When will my order ship?
Supply orders will typically ship within 4 business days of the order being placed. Live animal orders placed after noon CST Sunday will not ship until Monday or Tuesday of the next week. Orders placed before noon CST on Sunday will always ship Monday or Tuesday of the same week. For example orders placed after the noon Sunday cutoff on the 1st will not ship until the 9th or 10th and orders placed before the cutoff will ship on the 2nd or 3rd. I only ship live animals on Mondays and Tuesdays to ensure the fastest shipping times for the safety of the animals. The noon Sunday cutoff is to allow for adequate order prep time.
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In certain cases a notice will be posted in advance on the main shop page and/or throughout the checkout process informing of a delay in shipping due to holidays, extreme weather, expected USPS shipping delays, personal events, etc. Other times an email will be sent out informing of an unexpected delay effecting already placed orders, so if your order seems to be delayed please check your inbox and spam for an email from ryne@springtails.us before personally reaching out to ask. In these rare cases your order will ship in accordance to the specifics of the checkout or email notices.
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Please understand that currently Springtails US is operated entirely by only one person.
Live Arrival Guarantee, Hold for Pickup, Refunds, and Returns
Can I order supplies and live animals in the same order?
LAG (Live Arrival Guarantee):
Deaths in a Springtails US order are extremely rare due to my careful packaging with insulated boxes and a range of temperature controlling packs but they can still occur. Read below how orders experiencing deaths can be eligible for refund or replacement, and scroll to the bottom of this section for contact information.
- Must contact me within 2 hours of the delivery time posted by the carrier service and provide photo or video proof if you want a return or replacement due to DOA (Dead On Arrival). Orders which are held for pickup at a post office have an extended 24hr LAG. If you experience a DOA please reach out even if you haven't made the time limit and I will do my best to make things right. I understand that excessive deaths during shipment are not always the customer's fault so I'll offer exceptions in most cases. Always feel free to contact me!
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Delayed orders:
-Please reach out via email to ryne@springtails.us if your live animal order hasn't delivered by end of day Saturday the week it shipped. I will then reach out to USPS to get the package back on track.
-Orders which have been in transit for 10 or more days due to postal delays can be replaced or refunded if the animals are DOA or if after a USPS investigation they are determined lost. It is never the fault of the buyer if a delayed package is DOA. Please reach out if your order is experiencing a delay in transit or if your delayed order arrives DOA. Infrequently orders will spend 5 or more days in shipping but will almost always still arrive alive because of my careful packaging.
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Special hold for pickup requirements:
-Isopod orders will be automatically sent to your nearest USPS post office if forecasted low temperatures are below 45F or forecasted highs above 80F during expected days of delivery. If you cannot get to a post office to pick up your animals please reach out to me before ordering and I'll do my best to accommodate. Most isopods are more sensitive to temperature swings than springtails hence these Hold For Pickup requirements only for orders containing isopods. You will be emailed which address your order is being held at.
-Any order can be sent to a post office instead of your home if you request it in the order comments field at the final page of the checkout. You will be emailed which address your order is being held at.
All other products:​
-Product refunds and returns are handled on a case-to-case basis. I will need a reason provided to help me understand the nature of the refund/return for the product.
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Please reach out to ryne@springtails.us for all inquiries regarding DOAs, refunds, returns, and reshipments.
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To ensure the safety of the animals and to facilitate a streamlined automated checkout process I do not allow animals and supplies to be purchased in the same order and shipped in the same box. That being said, you can reach out via email to ryne@springtails.us and I may be able to accommodate some requests.​
Where do you ship to?
Currently I only ship within the US and do not have plans to expand to other countries.
Springtail Shipping Methods
Large counts of springtails may ship in only one cup. For example a 100ct or 500ct of Folsomia candida will still ship in only one cup. Very large counts will be split into multiple cups. If you would like your springtails split into multiple shipping cups please specify that in the order comments section of the checkout process.
I use three shipping methods for springtails:
-Paper towel in 2 or 4oz cups
-Clay in 8oz cups
-Soil in 2 or 4oz cups (currently only used for A. caecus)
-I use paper towel for species that I suggest culturing on soil. I use paper towel because it is a secure and clean way to safely ship springtails which I transfer from soil into these shipping cups. They can survive on the paper towel for a week or more. To get the springtails off of the towel and into the culture you can either put the whole paper towel into their new culture and wait for them to get off or unfold the paper towel and gently knock them off and into the soil.
-I use clay for the species which I suggest culturing on clay and which handle shipping on clay well. You can keep these springtails in their clay lined shipping cups and continue culturing them in there or tilt the shipping cup and tap them out into a new culture.
-I use soil to ship Arrhopalites caecus because soil is what I culture them on and being a soil dwelling species they handle shipping in it quite well. To transfer them from their shipping cup you can simply dump them soil and all into their new culture.
Isopod Shipping Methods
Isopods ship in ventilated cups with damp sphagnum moss and leaf litter to keep them fed. Large counts of isopods may ship in only one cup. For example a 10ct or 100ct of Porcellionides pruinosus will still ship in only one cup. Very large counts will be split into multiple cups. If you would like your isopods split into multiple shipping cups please specify that in the order comments section of the checkout process.