Phelsuma and ABG mix?

[daggekko]

Has anyone used ABG soil mix in with their geckos? I bought way too much of the components and will be making a large amount of this soil. I also am goign to do a lot of enclosure cleaning today, and was thinking about using it instead of cypress mulch.

 

[phelsumaman]

Yes I use an ABG type substrate in my smaller Phelsuma vivs, I seed with isopods and springtails and then top off with some oak leaves, I find that this holds the humidity much better than just bark chippings
Ben

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[daggekko]

Thanks for the reply. How moist does it have to be to keep springtails alive? I was under the assumption very. May be a long while before I can do isopods but I should have some cultures coming in early next week.


003 by daggekko, on Flickr

Now to go start cleaning enclosures!!

 

[phelsumaman]

It dosent have to be too wet for springtails to survive, the leaves will help increase the humidity locally which should be enough for them. I wouldn't expect the population to explode though, they will subsist given the right conditions.

In terms of your Isopods, are you going to use dwarf whites? (T. tormentosa) these guys survive best and are the bet producers, my recommendation would be to split the culture, half in a viv and half kept for future vivs. These guys will keep the viv clean and will explode under normal phelsuma viv conditions, the population will at least double each month ( perhaps triple it will depend on your temps and feeding regime). To give them a good start I would use some fish flake or oats as a food source for the first couple of months, you will find they swarm around this whilst they are building numbers, feed a little, if it moulds over, fine! Both the Isopods and the springtails will eat the mould.

Good luck and keep us updated on your progress


Ben

 

[daggekko]

Hey thanks a bunch!! I should be getting a couple R. reticulata here in the next 3 or so weeks. I'm going to be getting some dwarf purple and some dwarf white. All the springtails/isopods are going to be used first and only for the new frogs. Once I get them recultured and booming I will start splitting cultures and seeding gecko tanks. Thanks for the help!