Millipede Breeding tips

[centipeedle]

Hey, I was thinking about attempting to breed these four species: A.gigas, N.americanus,A.monilicornis, and T.corallinus. Any tips and and advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Centipeedle

 

[Wesley Smith]

Well I have not yet successfully bred any of the others, but I can say that when it comes to Rusty’s, just make sure they have a good soil mix, lots of wood, and some good suplemental foods and they’ll breed like crazy. But you can’t be trying to sell adults while you’re waiting on them to breed, you will likely sell pregnant females.

 

[SFA]

Seconded as to what @Wesley Smith said, I keep my bumblebees in the upper 70's, nice and moist, good substrate, supplemental food, and my goodness do they make a lot of babies. I did try breeding my A. Gigas when I had them, but I think they were all at the end of their life span and I never did get any babies. I'd love to try again if I ever get ahold of some juvies.

 

[centipeedle]

I was also wondering about heat pads. Some sources say that heating pads are bad for millipedes, and to use a ceramic heat bulb or something of that nature. I doubt that they are bad for them though.

 

[SFA]

I use heat pads on all of my tropical species. I just put them on the sides of the enclosures, above the substrate level. I think the concern is that if you use them on the bottom, a molting millipede could cook themselves if they got up right against it.

 

[centipeedle]

I’m planning on using this as my substrate mix:coco fiber, sand, vermiculite, and a little bit of organic potting soil and wood chips(not cedar) and some sphagnum moss and leaves on the top.

 

[Wesley Smith]

I’m planning on using this as my substrate mix:coco fiber, sand, vermiculite, and a little bit of organic potting soil and wood chips(not cedar) and some sphagnum moss and leaves on the top.

Not a good soil mix, look up @mickiem ‘s “Very Fussy Millipede Substrate” it’s good for all pedes. The concern with heat pads is that millipedes burrow to cool so if the heat pad is at soil level they just keep burrowing trying to get cooler and it will just wind up killing them. I highly discourage using heat pads with millipedes in any manner but some do it with success; I would personally prefer to not take the risk, also I find that ceramic heat bulbs wind up being cheaper when all is said and done.

 

[Scoly]

Here is my pro tip #1: if you live in an area which has stone centipedes (Lithobius forficatus & co) then steam treat everything you bring from outside into your millipede cage.

I have Ophistreptus guineensis and Thyropygus sp in a communal setup, and the other day noticed a tiny millipede about 3cm long. I was delighted! I started digging around and couldn't find any more, but every time I moved a bit of wood or substrate, a handful of stone centipedes would come running out.

They never bothered me, I thought they made a good addition, and indeed seemed to really drop the fruit fly population once they started breeding in the millipede tank. I figured they would leave baby millipedes alone, as the only species I have male and female of were Ophistreptus guineensis, which are massive, and surely start off at a fair size. But then it clicked: maybe the population boom was due to them feeding off the baby millipedes.

So I went through the whole substrate, almost spoon by spoon, and separated the centipedes from millipedes into separate boxes each with some carefully sifted earth, and a big pile of earth with nothing in it. I only counted around 25 baby millipedes, with only one in the 3 cm range, all others much smaller, which means that one was the only remaining survivor of that clutch. On the other hand I must have pulled about 60-80 centipedes out of there, at various sizes, though only a couple of adults.

Over the next few days I found:

1. Some tiny centipedes in the baby millipede box - so they must have got in under the radar!
2. A dozen millipedes (as well as some baby centipedes) in the "just earth" pile, including some absolutely tiny ones!
3. One millipede in the box with all the centipedes!

A few days later I sadly found a handful of dead millipedes in a dried out viv where I had dumped a piece of wood which I thought I had checked.

So in summary:

1. Watch what else you have in your enclosure (I've heard isopods will have exactly the same effect!)
2. Don't underestimate how small the babies are, even of giant species.
3. Don't underestimate how well baby millipedes can hide in substrate, wood and food (I rescued one at the last minute from a piece of courgette I was about to chuck)

I think the most practical way to catch all the babies would be to transfer the adults to a new enclosure after you start spotting young of decent size, then let those grow for a number of months or a year until the last born have all reached a size at which you can find them before doing a clean out. If you have a real mix of sizes, then take some babies of the smallest size and keep them in a separate container (even inside the big container) to get an idea of growth rate.

 

[REEFSPIDER]

Avoid coco go peat, its better for soil consuming millipedes.

 

[centipeedle]

Hey, I found out that the company that sells the green envy compost used in @mickiem ’s substrate doesn’t ship to my area. Does anybody know any good alternatives?

 

[centipeedle]

Would this compost work?
https://m.lowes.com/pd/Leafgro-40-lb-Compost/3152593

 

[mickiem]

Hey, I found out that the company that sells the green envy compost used in @mickiem ’s substrate doesn’t ship to my area. Does anybody know any good alternatives?

Any organic leaf compost would work. I have used organic (regular) compost a few times and it did fine.