# My millipedes are cross-breeding?!



## Mariamatic (Jun 29, 2018)

Hi guys! This is actually my first post here, though I've read this forum a lot for care advice for my millis.

To get straight to the point, I came home after work today and found two of my millipedes of different species breeding (picture attached). The millipedes in question are a female Madagascan Fire Millipede (Aphistogoniulus corralipes) and a male Vietnam Rainbow (Tonkinbolus dollfusi). I was very surprised, since I have a female Rainbow in the same tank, and she was out and about while this was going on, so I would have thought the male would be more interested in her. I keep most of my millis together in one big exo-terra terrarium, and they all seem to get along well enough so it's never been an issue. But maybe they're getting along too well? I never imagined the different species would be able to breed at all, since the sizes and gonopod configuration is pretty different. But as it turns out, those two species are from different genus but the same family (pachybolidae) so they are more closely related than I thought.

I'm wondering what are the chances of the offspring being viable? I would be extremely interested to see what they would look like. I never really made an effort to breed my other millipedes since I live in a shoebox apartment and don't really have the space for endless racks of insect babies, but I'm wondering if I should take the fire milli out and keep her separate to see if she lays any eggs. Or is it basically impossible that the eggs will actually be fertilized?

Pic related, there they are after I moved their log away for the camera. And my A. gigas just sitting there watching this degeneracy.
https://imgur.com/a/FEX6Yfr


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## Exoskelos (Jun 29, 2018)

It's highly unlikely that you will see a hybrid form, although mating stimulus can prompt females to lay viable eggs through parthenogenesis. They'll all be female. To my understanding of it, it works a little bit like cloning, but it only works on millipedes from the same genus, if I remember right. So you *might* see some offspring, but they'll all be female and won't be a cross between rainbows and fire millipedes.


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## Mariamatic (Jun 29, 2018)

Exoskelos said:


> It's highly unlikely that you will see a hybrid form, although mating stimulus can prompt females to lay viable eggs through parthenogenesis. They'll all be female. To my understanding of it, it works a little bit like cloning, but it only works on millipedes from the same genus, if I remember right. So you *might* see some offspring, but they'll all be female and won't be a cross between rainbows and fire millipedes.


Interesting, thanks for the info! A bit disappointing but I suppose I wouldn't mind some baby fire millipedes either if it does end up taking. I figured that it was unlikely they could hybridize but I didn't expect them to be able to breed at all and I've seen stranger things happen so I figured I'd check to make sure.


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## Arthroverts (Jul 1, 2018)

I am very sure there will be no viable eggs from that pair, although that is interesting that they would be breeding, instead of maybe just the male being interested in the female. It is nice that you were able to get a picture!

Arthroverts


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## myrmecophile (Jul 1, 2018)

Thankfully the odds are you will not see any viable offspring. However you should house each species separately for many reasons, crossbreeding being only one reason.


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## Arthroverts (Jul 2, 2018)

myrmecophile said:


> Thankfully the odds are you will not see any viable offspring. However you should house each species separately for many reasons, crossbreeding being only one reason.


Not necessarily. From personal experience and according to other keepers you can keep nearly all millipede species together with little to no risk of cross-breeding or aggression. When you keep species in the same genus together cross-breeding becomes a problem. I do see your point though.

Arthroverts


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## Mariamatic (Jul 5, 2018)

myrmecophile said:


> Thankfully the odds are you will not see any viable offspring. However you should house each species separately for many reasons, crossbreeding being only one reason.


I haven't had any problems with my communal set-up so far, they all get along well. I've heard that sometimes the eggs of smaller species can be broken up by the larger millipedes tunneling, but I'm not really interested in breeding them anyway. The only issue I've had outside of this incident is a bit of overcrowding for digging spots lately, I'll probably upgrade them to a larger set up sometime since they've gotten a bit too large and numerous for their current tank. I keep my polydesmida and pill millipedes separate though. Is there a specific reason why this is bad?


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## REEFSPIDER (Jul 10, 2018)

Mariamatic said:


> I haven't had any problems with my communal set-up so far, they all get along well. I've heard that sometimes the eggs of smaller species can be broken up by the larger millipedes tunneling, but I'm not really interested in breeding them anyway. The only issue I've had outside of this incident is a bit of overcrowding for digging spots lately, I'll probably upgrade them to a larger set up sometime since they've gotten a bit too large and numerous for their current tank. I keep my polydesmida and pill millipedes separate though. Is there a specific reason why this is bad?


It's just never wise to put all your eggs in one basket. You could lose all your species if that viv has a problem occur, contamination from species to species, etc. Seperating species minimizes risk and losses in the event something bad happens.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## possumfriend (Jun 8, 2022)

Apologies that this post is years old, but I am curious about what ended up happening. Did the female lay any eggs? Were there any viable offspring? I've just had 2 different species attempt to mate, so I've been scouring the internet for knowledge on this haha


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