DubiaW
Arachnobaron
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2017
- Messages
- 471
A month or so back I gathered some Orthoporus ornatus (I call them Oo's for short) in the wild from a relatively small pod in the hills. I got home and started trying to put together some substrate and realized the recommended mix contained zero ingredients that would be found in a large part of their natural range. From what I have read online there are very few reports of people successfully captive breeding Oo's and remembered a recent thread about another species that wouldn't breed without eating a particular species of pine. It made perfect sense. There is probably something in their range that they needed to eat to reproduce. I set up an experimental substrate using native soil, leaf litter, dried cactus & mesquite wood. I used caliche for a source of "Calcium Carbonate" because I have witnessed them eating it in the wild and have yet to find a natural population where caliche was not present. I have seen Oo's eating creosote wood in the past but was worried that it might be toxic so I waited to add it until taking photos of Oo's eating it in the wild. I finally hiked into a large superpod two nights ago and took plenty of pictures of Oo's eating creosote. Besides a few mesquite trees and some burr sage (local name) the predominant species of plant in the area was creosote (creosote is the dominate plant in the location of the Texas Gold superpod that I know of too). Almost all leaf litter and weeds had been stripped out of this area and the millipedes were eating creosote wood and leaf litter as well as the last nubs of weeds and a few other things.
I gathered a few more Oo's and went home to mix up a second batch of experimental substrate that included one third creosote leaf litter. I added fresh creosote leaves and some of the live weeds that they had been eating, as well as dead creosote wood on the surface (and some of the same stuff in the first substrate). I substituted the apple with paddle cactus fruit. I also added green mesquite leaves and creosote to see what they would do with it. So far they haven't touched any of the green stuff. In about a week I will post an update on their feeding behavior.
The experiment is far from conclusive and doesn't really have a the element of a scientific control group but it is revealing what they eat in their natural habitat. If they do breed I can't conclude that I have been successful because they are recently wild caught and could already be gravid. I need a volunteer that owns Oo's that have been in captivity on standard millipede substrate for more than a year without breeding to receive some sample ingredients. Unfortunately the recipient needs to be in the United States because special permits will be needed to ship these ingredients to abroad. The ingredients must be added one at a time until successful mating can be observed. I also need contact from anyone that has successfully bred this species in captivity.
Here is a photo of the first experimental set up. At the time none of the Oo's were even touching the apple. You can see one on the left side eating caliche. They are producing healthy solid grass pellets and eating everything except some non native yucca blossoms that i later removed. Thanks in advance to whoever volunteers to help me with this experiment.
I gathered a few more Oo's and went home to mix up a second batch of experimental substrate that included one third creosote leaf litter. I added fresh creosote leaves and some of the live weeds that they had been eating, as well as dead creosote wood on the surface (and some of the same stuff in the first substrate). I substituted the apple with paddle cactus fruit. I also added green mesquite leaves and creosote to see what they would do with it. So far they haven't touched any of the green stuff. In about a week I will post an update on their feeding behavior.
The experiment is far from conclusive and doesn't really have a the element of a scientific control group but it is revealing what they eat in their natural habitat. If they do breed I can't conclude that I have been successful because they are recently wild caught and could already be gravid. I need a volunteer that owns Oo's that have been in captivity on standard millipede substrate for more than a year without breeding to receive some sample ingredients. Unfortunately the recipient needs to be in the United States because special permits will be needed to ship these ingredients to abroad. The ingredients must be added one at a time until successful mating can be observed. I also need contact from anyone that has successfully bred this species in captivity.
Here is a photo of the first experimental set up. At the time none of the Oo's were even touching the apple. You can see one on the left side eating caliche. They are producing healthy solid grass pellets and eating everything except some non native yucca blossoms that i later removed. Thanks in advance to whoever volunteers to help me with this experiment.
