I saw my first AGB millipede baby today!!!

[Kimix]

If you see one baby, odds are there are many more. The babies stay buried until they reach a certain size. If you put a piece of apple with something on top (piece of cork, plastic, water bowl, ect) and check back in a day or two you might see some of the babies on the apple. I do not recommend digging for them as you could easily crush them while they are young and soft.

But I'll also tell you one of my sad stories, I had eggs, but a major lack of babies. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I moved every millipede and the few babies I could find into a new tank. I left the old tank sitting as is for months b/c I didn't want to risk tossing any good eggs or babies.

When I finally cleaned the tank out, I carefully went thru all the dirt and I found the head section of a large beetle. So I assume the beetle larva was having a grand 'ol time snacking on my baby millipedes. so so sad

Giant African Black Eggs laid against the glass

 

[Galapoheros]

Good info there also! What is your experience with isopods eating eggs, anything there? Really, it makes sense to me isopods would eat the eggs if they found them, ...why not? They eat just about everything else organic. Most scientists wouldn't know the answer to this question imo because many focus on taxonomy, "only" dealing with dead specimens, being ID experts but not knowing much about breeding and husbandry hurdles.

 

[Kimix]

I have never kept isopods with my millipedes. Years ago when I first started keeping pedes the thinking was that isopods were bad with the pedes. Although if I recall correctly it was because people thought the isopods might collapse dirt on top of the new born pedes and squish them, not because of egg eating.

Now though, it seems most people do keep isopods with their millipedes.

If I happen to get lucky and find eggs again I will do an experiment, I'll remove an egg or two and move them into a container with some isopods and watch the results. Actually one of my friends just found N. americanus eggs last week. I'll ask him if hes willing to test.

Personally, I don't think they will eat the eggs (unless maybe starved). You find millipedes and isopods in all the same spots outside, and I don't think it would make sense from an evolutionary standpoint if millipedes laid their eggs next to an egg predator.

 

[Galapoheros]

That's something to think about for sure. There's not so much the overcrowded thing going on in nature with the isopods. It might be the case that there are much fewer under a log that if they do eat the eggs if found, much more of them make it. But I too have wondered if the pill leave them alone just because they are so similar, you know, the design and with their defenses, once they're babies anyway. I plan to move these for a while and see what happens.

 

[J Morningstar]

I have always seen millipedes and isopods living here in NYS in the same areas. I do know that the African GB millipedes do not smell as much as the millipedes here and being their smell is usually a byproduct of their secretions, maybe the fluids of an African GB millipede are not "acrid" enough to keep isopods heree from eating their young. I too am going to try an isopod free enclosure sooner than later...and and yea no clue how many young but there is about 10 gallons of substrate in there to be crawling around in..

 

[Galapoheros]

I finally moved the ones I have left today to an isopod free terr, I'm really lazy sometimes. I really doubt the isopods would eat hatched millipedes, it's only the eggs I'm wondering about being eaten by them. How many have you seen so far JM? Even if you only get 5 to 10, at least you know you could keep them going. I bet you have a lot more in there though.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Good info there also! What is your experience with isopods eating eggs, anything there? Really, it makes sense to me isopods would eat the eggs if they found them, ...why not? They eat just about everything else organic. Most scientists wouldn't know the answer to this question imo because many focus on taxonomy, "only" dealing with dead specimens, being ID experts but not knowing much about breeding and husbandry hurdles.

As you suspect, here's my Q and reply from a an isopod researcher:

Greetings Dr. Wilson,

I am sure you're very busy so I'll keep it brief: I'm an insect hobbyist and have been raising and utlilizing various isopods as tank cleaners, especially in captive settings with detrivores that require higher moisture levels. Two questions that seem to be repeated throughout the hobby but lack proper evidence are:

-Do isopods consume the eggs of mites?

-Do isopods consume the eggs of millipedes?

My understanding is that most isopods are omnivorous but tend to only eat material from expired animals whereas they will eat living plant material. Any insight that you can offer would be fantastic, especially if you can point me in the direction of papers/books/etc. that I can share with the hobbyist community. Thank you for your time

"Dear Mr Skierski
"Don't know for certain" for both of your questions. Terrestrial isopods are known to be detrital shredders and certainly eat lots of plant derived material - like leaf litter, and possibly fungi. Because the eggs could be amongst the leaf litter, one could guess that they might eat eggs of other animals. Freshwater isopods that have similar diets can on occasion eat animals or animal-derived material.
Here's a book that you might find in a university library.
Alikhan, M. A. 1995. Terrestrial Isopod Biology. A.A. Balkema International Publishers, Brookfield, Vermont, USA; Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Cheers

George D.F. (Buz) Wilson
Australian Museum (Marine Invertebrates)"


Sigh. Time for some experimentation.

 

[SDCPs]

For those of you having success, do you use heat pads?

 

[J Morningstar]

I;ve seen 2 at once at best, but agreeded I bet there is alot more...

 

[Galapoheros]

That's about as much as I expected john, thanks for going for it. I tried asking a career scientist something having to do with breeding pedes a long time ago, they didn't know anything about it. That's when I realized the formal science is focused on taxonomy mostly, I've assumed anyway.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Great thread with lots of good info. I need to also set up some milli enclosures without terrestrial isopods. Do you plan to have springtails with your isopod-free enclosures?

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Giant African Black Eggs laid against the glass

Are you sure you don't have Mardonius? That's not the way Archispirostreptus normally lay eggs.

Here is a photo of my Giant African Blacks, showing a split egg with the zygote, and some early instars (although I'm not sure if its called instars in millipedes)

Protonymph may not be the perfect name for the stage between egg and first instar but zygote is a cell formed by the union of two gametes.

 

[Kimix]

AHHH now I'm horribly confused. How do I know if I have Mardonius or Archispirostreptus??? I didn't even realize there was a similar looking species.

Although if thats the way that Mardonius lay eggs, I guess mine are Mardonius

All my millipedes were purchased as Giant African Blacks from multiple sources. Or maybe both of those are called Giant African Blacks?

---------- Post added 05-29-2012 at 10:28 PM ----------

After an initial panic of having mis-ID'd my pedes for years, I have googled and I understand the difference. It does appear I have Mardonius based on the appearance of my largest babies, although for all I know I may have both mixed together as well and never realized it.

Am I correct in seeing that the common name "Giant African Black Millipede" is used for both sp?

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Am I correct in seeing that the common name "Giant African Black Millipede" is used for both sp?

The only common name for that one is black Congo millipede. They are a lot easier to breed but they don't get nearly as big (still a nice sized critter). I'm sure they'd sell a lot better as AGB but AGB is supposed to be Archispirostreptus....

 

[SDCPs]

How come this species is not more readily avaliable?: http://users.usachoice.net/~swb/pet_arthropod/mill.htm

I tried to get them but found A. gigas more readily available. I mean if they grow faster and breed well, but are just a tad smaller (8", that's a good size!), why not substitute?

 

[Galapoheros]

Just noticed, if it's not my imagination, that since I moved the millis to an isopod free terr, not only did they seem to calm down, but I think I see an increase in the native mites they have running around on them. See anymore babies btw?

 

[EbonyKatana1664]

Coolio pics you have there.

 

[SkyeSpider]

Two adults for us and they've been mating like crazy. About a year now, and still no babies. Fingers are still crossed.

I like the idea of adding isopods to keep things cleaner. May have to do that soon.