# my millipedes have died.



## jonah (May 15, 2005)

out of the original four that i had, only one remains.
  :8o    :8o 

i dont know what the hell i'm doing wrong.  they all die in the same way, getting slower and slower and after about a week they just dont move anymore at all.  i keep them at room temp with a heating pad under one end of the tank, i feed them iguana food and many different veggies, i kept their cage moist and filled with roly polies.  i would boil-holocaust mites when we got them.

what the hell am i doing wrong?

/me cries.  it's so horrible seeing these beautiful animals die at the hands of newb.  i feel awful.

-j.


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## thedreadedone (May 15, 2005)

what type of millipede are you keeping?
how big are they? and how long have you had them?
can you show me a picture of their housing?
what temperature are you keeping them at?
do you thoroughly wash the food before it is offered?
how many roly-poly bugs are in the tank?
what do you mean by holocaust-boiling when there are mites?


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## Elytra and Antenna (May 15, 2005)

jonah said:
			
		

> out of the original four that i had, only one remains.
> :8o    :8o
> 
> i dont know what the hell i'm doing wrong.  they all die in the same way, getting slower and slower and after about a week they just dont move anymore at all.  i keep them at room temp with a heating pad under one end of the tank, i feed them iguana food and many different veggies, i kept their cage moist and filled with roly polies.  i would boil-holocaust mites when we got them.
> ...


A heating pad is a bad idea and the food doesn't sound great. Try this millipede book here:
http://www.elytraandantenna.com


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## jonah (May 16, 2005)

*ok, horror story*

what type of millipede are you keeping?  AGB
how big are they? and how long have you had them? they're between 7-10 or so inches long.
can you show me a picture of their housing? yes
what temperature are you keeping them at? room with a heating pad at one end
do you thoroughly wash the food before it is offered?  no.   :8o   but the iguana food that i put in seems clean, since it's prepackaged.  now, when i drop the food in within a little bit the food is covered in mites.  nasty <bugg>ers.
how many roly-poly bugs are in the tank?  maybe 10-15?
what do you mean by holocaust-boiling when there are mites? last time i had mites really bad (wade said they were grain mites i think?) i took the pedes out and doused the substrate in boiling water, as well as misting the tank with boiling water, and the log that's in there with them.

here are some pics of the latest one to die.  *sigh*





















and their home


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## J Morningstar (May 16, 2005)

Dude I can't believe you have the same problem as almost every one else. 
             :evil: GOD DAMN EVIL MITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :evil: 
 Yes, millipedes do have benificial mites. Huge, brown, speedy, mites, 10 times the size of the ones on yours. The ones you have all over your millipedes in all the crevases are the horrible ones. If you look at your pic there are even ones all up and down the legs. Sucked the life right out of 'em I am sure.
 I cannot bear to type the long drawn out version. Just use the search and find all 200 posts (I am just being slightly sarcastic) get predatory mites and solve the problem.
 I am sorry though for your losses.


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## J Morningstar (May 16, 2005)

I just realised you still have one left.
Try to let the very top of the soil dry out. It does not need to be sopping wet. Feed only once or twice a week. As far as reccomendations go for food use the saerch as well.
 Get the mites I mentioned.
 Good luck.


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## jonah (May 17, 2005)

will the soil drying out hurt the pede (i have a water dish for it)

also, where do these mites come from?  when i got the pedes there werent any of these on them, just the big brown ones.

-j.


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## fantasticp (May 17, 2005)

Drying out the soil for a while will not hurt a giant millipede. My first millipede Milton (also an AGB) lived on the boat with me when I was in the Navy on a bed of dry toilet paper for over three months until we hit port. (obviously not recommended, but just for example) Just make sure he/she has a water dish and moist veggies. The mites just appeared as a result of the environment you were keeping them in.

Reactions: Helpful 1


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## Mister Internet (May 17, 2005)

AGB are almost impossible to kill with bad husbandry, IME... yours died from the mites.  I have two AGB's and I ignore them for days, sometimes weeks, at a time ... stopping occasionally to check on them and throw in a few slices of cucumber or carrot.  I have never misted, and I just overflow the dish when I refill the water so that end of the cage is a little damp.

I've had them for over a year like this... no deaths yet....


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## Wade (May 18, 2005)

I'm thinking the source of the mites is probably the iguana food. Grain mites are common in all sorts of stored dry food. Normally the number is so low that you'd never see them, but once you drop it into that moist tank the population explodes. They can multiply to plauge proportions in a matter of days.

Assuming they are grain mites, they are probably not actually feeding on the millipedes body fluids, but they are likely blocking the spiracles making it difficult for the millipede to breath. 

Hypoaspis (or whatever name they've been changed to now) mites are likely the best bet to get rid of the mites, and in the future skip the iguana food. Veggies and long-dead oak leaves should make up the bulk of the diet, with occasional high protien supplements like dog or fish food. It's not a bad idea to cook or freeze those foods to cut downon the mite risk. 

In the meantime, ditch the old substrate (what is it, anyway?). 

The book mantidassassin suggested is excellent, and I highly recomend it.

Wade


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## J Morningstar (May 18, 2005)

Wade,
 I know I am NOT an entomologist but the "bad" mites, the millipede seem to get, are I believe carnivorous or at least insectivorus. When I have gotten an overpopulation of these mites they will collect around the mouthparts and actually have eaten away at the millipede 'till their mouth worked no more. The mites are also almost impossible to remove under any method as if they were biting in and locked to the exoskeleton. Kind of like a crab louse   .
Ewwwww!
In any case DEATH tO THEM ALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get predatory mites.


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## Crunchie (May 18, 2005)

I've heard of a method being used to get rid of snake ticks that may work of those mites morningstar.

Basically one just smears a bit of vaceline over the mites which will suffocate and drop off. Not sure if that would work with giant millipedes :?


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## jonah (May 18, 2005)

the substrate is a mix of peat moss, a tiny bit of sphagnum peat (shredded), and of course a bunch of dead oak leaves.  i have and oak tree right outside my house, lucky me.

-j.


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## jonah (May 18, 2005)

i also don't think those are grain mites, btw.  the grain mites (which i have had, i beleive) are white and move around.  the mites that were all over my dead pedes are small, sessile and greyish.  they're hard to get off of them and they bulk up around the head and the first few segments.

-j.


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## Elytra and Antenna (May 18, 2005)

Grain mites are those pictured on the millipede above. It's important to understand they don't feed on the millipede itself only because the only way to remove them is removal of their food source (were it the millipede it wouldn't be too realistic nor could you eradicate them by any means).   Dead leaves are one food source only if leaves are collected before they have been on the ground at least four months.
Nevertheless, your problem is not mites. The poor conditions that spawn mites can't kill a millipede that quickly unless there is no oxygen. The heat pad or extreme ventilation are the most likely culprits.


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## jonah (May 19, 2005)

i've removed the heating pad, and am letting the substrate become more dry as well as reducing feeding to twice a week for my one agb left.

as far as ventilation goes, what's the problem?

-j.


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## Wade (May 20, 2005)

J Morningstar said:
			
		

> Wade,
> I know I am NOT an entomologist but the "bad" mites, the millipede seem to get, are I believe carnivorous or at least insectivorus. When I have gotten an overpopulation of these mites they will collect around the mouthparts and actually have eaten away at the millipede 'till their mouth worked no more. The mites are also almost impossible to remove under any method as if they were biting in and locked to the exoskeleton. Kind of like a crab louse   .
> Ewwwww!
> In any case DEATH tO THEM ALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> Get predatory mites.


If they're the sessile type mites that don't move much, then I agree they will eventually kill the millipedes. As you say, they are almost impossible to get off, and predatories are about the only thing that works. The good news is that one you get rid of them, they don't usually come back unless they come in on annother animal.

Grain mites, on the other hand, move around and tend to be present in many conditions, but only become noticable (and problematic) when something else is wrong. 

The pictures look like grain mites to me, but Jonah's description sounds like the true parasites. Maybe both are present, as the grain mites move in to take advantage of the recent dead.


Wade


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## jezzy607 (May 20, 2005)

I really don't know much about grain mite biology, but from my observations it seems that when they become very overpopulated and there are literally clumps of them everywhere in the enclosure, it looks to me that some of the early instar/larvae/immatures molt into a sessile form when they are on another invertebrate.  If this is indeed the case, they may do it so they can be brought somewhere less overpopulated (phoresy).  They may be in a dormant state, but this still seems to stress the host a great deal, especially when they become covered with them.  This is only a guess, but I have observed it to happen quite a bit when "grain mites" overpopulate a culture.


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## Elytra and Antenna (May 21, 2005)

A number of different mites includiing the grain mites have 'sessile' and mobile forms. However, if you look at your 'sessile' mites with a 20X or greater you'll see they have legs and move -- wipe them off they'll walk right back. Parasitic mites look like large, legless polyps in the feeding form and it's unlikely anyone here has seen an actual arthropod parasitic mite (most are semi-aquatic).


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## cacoseraph (May 21, 2005)

jonah said:
			
		

> the substrate is a mix of peat moss, a tiny bit of sphagnum peat (shredded), and of course a bunch of dead oak leaves.  i have and oak tree right outside my house, lucky me.
> 
> -j.


mites easily from oak leaves

all things in nature pretty much have mites on them after they die/fall off


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## Peloquin (May 27, 2005)

So what are the benificial mites?
 I take it they are the ones you see on all mites when you pick them up?
 What is their purpose?
 Cheers.


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