# New Velvet Worms!



## velvetundergrowth (Jun 2, 2019)

Well, the moment has finally come and I am ecstatic to once again be in possession of some Velvet Worms! It's been over 5 years since last I kept these marvelous nocturnal predators, as I'm sure many of you know these are almost non-existent in the hobby and are famously difficult to procure. But, thanks to fellow AB member @AbraxasComplex, I have a small group of Barbados Browns (_Epiperipatus barbadensis)_, larger and more colorful than the _Peripatoides novaezealandiae _more "commonly" offered. But perhaps the biggest plus for this tropical species is their tolerance of warmer conditions than their Kiwi counterparts. No wine cooler or chilly cellar needed here!



For now I have them in a small terrarium with rotten wood, moss, liverwort and some other tiny plants, but as they become more established I will be upgrading them to something a bit more high-end.

Now for some photos. Please excuse my less-than-stunning shots, my camera is out of action and I'm stuck with an awful Huwawei smartphone cam...

Anyway, I hope you guys will find them as fascinating and beautiful as I do!

Reactions: Like 14 | Love 7


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## Dawsy14 (Jun 2, 2019)

They look amazing

Reactions: Love 1


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## basin79 (Jun 2, 2019)

I wish these tropical velvet worms where available in the UK.

Reactions: Like 1


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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 2, 2019)

basin79 said:


> I wish these tropical velvet worms where available in the UK.


If they successfully breed, and apparently they do so without much trouble, I will be providing them to other Velvet Worm-lovers 
My dream is to see them established in the hobby.

Reactions: Like 2 | Love 2 | Optimistic 3


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## AbraxasComplex (Jun 2, 2019)

I'm glad they made it. They took a lot of stops and days of stop overs in other cities just for this import to happen. I wish you the best success!!

Reactions: Like 4 | Love 1


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## Polenth (Jun 3, 2019)

Hope it goes well for you. It'll be great to see some with higher temperature needs. I keep my room cool, but not cool enough for the other species.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## SonsofArachne (Jun 4, 2019)

velvetundergrowth said:


> If they successfully breed, and apparently they do so without much trouble, I will be providing them to other Velvet Worm-lovers


You can count me in! I've wanted to try velvet worms but have never found a source. And Peripatoides novaezealandiae always seemed really delicate. Hopefully your Epiperipatus barbadensis will prove easier to work with.

Reactions: Like 1


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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 4, 2019)

SonsofArachne said:


> You can count me in! I've wanted to try velvet worms but have never found a source. And Peripatoides novaezealandiae always seemed really delicate. Hopefully your Epiperipatus barbadensis will prove easier to work with.


Sure thing  And I would not let the delicate nature of the NZ onychophorans put you off. I managed to find a small wine cooler for not too much money and I will be using it to house _P. novaezealandiae _as soon as I get them (have managed to get a hold of a group but must wait until the weather cools in Autumn before shipping them over). They are a small but very beautiful species and fascinating to observe. The key to success seems to be consistent temps, as little disturbance as possible and making sure mould doesn't become a problem.

I kept a small group for a while but they eventually succumbed to what must have been a mould/bacterial infection. They seemed to be thriving, their temps were well within parameters and they were accepting both live and pinned crickets without hesitation. Then one day I was inspecting them only to find all but one had perished (they deflate and turn black when dead). The surviving one followed them the next day. Very disheartening. But that was almost 8 years ago and I was less informed on the subject as well as there being less husbandry information available. 

This time I will be keeping them in a more minimalist setup to make cleaning more effective, disturbing them as little as possible and housing them inside a cooler which will prevent any temperature fluctuations happening.

Reactions: Like 2


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## SonsofArachne (Jun 4, 2019)

velvetundergrowth said:


> Sure thing  And I would not let the delicate nature of the NZ onychophorans put you off. I managed to find a small wine cooler for not too much money and I will be using it to house _P. novaezealandiae _as soon as I get them (have managed to get a hold of a group but must wait until the weather cools in Autumn before shipping them over). They are a small but very beautiful species and fascinating to observe. The key to success seems to be consistent temps, as little disturbance as possible and making sure mould doesn't become a problem.
> 
> I kept a small group for a while but they eventually succumbed to what must have been a mould/bacterial infection. They seemed to be thriving, their temps were well within parameters and they were accepting both live and pinned crickets without hesitation. Then one day I was inspecting them only to find all but one had perished (they deflate and turn black when dead). The surviving one followed them the next day. Very disheartening. But that was almost 8 years ago and I was less informed on the subject as well as there being less husbandry information available.
> 
> This time I will be keeping them in a more minimalist setup to make cleaning more effective, disturbing them as little as possible and housing them inside a cooler which will prevent any temperature fluctuations happening.


I'd like to start with something easier (Epiperipatus barbadensis hopefully) then work up to Peripatoides novaezealandiae once I get some experience. I don't want kill them because of a rookie mistake.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 4, 2019)

SonsofArachne said:


> I'd like to start with something easier (Epiperipatus barbadensis hopefully) then work up to Peripatoides novaezealandiae once I get some experience. I don't want kill them because of a rookie mistake.


I get you  Although when I kept them first "rookie" mistakes were more common due to some pretty shaky and at times downright incorrect care advice available. IIRC a post on here or perhaps Tarantula Forum stated that you had to be careful with humidity because too much would cause them to explode! What a load of old rubbish XD I also read that they are cannibalistic and should never be housed together... Also very wrong (At least for _P. novaezealandiae).
_
Hopefully more of the larger tropical species, such as _Peripatus solarzanoi _will enter the hobby soon, as having these creatures established in captivity may be the only way to keep them alive in the age of deforestation and climate change. What a truly awful tragedy it would be to see these living representatives from the very dawn of animal life disappear at our hands... after almost half-a-billion years of resilience!

Long live the Onychophora!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## wizentrop (Jun 4, 2019)

Just a minor correction to the above. After seeing _Peripatus solarzanoi _in the wild - they are located in a private nature reserve and are well protected. Believe me when I say this, there is no immediate risk for their survival from deforestation. When it comes to climate change however, we are all on the same boat.

Also when it comes to velvet worms (as well as other organisms) - keeping them in the hobby does not ensure their conservation and survival. Protecting their natural habitat combined with organized breeding AND reindroduction back to it, do. I am a little tired of hobbyists thinking they are saving the world by keeping something in their basement. You are keeping them because you like them, and that's fine. But no need to sugarcoat it - I don't think you will travel to Barbados to release the babies.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## SonsofArachne (Jun 4, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> Just a minor correction to the above. After seeing _Peripatus solarzanoi _in the wild - they are located in a private nature reserve and are well protected. Believe me when I say this, there is no immediate risk for their survival from deforestation. When it comes to climate change however, we are all on the same boat.
> 
> Also when it comes to velvet worms (as well as other organisms) - keeping them in the hobby does not ensure their conservation and survival. Protecting their natural habitat combined with organized breeding AND reindroduction back to it, do. I am a little tired of hobbyists thinking they are saving the world by keeping something in their basement. You are keeping them because you like them, and that's fine. But no need to sugarcoat it - I don't think you will travel to Barbados to release the babies.


I generally agree with you, but there are cases where hobbyists have kept species alive. Simandoa conservarium for instance.

Reactions: Clarification Please 1


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## wizentrop (Jun 4, 2019)

Of course, there are several success stories, Simandoa roaches (btw, I know the story and the people involved. I don't believe the species is really extinct but it's a nice tale to tell), crested geckos etc'.
It's good to have a healthy captive population, I'm all for that. But in my opinion it is worth while only if the wild populations are receiving a similar amount of support. Otherwise, you are risking a species to become domesticated over time. Think Bombyx mori. I'm sure everyone would love a domesticated velvet worm, but not at the price of losing the wild ones  I'm exaggerating here on purpose. I support the hobby in all my heart. However, I do not like when the concept of conservation is flagged without context. This word is overused these days.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Informative 1


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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 5, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> I am a little tired of hobbyists thinking they are saving the world by keeping something in their basement. You are keeping them because you like them, and that's fine. But no need to sugarcoat it - I don't think you will travel to Barbados to release the babies.


Of course I'm keeping them because I like them. I'm not a scientist, nor am I a conservationist. Just a hobbyist with a particular interest in Onychophora. I don't see the part where I claimed to be single-handedly saving anything? Perhaps my claim about the importance of captive rearing to conservation was ill-informed, and I appreciate your apparent deep knowledge of and experience with these creatures, but I don't see the need to put such a negative spin on my comment.

Anyway, I learned a lot from your comment so thanks for the education

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## wizentrop (Jun 5, 2019)

I hope my comment wasn't rude. Blame it on my short fuse! 
Happy to see more people keeping onychophorans. I keep a group of 60 _E. barbadensis_ myself, obtained directly from @AbraxasComplex . They are hardy and fun compared to the other 10 species of velvet worms I have kept in the past. I rate the NZ species the worst in terms of sensitivity. I hope to go back to breeding _Oroperipatus_ from South America next year - my workplace managed to kill them all.

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## SonsofArachne (Jun 5, 2019)

Actually, any captive breeding can considered conservation, even when done for the pet trade. It reduces or even eliminates the need for animals to be removed from the wild for the pet trade.

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## wizentrop (Jun 5, 2019)

SonsofArachne said:


> Actually, any captive breeding can considered conservation, even when done for the pet trade. It reduces or even eliminates the need for animals to be removed from the wild for the pet trade.


In an ideal world, maybe. But in reality... no, not really.
The pet trade is full of different people, many of which are not interested in conservation. Even those who deeply care about it, do nothing substantial to promote it. If you want the pet trade to benefit conservation, then the way to do is to allocate some of the profits from sales to the protection and restoration of natural habitats.

I know this sounds harsh. But I'm not the only one saying this. If you want proof, here's something to read, hot off the press:
https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/the-worlds-biggest-reptile-fair-is-also-a-hub-for-traffickers/

Reactions: Agree 2


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## AbraxasComplex (Jun 6, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> I hope my comment wasn't rude. Blame it on my short fuse!
> Happy to see more people keeping onychophorans. I keep a group of 60 _E. barbadensis_ myself, obtained directly from @AbraxasComplex . They are hardy and fun compared to the other 10 species of velvet worms I have kept in the past. I rate the NZ species the worst in terms of sensitivity. I hope to go back to breeding _Oroperipatus_ from South America next year - my workplace managed to kill them all.


I'm glad they exploded for you. Especially since you started with 10. They really are prolific when comfortable.

I'm currently sending a group of 20 to the Paleobiology lab at Harvard University as well as a small group to the Royal Alberta Museum. 

This species will be used for research and educational purposes and I am quite happy about that.

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## squidkid (Jun 7, 2019)

i wish you the best of luck starting a sustainable colony! i would be overjoyed to see them apear in the hobby. Keep up the good work!
Cheers

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## SonsofArachne (Jun 8, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> In an ideal world, maybe. But in reality... no, not really.
> The pet trade is full of different people, many of which are not interested in conservation. Even those who deeply care about it, do nothing substantial to promote it. If you want the pet trade to benefit conservation, then the way to do is to allocate some of the profits from sales to the protection and restoration of natural habitats.
> 
> I know this sounds harsh. But I'm not the only one saying this. If you want proof, here's something to read, hot off the press:
> https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/the-worlds-biggest-reptile-fair-is-also-a-hub-for-traffickers/


I wasn't really talking about the intentions of those involved (which are actually irrelevant), I was talking strictly about captive breeding for the pet trade, which, whether intentional or not, helps conservation efforts by reducing or eliminating the demand for wild caught animals. The prime example in the invertebrate trade would be lasiodora parahybana. No one would bother trying to take wild caught L.p.'s from Brazil because cb ones are cheap and easy to come by.


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## wizentrop (Jun 8, 2019)

I understand what you are saying, but that's not true. The goal is conservation is to protect not a single species, but an entire ecosystem. You have to look at the bigger picture here.
As long as there is a pet trade, there will *always* be a desire for something new and exciting. This keeps the gears of the poaching machine permanently lubricated, as well as the cashflow coming in. Collection from the wild might stop for some species, but will continue for others. It's great that the collection of wild L.parahybana has stopped. But let's look at a more recent example. 10 years ago, no one even heard about Typhochlaena seladonia, everyone was happy with their blue Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens. As soon as something new shows up, there is a harvest of animals from the wild for at least the next decade. You have to be honest with yourself - all the animals in the pet trade originate from wild caughts. It takes years for them to establish in captive breeding (during which the poaching continues), and I'm saying this as someone who established captive breedings of new species in research labs and the pet hobby.

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## SonsofArachne (Jun 8, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> I understand what you are saying, but that's not true. The goal is conservation is to protect not a single species, but an entire ecosystem. You have to look at the bigger picture here.
> As long as there is a pet trade, there will *always* be a desire for something new and exciting. This keeps the gears of the poaching machine permanently lubricated, as well as the cashflow coming in. Collection from the wild might stop for some species, but will continue for others. It's great that the collection of wild L.parahybana has stopped. But let's look at a more recent example. 10 years ago, no one even heard about Typhochlaena seladonia, everyone was happy with their blue Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens. As soon as something new shows up, there is a harvest of animals from the wild for at least the next decade. You have to be honest with yourself - all the animals in the pet trade originate from wild caughts. It takes years for them to establish in captive breeding (during which the poaching continues), and I'm saying this as someone who established captive breedings of new species in research labs and the pet hobby.


Of course protecting habitat is the #1 priority, that should go without saying. But the pet trade is not going to go away, it has been around since pretty much the beginning of civilization. And the laws against smuggling wildlife are ineffective and sometimes even detrimental to the wildlife they are meant to protect by driving up prices and prohibiting captive breeding. It's funny you bring up  Typhochlaena seladonia as captive breeding in Europe has resulted in a drop in prices and if the same had been allowed in the US, prices (and demand for wild caught specimens) would decrease here too. As you say it can take years establish captive breeding, so it should be started as soon as possible rather than wait while more and more animals are smuggled, relying on ineffective laws to be enforced by often corrupt officials, laws that have never really worked. Fortunately countries like Mexico are starting to allow captive breeding of their T's for export, rather than rely on the outdated, ineffectual methods of the past. Hopefully more countries will follow suit, because this may be the only chance some of these species have.


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## wizentrop (Jun 8, 2019)

Reading your reply, I think you proved my point. Thank you. 
I don't want to hijack this thread (but we can open a new one for the sake of the discussion). I'm happy for @velvetundergrowth for his newly acquired animals and wish them good luck. They're great fun to work with.


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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 8, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> I don't want to hijack this thread (but we can open a new one for the sake of the discussion). I'm happy for @velvetundergrowth for his newly acquired animals and wish them good luck. They're great fun to work with.


It's certainly an issue I'd like to see discussed, in another thread 

Thanks for the kind wishes  In an unbelievable stroke of luck I found the previously assumed dead 6th velvet earlier today while potting up an orchid.
I had only found 5 of the 6 upon receiving them and foraging through the moss they were packed in. I assumed one had perished on the long journey and had become the typical difficult-to-spot string of black mush. I had anticipated at least one unfortunate loss so I wasn't too upset. I put the live moss used for packing with some other spare moss and didn't touch it until today. 

Earlier on I was repotting an orchid and had mixed some of that same moss with bark chips as a medium for the plant to grow in. After potting up the flower I placed the pot in a tub of water a couple of inches deep to soak the bark chips. I went off for a while and when I came back my heart almost stopped - there was a tiny velvet worm, much smaller than the others,  curled up on the surface of the water. It hadn't broken the surface and was just sitting there folded over. I scooped it out and was shocked when it started moving about and crawling around like normal. I quickly put it with the group and it tucked itself away without hesitation. 
The tiny velvet worm had concealed itself in it's packing moss so well that I completely missed it despite what I'd thought was vigorous searching! It had somehow survived a whole week being exposed to the dry, cool climate of my conservatory with only some barely moist moss to shelter it. Even after these low temps (as low as 7°c) and dangerously dry conditions the worm had managed to survive being placed inside a vented pot and submerged for almost an hour! 
While I feel like a fool for missing the worm when I received the group, I can't help but be overjoyed to see the velvet safe and in seemingly good condition.

I think this is also good evidence that _E. barbadensis_ definitely isn't as sensitive as some of the other Onchophorans previously kept in captivity, as @SonsofArachne will be pleased to hear

Reactions: Like 3 | Optimistic 1


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## SonsofArachne (Jun 8, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> Reading your reply, I think you proved my point. Thank you.
> I don't want to hijack this thread (but we can open a new one for the sake of the discussion). I'm happy for @velvetundergrowth for his newly acquired animals and wish them good luck. They're great fun to work with.


I see, when you can't back up what you say with facts, just say "I'm right and you wrong", gotcha. Except you're not right,  but feel free to continue believe whatever you want, with nothing to back it up. That seems to be the way of the world these days.  I do agree we need to stop hijacking this thread, but starting a new one would be pointless.


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## wizentrop (Jun 8, 2019)

@velvetundergrowth what kind of substrate do you use for them? You'll see that if the substrate contains loose particles, the onychophorans will find ways to squeeze themselves into tiny spaces and disappear (yet they will still be in the box). Be alert if changing substrate or redecorating.
I had a container that housed a group of 10 adults, but I didn't like the setup. I harvested the ones that I could find (10 parents+some babies), and rehoused them. And even today, a few months later, I still find babies in the old container, apparently they did very well there and produced more babies than I thought. They hide between the coco fibre and inside the moss.


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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 9, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> @velvetundergrowth what kind of substrate do you use for them? You'll see that if the substrate contains loose particles, the onychophorans will find ways to squeeze themselves into tiny spaces and disappear (yet they will still be in the box). Be alert if changing substrate or redecorating.
> I had a container that housed a group of 10 adults, but I didn't like the setup. I harvested the ones that I could find (10 parents+some babies), and rehoused them. And even today, a few months later, I still find babies in the old container, apparently they did very well there and produced more babies than I thought. They hide between the coco fibre and inside the moss.


Right now it's an equal mix coco, sand and vermiculite but this is not what I'm going to be housing them on long-term. I will be moving them into their new setup next week hopefully so I'll be extra, extra careful when transplanting them. I'll also be leaving their current container untouched for a while before dismantling it on the off-chance that they may have produced offspring by then and are hiding in tiny crevices.

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## AbraxasComplex (Jun 9, 2019)

I always keep the soil I remove just in case, but I also dig through it a few times before replacing it. I also find misting it and compacting it in layers helps reduce crevices where they can hide. It will be one of my edits on the caresheet when I add new tips. 

Another note... If an adult female is in rough shape and dying seperate her into another container with high humidity and moss. I find they tend to 'abort' young before they die and these sometimes survive as they are not too premature. They'll have a rough few days, but begin to perk up if conditions are stable.


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## MasterOogway (Jun 26, 2019)

I absolutely MUST get some of these some day for my Insect Zoo. Just hands down my absolute favorite invertebrate.    How does this species handle high temps, say near 80? That was what doomed my last peripatus colony, just couldn't keep them cool enough.   I need a species of these that does well at elevated temperatures :/

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## Hoolia (Jun 26, 2019)

I LOVE velvet worms! I'll be keeping tabs on them, I'd love to get a colony of my own in the future! They're so darn cool! Wish you the best for breeding for all of our sakes.

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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 27, 2019)

Just a quick update guys. The Velvets seem to be doing well so far. They are taking small crickets without any issue and seeing them "swarm" a downed prey item is really fascinating.
I check on their enclosure nightly before bed at around 1AM and they only seem to venture out and explore after a thorough misting. Most of the time they remain huddled together in one large or two smaller groups beneath pieces of rotten wood.

The permanent enclosure nears completion and I will be sure to post about it once finished

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## AbraxasComplex (Jun 27, 2019)

MasterOogway said:


> I absolutely MUST get some of these some day for my Insect Zoo. Just hands down my absolute favorite invertebrate.    How does this species handle high temps, say near 80? That was what doomed my last peripatus colony, just couldn't keep them cool enough.   I need a species of these that does well at elevated temperatures :/


They are fine at 80'F. This is a tropical species from Barbados. I'm going to send you a PM as I may do an export to the US soon. 


And @velvetundergrowth I'm glad they are doing well.

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## wizentrop (Jun 29, 2019)

wizentrop said:


> I had a container that housed a group of 10 adults, but I didn't like the setup. I harvested the ones that I could find (10 parents+some babies), and rehoused them. And even today, a few months later, I still find babies in the old container, apparently they did very well there and produced more babies than I thought. They hide between the coco fibre and inside the moss.


I thought I should update on this - yesterday I found 3 more babies in the old box. This tells me that either 1) I am going blind if I missed them up until now; or 2) I might have forgotten a female in there, that somehow without any care or feeding for almost an entire month still gives birth to perfectly healthy babies. 
*Never throw away old substrate, you guys.*

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## Vanisher (Jun 29, 2019)

velvetundergrowth said:


> Well, the moment has finally come and I am ecstatic to once again be in possession of some Velvet Worms! It's been over 5 years since last I kept these marvelous nocturnal predators, as I'm sure many of you know these are almost non-existent in the hobby and are famously difficult to procure. But, thanks to fellow AB member @AbraxasComplex, I have a small group of Barbados Browns (_Epiperipatus barbadensis)_, larger and more colorful than the _Peripatoides novaezealandiae _more "commonly" offered. But perhaps the biggest plus for this tropical species is their tolerance of warmer conditions than their Kiwi counterparts. No wine cooler or chilly cellar needed here!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Predators you say! What do they eat?


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## velvetundergrowth (Jun 29, 2019)

Vanisher said:


> Predators you say! What do they eat?


They are the snipers of the invert world! I feed mine on small/medium crickets. They emerge from their hiding places at night and sneak about silently, feeling for vibrations with their antennae. Once they "scope" their prey they launch twin jets of liquid adhesive from their modified front legs, which rapidly solidifies and glues the prey item to the ground. The Onychophoran will then breach a hole in the exoskeleton with it's mouthparts and feast on the prey item like a spider. 

They also occasionally shoot their slime when disturbed.

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## Scythemantis (Jul 4, 2019)

> The goal is conservation is to protect not a single species, but an entire ecosystem. You have to look at the bigger picture here.


To be honest I am tired of hearing this...it's not realistic anymore.

 Many environments are doomed and are never ever going to come back, no matter what we do. Many species will only continue to exist in captivity and as far as I'm concerned we need to consider that good enough because it's all we're going to get. Almost everything that lives in tropical rainforest is probably doomed to either vanish from existence or be kept artificially, so we may as well cut our losses and drop this borderline spiritual idea that our only goal can be the restoration of whole ecosystems. Just not gonna happen at this point...

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## schmiggle (Jul 4, 2019)

Scythemantis said:


> Almost everything that lives in tropical rainforest is probably doomed to either vanish from existence or be kept artificially.


Naw. The Amazon, for example, has actually grown over the past fifty years in net, because people ranch smaller areas and fertilize them. Secondary forest is almost as biodiverse as primary forest. In many other areas, deforestation has slowed down. Not all of them, but as countries transition to higher levels of industrialization they often switch to converting smaller areas of highly productive land.


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## SonsofArachne (Jul 4, 2019)

Scythemantis said:


> To be honest I am tired of hearing that a species is only truly being "conserved" if the end goal is to restore it in its natural habitat.
> 
> That is nothing but a pipe dream at this point. Many environments are doomed and are never ever going to come back. Not ever. Many species will only continue to exist in captivity and as far as I'm concerned we need to consider that good enough because it's all we're going to get. Almost everything that lives in tropical rainforest is probably doomed to either vanish from existence or be kept artificially.


Sad, but true. If global warming continues unabated humans will be lucky to survive it. The loss of animal species will be catastrophic.


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## Scythemantis (Jul 4, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> Naw. The Amazon, for example, has actually grown over the past fifty years in net, because people ranch smaller areas and fertilize them. Secondary forest is almost as biodiverse as primary forest. In many other areas, deforestation has slowed down. Not all of them, but as countries transition to higher levels of industrialization they often switch to converting smaller areas of highly productive land.


Unfortunately, that doesn't solve the climate change and pollution that, regardless of forest acreage, is already plummeting the populations of most terrestrial species including what we used to think were some of the hardiest of insects. Insect collection from even the "healthiest" rainforests has shown a population drop by 50-80% over the past three decades. Maybe there's a point it will plateau for a lot of species, but there's no doubt we're looking at millions of extinctions in our lifetimes.


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## schmiggle (Jul 4, 2019)

Scythemantis said:


> Maybe there's a point it will plateau for a lot of species, but there's no doubt we're looking at millions of extinctions in our lifetimes.


Probably so, but three counterpoints:

There will exist climate refugia
Most tropical rainforests don't suffer from heavy pollution
Most of those animals are ones people don't want to and/or cannot keep
That last one's probably the biggest issue--most species aren't charismatic, and many species are highly specialized. Someone probably could keep them, but there are so many that that's not really a reasonable conservation method.


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## velvetundergrowth (Jul 5, 2019)

Managed to snap two of the Velvets feasting on a cricket last night!

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## velvetundergrowth (Jul 21, 2019)

Bit of a sad update guys. It seems the smallest Velvet Worm - the one who accidentally spent a week hidden inside an orchid pot - has passed away.
I'm afraid I may have let the springtail in population in the  enclosure grow too numerous. Yesterday before work I noticed the smallest Velvet Worm lying on some moss, out in the open in broad daylight. The poor thing was patchy in color and covered in raw looking spots. It also barely reacted to any agitation around it and the back half of it's body wasn't responding at all. The poor thing was CRAWLING with springtails. 

I separated it from the rest of the colony and placed it in a dark place in a small container of damp moss but it sadly didn't make it through the night. I awoke to find the poor creature stiff as a nail and slightly shrivelled. 

As for the other individuals, they have been moved I to an almost identical but springtail-less enclosure. They all ate the 3 full-sized, pre-killed crickets I gave them last night so trying to remain optimistic.

I have to say I'm pretty crushed that I let this happen. While the rest of the clan seem perfectly fine I'm extremely nervous now that something else may happen to negatively affect the health of the Onychophorans. Let's hope this was an isolated occurance....

Reactions: Sad 1 | Optimistic 1


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## schmiggle (Jul 21, 2019)

velvetundergrowth said:


> Bit of a sad update guys. It seems the smallest Velvet Worm - the one who accidentally spent a week hidden inside an orchid pot - has passed away.
> I'm afraid I may have let the springtail in population in the  enclosure grow too numerous. Yesterday before work I noticed the smallest Velvet Worm lying on some moss, out in the open in broad daylight. The poor thing was patchy in color and covered in raw looking spots. It also barely reacted to any agitation around it and the back half of it's body wasn't responding at all. The poor thing was CRAWLING with springtails.
> 
> I separated it from the rest of the colony and placed it in a dark place in a small container of damp moss but it sadly didn't make it through the night. I awoke to find the poor creature stiff as a nail and slightly shrivelled.
> ...


I bet you're ok. I will say that springtails don't attack live animals, so the problem was likely something else; however, that guy had already been really stressed, so I'm willing to bet it's not as much of a problem.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Optimistic 1


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## AbraxasComplex (Jul 22, 2019)

The only problem I've had with springtails is the "pin" species that pops up. Those love protein. The silver and white are usually fine, but I think they can be a nuisance to the velvet worms and perhaps irritate their skin. Those springtails sound like they were just opportunistic feeding wise. It's good though that you transfered them just in case.


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## velvetundergrowth (Aug 2, 2019)

UPDATE:

The Velvets seem to be doing fine now. Taking food as normal but no sign of offspring yet.

Reactions: Like 4 | Love 1


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## XxSicknessxX (Feb 9, 2020)

@velvetundergrowth How’s the colony coming along?

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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