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I've been doing some tank maintenance and noticed that a few of my more moist enclosures have what look to be silver springtails. They're about half the size as the temperate Collembola sold in the hobby and sort of flicker from white to silver as they move around and catch the light. They also jump like springtails. I've not noticed any harm being done, so I'm not worried... Another strata in the mini ecosystem is more than welcome. Just wondering if I'm correct and if anyone else has seen these. Some extra info: I thoroughly wash and heat sanitize anything I bring in from the outdoors so I don't think they got in that way. I have been collecting wild A. vulgare, but they are in their own enclosure. I love in a berm house that's mostly underground, and we get an amazing assortment of wildlife in the house: Parcoblatta have shown up in my enclosures, we once had a mushroom growing in the bathroom, and most recently I caught a nightcrawler cruising down the hallway. TLDR: I think I have wild springtails in my tanks, but I'm not worried. I'm used to wildlife invading my home. Just want confirmation.

I'm doing my semi-annual roach bin cleaning, moving & sorting extravaganza, and I've noticed that the A. diaperinus and collembola are very dense in some enclosures. For example, a small bin with a footprint of 8" x 12" housing hisser nymphs on shaved aspen and oak leaves might have 200-300 beetles and too many larvae to count. Should I be concerned? It seems like that might be too many as I see adult G. portentosa flicking them off of their legs. Is there an easy way to cull the herd, so to speak? The enclosures with collembola... it's hard to guesstimate how many their might be, but there are enough to look like a swarm if that makes sense. I can't get a good photo with my cell. Again, how many are too many, and how do I easily shrink the population when they get out of hand?

Let's talk about Collembola. Do any of you keep colonies of Collembola? Do any of you collect them in the wild? What is available commercially or traded keeper to keeper in your part of the world? Where I live, in the UK, we only have Seira species and Folsomia candida regularly available. You used to see the odd colony of Tomocerus species but I haven't seen any of the latter in the hobby for several years. I currently have Seira sp. and some I collected from a rotting tree stump. These are tentatively identified as Pogonognathellus flavescens. I have no adults left but I found young hatchlings today. These are tiny compared to the 4mm long adults. All the best from Bill.