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Booklice as food

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joseph

Guest
I posted a while ago in general discussions on little bugs in some stored rice. I'm pretty sure by now they are some kind of booklice(Psocid). I've been using them to feed a Cynops orientalis morph and it takes them readily. I read here that C. pyrroghaster morphs eat lots of springtails in the wild. While I do have access to those they would be difficult for me to harvest the way I can the booklice. I'm thinking they probably are quite similar to springtails as far as the morph is concerned. I tried offering blackworms once but it didn't show interest. Any other foods along the same line as these that could be used?(was thinking maybe fruitflies).
 
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jennifer

Guest
I find that pyrrhogaster morphs eat fruitflies very readily. In fact, when I dump in the fruit flies, I immediately see their little tongues shooting out to catch them. Very cute. I do supplement the fruit flies with vitamin/mineral powder.

Springtails are easy to grow. I have used them by simply putting a spoonful of the culturing soil, together with its load of springtails, into a bottle cap in the enclosure. I've never seen the animals eat them, but I often find the juvies staring intently at the soil in the bottle cap, so I suspect they do eat them. However, I think fruit flies make a more substantial meal.
 
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joseph

Guest
I'm pretty sure they are booklice. I've seen references of them infesting stored foods(mainly because it went moldy as that is what they eat). Soft bodied...not a shell like the weevil.
They are a little smaller than springtails. It is interesting to watch him use his tongue.
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Jenn:I will be getting some FF cultures set up. Which brand of supplement did you use?

Alan: Have you tried the setup he describes? No charcoal of that sort here but as he mentioned they do very well in my worm cultures and I've got many in a worm bin. I suppose treating them the way one would grindal worms would yield similar results.
 
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alan

Guest
I am culturing three species of springtail at present, two on charcoal and the most recent on compost, partly because I have not tried this recent isolate on charcoal yet. The charcoal cultures are far easier and far more productive then the compost, so that would always be my first choice, although it may not work for all species.
 
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terry

Guest
Talking about springtails, I encountered something that looked to me like black/ dark brown versions of these springtails feeding on vegetable matter/ algae on some wood in a park near my house. I remember them to be a sort of rounded springtail. Can anyone tell me what kind they are? Best description is they are about 2 mm and resemble little round balls which move quite slowly. Upon contact they spring like normal springtails. They teem in numbers in my area and I wonder if they would serve as a viable food source. I tried a few with my newts and they snapped them up. Any ideas?
 
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