Millipede find

[draconisj4]

I found a 1" dark brown millipede in one of my beetle larvae containers which must have come in with the substrate since I refreshed it for the larvae 2 weeks ago. I don't know what species or if it's native because the substrate came from a breeder in Oregon. No pics, the little guy buried up. I set it up with flower beetle substrate which is dried, crushed leaves, fermented oak sawdust and compost soil. Would this be suitable for millipedes in general or would Isopod substrate which is dried leaves, compost soil, a little bit of sand , and alder (wood) flakes be better? I did add a small amount of calcium carbonate to the container.

 

[AvLteralice]

either way it will live as long as the availability of dead/rotten wood/leaf litter or other source of food is present. spray it with water to moist things up. hope this helps, good luck.

 

[draconisj4]

either way it will live as long as the availability of dead/rotten wood/leaf litter or other source of food is present. spray it with water to moist things up. hope this helps, good luck.

Yes it does help as I have no experience with millipedes, thank you. I set it up moist, the same conditions as in the larvae container. It seems active and healthy.

 

[LawnShrimp]

The beetle substrate is the best but isopod sub will do if you don't want to spare any. Good supplemental foods include cucumber and fruits.

It sounds like a julid millipede or perhaps another juliform, such as a type of spirobolid. I doubt if it is a tropical species used in the pet trade and is more likely a native or introduced species that hitchhiked its way into the substrate.

 

[draconisj4]

The beetle substrate is the best but isopod sub will do if you don't want to spare any. Good supplemental foods include cucumber and fruits.

It sounds like a julid millipede or perhaps another juliform, such as a type of spirobolid. I doubt if it is a tropical species used in the pet trade and is more likely a native or introduced species that hitchhiked its way into the substrate.

Thanks, I did set it up with the beetle substrate as that's what I found it in and it seems healthy. I also gave it a tiny piece of apple.

 

[draconisj4]

Little update on my mystery millipede. I found another one a while ago when refreshing the beetle larvae substrate again, looked to be the same species so I put it in with the other one. I only check their enclosure occasionally to make sure it's moist and they have leaves. I hadn't seen them in a while so today I was poking about a little in the enclosure, I found one of the adults and a tiny 1/4 inch baby! It was so small I had to look at it under magnification to make sure it wasn't a worm of some sort. The other adult and more babies may be in there, I didn't go through all the substrate. Yay, more bugs