, we then began the task of preparing lids to test this new method of posting out our springtails for sale.
First I added springtail food to a piece of charcoal to try and lure the springtails onto a smooth surface.
Then whilst i patiently waited for springtails to join the party, i used my leather hole punching wheel to make small holes in the top of the tubs and then covered this with the 400 mesh organza using a hot glut gun around the holes to secure it
The springtail food party unfortunatley didnt work too well so in the end i got a few on a spoon and then using a fine makeup brush brushed them into the tub trying to get as little soil into the tub as possible
Once I could count around 30 springtails into the tub (to cover the 25 plus overcount) i then added moss
As you can see the springtails quickly started to explore it.
Then I added the lid and put tape on it around and posted out the orders.
I then patiently waited to to see how this new method went down including replacing the customers who had issues the day before.
Early the next day i received the below email from someone who previously ordered 50 orange springtails and most unfortunately were dead the first time around.
For me, although i was anxious and nervous when i had the issues, overcoming this issue for the long term and keeping customers updated on the process is what makes the hobby so exciting. As mentioned previously, lots of people send them out how i were before so it wasn't wrong how i was doing it however now i have found a 'better' way i hope to continue to do this going forward. the only change perhaps is i hope to get quicker as doing it this way to pack 6 tubs of springtails took over 2 hours.
October update - from the above I made a small change, i still use the makeup brush however also add in some soil from the enclosure as i find this gives them somewhere better to hide than the moss but also something to eat too (for the decaying stuff in the substrate mix). This makes packing quicker as on mornings where I have to pack for work I wasn't able to post out springtails often due to how long the other method took however by using not much soil and manly moss still it means we don't have the issues possibly associated with the soil only approach and also we have seen no issues since with them which is great news as our springtails are becoming increasingly popular