Search results

  1. Z

    Millipede substrate base : peat, coir, or something else ?

    I just realized I probably phrased it wrong because the 'base' is considered the nutritious part, coir etc is just a filler. I've been trying to find shops here in Europe which sell homemade substrate, but so far only found one store, it's located in Belgium.
  2. Z

    Millipede substrate base : peat, coir, or something else ?

    Thanks. The ones I was looking at all had some organic plant-fertilizer added in them which made me hesitate. Is yours without added fertilizer ?
  3. Z

    Millipede substrate base : peat, coir, or something else ?

    I've just been to the local gardening centre and all the organic potting soil had some added plant-nutrients or pokon in the mix. Could you please provide the ingredients of the soil you are using just to be safe? Yeah iirc pure organic peat has a PH value between 3 and 4 and it's located...
  4. Z

    small mites on millipede, harm or not?

    You mean you sterilized everything and the mites still came back in the same tank? So am I wrong thinking that these types of mites are the commensal ones which can only come with wildcaught Spirostreptidae species? My A. gigas has a little colony of the fast running ones on him aswell, I've...
  5. Z

    Millipede substrate base : peat, coir, or something else ?

    Thanks I've been looking into organic potting soil but I'm not sure about which ingredients it should or shouldn't contain. Some have cow manure and animal remains in them for instance, is that safe for the millipedes ? Peat and coir are also often main ingredients. I'm starting to think that...
  6. Z

    small mites on millipede, harm or not?

    I haven't been able to find anything about your species specifically. They look like commensal mites to me but I'm no expert. If you can't get a definitive answer and you have your doubts, you can try to carefully remove them with a paintbrush for example. Hope someone more experienced will...
  7. Z

    Millipede substrate base : peat, coir, or something else ?

    I'm keeping A. gigas, P. Ligulatus pedelings, M. Parilis Acuticonus and C. Diaphorus. Yeah I understand which nutrients they need, but people often recommend to base the substrate on +-50 % coir. I've been thinking about just using the humus layer from the forest as a base, and mix that up with...
  8. Z

    Millipede substrate base : peat, coir, or something else ?

    Thanks I hadn't heard of that before. Just did a quick search but didn't find any sellers of this product in my country yet. I'll look into it some more.
  9. Z

    small mites on millipede, harm or not?

    Which species did you find them on ? Wildcought A. gigas for example carry communial mites which don't cause any harm but are actually beneficial to the millipede's well-being. I believe the mites die out over time though, because we can't replicate their natural habitat well enough. ''The...
  10. Z

    Millipede substrate base : peat, coir, or something else ?

    When I first started keeping millipedes about a year ago, I based the substrate on coco-peat (coir) untill I heard it doesn't have any nutritional value and might be harmful in the long run. Recently I started basing all my substrate on organic peat (turf), which is also used in paludaria, but...
Top