There's no way these babies had babies already, right?

[AmberReptiles]

Months ago I purchased some wee bitty baby N americanus. 15 to be exact. I mean, itty bitty babies. I've "ignored" them in so far as I don't dig them out of their container. I toss in food as it appears to be needed and mist so there's always a moisture gradient.

Last night I tossed in a sliver of butternut squash. Today I figured I'd see if any had come up to eat it. To my surprise there were many, many more babies than I'd originally had. My first thought was fruitflies had gotten into the container. But as I looked closer I realized they were not fruitfly larvae. I'm pretty sure these are millipedes, not worms. I can see the tiniest little antennae, legs and a few curled up like the larger original millipedes once I disturbed the squash. So my other thought is maybe these are not actually N americanus but some other super small species? Because I just don't think these guys would be breeding at an inch or so in length.

Thoughts?

 

[mickiem]

They are definitely millipedes. Could there have been eggs with the substrate from the original millipedes? Or did you use outside substrate and not sterilize it?

 

[AmberReptiles]

There could have been eggs in the original substrate. I did not consider that! I did dig through the original shipments to count the babies from each container and dumped that substrate into my main bin (roughly half the size of a shoebox). My basic mix is sterilized so they would have had to come from that original bit. I guess the eggs must be incredibly small. The mix these guys shipped in looked like scraggly spagnum moss that had been mixed in sand.

That makes so much sense I'm honestly embarrassed it didn't occur to me!

 

[Wesley Smith]

Honestly at this point, if they didn’t come from a credible source, it’s up in the air. There could have been eggs in the substrate or it could be a separate species. The pics of the adults aren’t great but they kinda look like my Parajulidae species (ID’d by Lawn shrimp).

 

[LawnShrimp]

Neither species looks like americanus, the one labeled "original" seems to be an adult Parajulid and the paler ones are probably its offspring.

 

[AmberReptiles]

I had hoped they were not Parajulid but the "original" ones have not seemed to really increase in size after at least 6 months. Though this is my first time rearing millipedes.

I'll just have to try and get better photos to compare.

 

[Galapoheros]

Neither species looks like americanus, the one labeled "original" seems to be an adult Parajulid and the paler ones are probably its offspring.

That was my first thought also. I could see how the small Parajulid sps would look like baby N. americanus to somebody and so selling them as that sps. I've made the mistake with some wolf spiders.

 

[Wesley Smith]

That was my first thought also. I could see how the small Parajulid sps would look like baby N. americanus to somebody and so selling them as that sps. I've made the mistake with some wolf spiders.

What did you confuse them with? I know wolf spider species are hard to differentiate but in my experience, people don't usually care what the species is as long as it is indeed a wolf spider, though I've only been into spiders for a couple years. I have confused wolf spiders, grass spiders, and fishing spiders with each other.

 

[Galapoheros]

I caught a few wolf spider specimens for somebody, thinking they were baby wolf spiders of another species of wolf spider that gets much bigger.

 

[ErinM31]

Months ago I purchased some wee bitty baby N americanus. 15 to be exact. I mean, itty bitty babies. I've "ignored" them in so far as I don't dig them out of their container. I toss in food as it appears to be needed and mist so there's always a moisture gradient.

Last night I tossed in a sliver of butternut squash. Today I figured I'd see if any had come up to eat it. To my surprise there were many, many more babies than I'd originally had. My first thought was fruitflies had gotten into the container. But as I looked closer I realized they were not fruitfly larvae. I'm pretty sure these are millipedes, not worms. I can see the tiniest little antennae, legs and a few curled up like the larger original millipedes once I disturbed the squash. So my other thought is maybe these are not actually N americanus but some other super small species? Because I just don't think these guys would be breeding at an inch or so in length.

Thoughts?

Definitely not offspring of Narceus americanus — they take years to mature and don’t reproduce until they are full-grown, which the millipedes you purchased are far from, if indeed they are N. americanus.

The new millipedes look like a species of Julida, let me see if I can find it...

I don’t think those are Parajulid millipedes but rather Julid or Blanulid — perhaps Blaniulus guttulatus?

 

[AmberReptiles]

Some of them could be potentially the Blaniulus guttulatus. I'll just have to get better daylight photos.

I guess my next thought is, what to do with these guys? I don't think there's any room in the hobby (to sell or give away), they're incredibly small which makes them even more difficult to view than typical millipedes (I have Thai Rainbows, AGBs, and N americanus). And also since they're so small I would worry about putting them into any kind of viv for frogs or even cresteds because I'd be worried they'd think of them as food. And since they're not native to the US I don't simply want to dump them outside.

I might see if they could work as a cleanup crew for some of my roach species.

 

[ErinM31]

Some of them could be potentially the Blaniulus guttulatus. I'll just have to get better daylight photos.

I guess my next thought is, what to do with these guys? I don't think there's any room in the hobby (to sell or give away), they're incredibly small which makes them even more difficult to view than typical millipedes (I have Thai Rainbows, AGBs, and N americanus). And also since they're so small I would worry about putting them into any kind of viv for frogs or even cresteds because I'd be worried they'd think of them as food. And since they're not native to the US I don't simply want to dump them outside.

I might see if they could work as a cleanup crew for some of my roach species.

I’d be interested in trading for them as I’m interested in collecting all millipedes found in the U.S.

 

[AmberReptiles]

I’d be interested in trading for them as I’m interested in collecting all millipedes found in the U.S.

Oh send me a PM! I would send you the whole lot of them. They were collected in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[ErinM31]

Oh send me a PM! I would send you the whole lot of them. They were collected in the Pacific Northwest.

Well that confirms that they could not be Narceus americanus — if there was any doubt — they are not found anywhere near that far west! I believe the only Spirobolids in that region are Tylobolus sp.

Will do! Thank you!