{"product_id":"pink-springtails","title":"Pink Springtails For Sale (Coecobrya cf tenebricosa)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe pink is a blush, not a colour you will pick out across a room. Published descriptions of this animal settle on peach, or a faint pink cast over a pale body, and that is what turns up in the tub. If colour is the point for you, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/orange-springtails\"\u003eOrange springtails\u003c\/a\u003e do that job far better. What this culture offers is a warm-room workhorse that keeps working at the top of the temperature range, where a cool-climate species starts to slow down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe name has moved, and the \"cf.\" is deliberate\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis springtail circulated in the hobby for years as \u003cem\u003eSinella curviseta\u003c\/em\u003e. A collembologist eventually examined the widespread hobby animal and placed it in \u003cem\u003eCoecobrya\u003c\/em\u003e, and the old name is now understood to be wrong for it. Suppliers have since split: some list \u003cem\u003eCoecobrya communis\u003c\/em\u003e, others \u003cem\u003eCoecobrya\u003c\/em\u003e cf. \u003cem\u003etenebricosa\u003c\/em\u003e. I use the second, and the \"cf.\" is the honest part of it. It says the culture matches \u003cem\u003etenebricosa\u003c\/em\u003e without a specialist having confirmed this particular line under a microscope. The genus name is a clue to the group it belongs to: \u003cem\u003eCoecobrya\u003c\/em\u003e means blind, and the described species are eyeless animals of soil and leaf litter. \u003cem\u003eC. tenebricosa\u003c\/em\u003e itself has been recorded from Europe, the Mediterranean, Macaronesia, Hawaii and the Caribbean mainland, a spread wide enough that most of those records are probably introductions rather than a native range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trade name is worth the same care. \"Tropical white\" is applied to at least two different springtails, this species in its pale form and the temperate \u003cem\u003eFolsomia candida\u003c\/em\u003e, which is part of why the pink label has stuck. It points at one animal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat they do in an enclosure\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe job is the one every springtail does. They eat mould and fungal film before it takes hold, break down frass and uneaten food, and keep the top of the substrate turning over. Adults reach about 1 to 3mm and move quickly, which makes them a workable feeder for dart frogs and young geckos as well as a cleanup crew. They sit alongside \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/isopods-for-sale\"\u003eisopods\u003c\/a\u003e without competing, because the isopods work the leaf litter and the bigger material while the springtails take the fine stuff and the surfaces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eConditions\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKeep them warm and damp: 22 to 28°C, humidity around 70 to 85%, and a substrate that is damp without standing water. Coco coir or a charcoal culture both work, and springtails are the one group in the shop where coir is a sensible base. Standing water is what kills a culture of these, so pour off anything that pools and let the surface recover. Feed a few grains of rice, a pinch of brewer's yeast or a dedicated springtail food, then leave them to it. If your room runs cool and unheated, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/temperate-springtails-folsomnia-candida\"\u003eTemperate springtails\u003c\/a\u003e are the better choice. This one is for heated setups and tropical vivariums.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHow quickly they multiply\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSources disagree here and I would rather record that than pick the flattering figure. One supplier rates them a moderate to fast breeder; another calls them moderate and slower than temperate whites. Neither calls them explosive, so seed an enclosure a week or two before the animals go in and let the population get ahead of the waste. Longer-term culture keeping, including when to split a tub and what a stalled culture looks like, is covered in \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/articles-not-isopod-related\/how-do-you-keep-a-springtail-culture-alive-long-term\"\u003emy guide to keeping a springtail culture alive\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHow it is supplied\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach order leaves here as an established starter culture, already breeding, in the medium it was raised on. Tip a portion onto the substrate of the enclosure you are seeding and they will find the damp corners themselves. The 250ml size seeds one small to medium enclosure, 500ml covers a larger one or a couple of setups, and 1000ml suits several enclosures or a production culture you intend to harvest from. Dispatch is Monday to Thursday, Royal Mail next day by 1pm, and live arrival is guaranteed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rest of the range is in the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/springtails-for-sale\"\u003espringtails collection\u003c\/a\u003e, including the plain \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tropical-white-springtails-for-sale\"\u003eTropical White culture\u003c\/a\u003e if that suits your room better, and the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/springtail-mystery-box-for-sale\"\u003espringtail mystery box\u003c\/a\u003e if you would rather I choose.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PostPods","offers":[{"title":"250ml","offer_id":57846025748862,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"500ml","offer_id":57846025781630,"sku":null,"price":9.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"1000ml","offer_id":57846025814398,"sku":null,"price":17.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0759\/0707\/2294\/files\/pink-springtails-for-sale-coecobrya-cf-tenebricosa-9246009.jpg?v=1786727178","url":"https:\/\/postpods.co.uk\/products\/pink-springtails","provider":"PostPods","version":"1.0","type":"link"}