# Terrarium cleaners



## RawrItsOllie (Sep 17, 2009)

Hi, i am building a tropical viv soon and was wondering what cleaner insects to use. I am buying from dartfrog and would like to know what species of springtail clears up poo the best, and also what isopods to use for general terrarium health. also are there any worm species or other bugs that will maintain soil health for plants, or generally any other insects people think would help, cheers


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

What are you putting in there? I used springtails and woodlice but in the end my crestie ate all the woodlice and the springtails didn't really do anything. Roaches are good for cleaning, hissers if you're doing a big viv and maybe something like a couple of dubias in a small one


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## RawrItsOllie (Sep 17, 2009)

mrhoyo said:


> What are you putting in there? I used springtails and woodlice but in the end my crestie ate all the woodlice and the springtails didn't really do anything. Roaches are good for cleaning, hissers if you're doing a big viv and maybe something like a couple of dubias in a small one


1.1 red eyed croc skinks.
I can't use roaches as my mums afraid of them, and I have european woodlice but was considering getting tropical white ones aswell. though id like to hear other peoples experiences with springtails. Anyone?


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

You may be better off with the smaller woodlice, the skinks are likely to eat the europeans. They might eat the smaller ones too though.
One thing I found with the springtails is that they ate any mould that had started growing when I first set the viv up. I think i've still got a couple of them in there now but I haven't had any mould for ages so I don't know what they're eating.


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## RawrItsOllie (Sep 17, 2009)

mrhoyo said:


> You may be better off with the smaller woodlice, the skinks are likely to eat the europeans. They might eat the smaller ones too though.
> One thing I found with the springtails is that they ate any mould that had started growing when I first set the viv up. I think i've still got a couple of them in there now but I haven't had any mould for ages so I don't know what they're eating.


cheers for the advice. bump as I need to know other peoples experiences


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## RawrItsOllie (Sep 17, 2009)

bumpy


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

Im interested to know if you can use typical garden woodlice/milipedes/centipedes that you find under plant pots etc?


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

Crownan said:


> Im interested to know if you can use typical garden woodlice/milipedes/centipedes that you find under plant pots etc?


The woodlice should be fine, as should the millipedes. Centipedes are carnivorous though I believe so they wouldn't be any use to you.


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## matt_mcmahon77 (Dec 3, 2009)

The sprintails i have in my terrarium are really good i started with 200-300 and they have multiplied and they really do well at cleaning, always seen them surrounding poo, only takes them about a night to get rid of it, i got mine from The Livefood Warehouse :: Springtail Flies. Really quick deliery as well.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Seriously, don't waste your money buying them. There's thousands per sq. m outside in any reasonable ground. 

Go outside and pick up some damp leaf litter. Introduce that and within a few weeks you will hit saturation levels of springtails, which are then easily propagated by taking a chunk of earth from one tank to another. So long as they are kept damp you will be fine, same for woodlice. 

If you really want to capture lots, take some very ripe slices of orange or pear (this works very well) and put them on some soil outside; within a day or two you should be able to collect numerous springtails which will eat the rotting fruit. They are basically ubiquitous, so you shouldn't struggle to find them. I just think buying them is outrageous, if you culture them you'l understand it's a license to print money!


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## matt_mcmahon77 (Dec 3, 2009)

GRB said:


> Go outside and pick up some damp leaf litter. Introduce that and within a few weeks you will hit saturation levels of springtails, which are then easily propagated by *taking a chunk of earth from one tank to another*. So long as they are kept damp you will be fine, same for woodlice.


I wouldn't recommend doing this if you are planning on keeping frogs as this could cause the spread of disease if you move eco earth from one viv to another you are putting bacteria from one animal to another.


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