# Millipede Poop



## GingerCranium (Feb 9, 2013)

I am an RVT at a veterinary clinic and just for fun I decided to do a fecal float with some millipede poop ( I suppose my idea of fun is not that riveting... ).  I didn't use fresh samples so I was not expecting to find anything.  It was mostly boring but there was one single ova.  My millipedes are in a mix of coco fiber, oak leaves, and some random bark that I found in my back yard so I understand that it may not be from the millipede as some substrate could have gotten mixed in with the poop samples but it was still pretty interesting nonetheless.






Basing it off of what I know from looking at cat and dog poop it looks like some sort of ascarid to me.

Just thought I would share!


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## Cavedweller (Feb 10, 2013)

Cool. Try some fresh ones next and see what you find in them. 

Are you gonna put the ova back and see if it hatches?


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## GingerCranium (Feb 10, 2013)

If this is what I think it is ( basing it off of similarities of eggs I've seen doing floats on cat and dog poop ) it is a parasite.  The first picture is on objective 10x on the microscope, and the other two pictures are on 40x.  Whether it came from the substrate or the millipede gut I'm not sure.  I'm pretty unfamiliar with anything parasite wise that isn't dog cat or horse.  I know sometimes with some creatures endoparasites and ectoparasites can be okay so long as the population doesn't get out of control.  I did have one millipede in a separate enclosure die months ago while I was at work and when I checked on it when I got home I saw what looked like nematodes crawling around inside of it but I am not sure if they came from the millipede or the substrate.  
My coworker tried to ID the egg with Dr. GOOGLE and came up with Ascaris lumbricoides ( giant roundworm of humans ).  Whatever it is, I don't plan on eating my millipedes anytime soon .


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## zonbonzovi (Feb 10, 2013)

Yeah, make sure to wash those hands between substrate mixing and sandwich making:laugh:

I share your idea of fun and would love to see some more close up faunal weirdness as time allows.


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