PangolinPrince
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- May 24, 2018
- Messages
- 7
My apologies if this is too long of a read!
From a (hopefully) soon-to-be first time pet owner! I have always loved animals (especially birds) and been very curious about insects... My favorite bugs being roly polies, cicadas, and moths/butterflies... Recently I have done some research on pet insects and millipedes came up! I continued my research and they seem to be a good fit for me and what I can provide. I'm looking to get one this summer if I get permission. I'm not an adult so I may not have access to certain materials and I have a limited budget, but in my area there is a lot of fallen twigs and branches and most of the local trees are oaks (pointy leaf kind, I guess red oaks). I plan on getting one Narceus americanus, maybe more if things go well. I would absolutely love to get my hands on A. gigas at some point! I have a LOT of questions and possibly more to come, if anyone could help me answer all or most of these I would be very grateful! Thank you.
Before I get into the questions, here are my plans for a habitat: I shall use a plastic container with a lid, preferably around a foot or slightly more in length, 8 inches or slightly more in width, and around a foot in height. A bit larger will do as well. Standard plastic container.
Probably something of this variety, since I like the latches. I plan on drilling holes in the lid for ventilation, but I'm aware that I can't put too many due to risk of dehydration. But that leads into my first question...
Thank you to anyone who reads this!!
From a (hopefully) soon-to-be first time pet owner! I have always loved animals (especially birds) and been very curious about insects... My favorite bugs being roly polies, cicadas, and moths/butterflies... Recently I have done some research on pet insects and millipedes came up! I continued my research and they seem to be a good fit for me and what I can provide. I'm looking to get one this summer if I get permission. I'm not an adult so I may not have access to certain materials and I have a limited budget, but in my area there is a lot of fallen twigs and branches and most of the local trees are oaks (pointy leaf kind, I guess red oaks). I plan on getting one Narceus americanus, maybe more if things go well. I would absolutely love to get my hands on A. gigas at some point! I have a LOT of questions and possibly more to come, if anyone could help me answer all or most of these I would be very grateful! Thank you.
Before I get into the questions, here are my plans for a habitat: I shall use a plastic container with a lid, preferably around a foot or slightly more in length, 8 inches or slightly more in width, and around a foot in height. A bit larger will do as well. Standard plastic container.
Probably something of this variety, since I like the latches. I plan on drilling holes in the lid for ventilation, but I'm aware that I can't put too many due to risk of dehydration. But that leads into my first question...
- I'm worried about small spiders, ants, or flies getting into the container through the air holes since we seem to have an issue with them and I think they might be attracted if I leave food in the container. Would it work to tape coffee filter over the air holes? I think this is my best option. If the millipede gets up and manages to chew them I'll try a different material.
- Do all materials (wood, dirt, leaves, moss?) that go into the container need to be frozen and baked? Is just freezing enough? Perhaps just washing/drying/freezing? I am not so keen on using the oven if I can avoid it.
- How long do you bake the materials, and what temperature? How do you keep them from being on fire?
- If exposure to unclean materials is dangerous, does this mean it is bad to let the millipede wander for a bit outside?
- How often must substrate and tank materials be changed? I read that leaving most substrate and changing the top layer every... month or so, will do fine.
- How often must food be put in? I suppose the plant material and substrate in the tank serves as food so that's basically the previous question... but....
- How often can special foods be given? (fruits and vegetables, maybe bits of table food)
- Sources of protein besides snake skins or feeder insects? All I have readily available is eggshells but if that's not enough what should I get? same question for sources of calcium... what can I use? Will get reptile vitamin/calcium supplement if I can't come up with anything
- Transporting a millipede? How often can they be moved without causing them too much stress? I go between two houses a lot so if I made two different tanks/containers and then a smaller carrier container, would that work? Is every 2 weeks, maybe monthly, okay?
- Does water for the millipede need to be distilled or is plain tap water fine? I will probably just use tap water, since the tap water in our area is pretty okay in quality. (I drink it sometimes and I'm fine)
- Temperature? House is usually in the 60s or 70s, but is it dangerous for the millipede if it goes into the 50s or 80s?
- Can millipedes eat fruits/vegetables that are starting to get moldy? I could cut off the moldy part. Although I think I would just feed it very very ripe produce. Not rotten.
- What fruits/vegetables are dangerous for millipedes? Are citrus too acidic? Are kiwis safe? Avocados? Berries like blackberries, blueberries, raspberries? Strawberries, maybe?
- For water, I was thinking of just making a very shallow pond type thing in the corner of the habitat, lining the bottom with gravel. This would be ok, right?
- What are some small plants that could be kept in the container? I was thinking ferns of some sort but the small kind for terrariums i saw on amazon didn't have the best reviews. Any other sources to buy small ferns? I would like for the habitat to have a fair amount of attractive green-ness, which I could probably achieve with well-placed mosses.
- How often can the millipede be handled comfortably? I don't want to dry it out or cause it too much stress.
- Should I keep a small thermometer on/near the container? Not as important a question just an idea really.
Thank you to anyone who reads this!!