---
title: Critters: how the terrarium simulator works
description: Each crew is a colony that grows to what the jar can feed. Each eats what its diet lists: leaves, rotting soil matter, fungi, rotting wood, moss or algae....
url: https://glassjar.garden/guide/how-it-works/critters/
---

How it works

# Critters

Each crew is a colony that grows to what the jar can feed.

- Each eats what its diet lists: leaves, rotting soil matter, fungi, rotting wood, moss or algae.
- Colonies grow toward the jar's food, then hold there.
- Short of food, a colony thins out over weeks.
- Springtails crash in dry soil; isopods cope better.
- Hungry isopods nibble soft plants.

## Stats

- Springtails at most: 95,000 per m²

- Worms: 5,000 per m²

- Isopods: 400 per m²

- Snails: 200 per m²

- Starving isopods: lose 2% a day

[See it in a jar](https://glassjar.garden/?guide=how-it-works/critters)

[← Moss](https://glassjar.garden/guide/how-it-works/moss/) · [Mould →](https://glassjar.garden/guide/how-it-works/mould/)