Bioactive feeders

[Chris.]

Hello everyone. So I've kept my Dubias in a bioactive viv for some time and was having really good success. Too good actually, I keep them at room temperature right now to slow their breeding and growth down.

Anyway. My new project for the winter is to set up a tank for keeping and breeding locusts, which is a little bit more of a challenge. They eat and poop soooo much that my CUC is not getting a grip on it.
The locusts require a very low humidity so I had to improvise a little.

There is coconut fibre on the bottom to hold moisture and sand on the top to make sure the top stays dry.

On the glass I can see the grey isopods, white isopods and a good amount of springtales deep in the substrate. My problem is that they don't seem to come to the surface very often because the poop does not get eaten away

Does anyone have an idea what could cause this? Should I mix the substrate? Maybe they avoid the sand for some reason....
Humidity is in the 40s, basking spot is 110 and cool side low 80s.

 

[Shauna_T]

Do you have both temperate and tropical springtails and iso's if not this could be part of the problem.

 

[Chris.]

Hi Shauna, thanks for your reply. As for the Isos yes, I have white ones and cuban Isopods. For the Springtailes I could only get my hands on tropical ones which could be the reason they are not working through the sand (even when it's wet)...I think I will try mixing the sand and the coconut fibre in one part and see if they are more willing to come up to the surface....