# How often do you change the substrate GAM?



## keqwow (Oct 20, 2007)

I'm thinking of getting a few Giant African Millipedes but I want to make sure I am educated beforehand.  How often do you change out the substrate on these guys?  I was told that in order to control fruit flies, one should change out the food often.  How often do you feed them?


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## REAL (Oct 20, 2007)

keqwow said:


> I'm thinking of getting a few Giant African Millipedes but I want to make sure I am educated beforehand.  How often do you change out the substrate on these guys?  I was told that in order to control fruit flies, one should change out the food often.  How often do you feed them?


I haven't researched but this is from my common knowledge

Changing the substrate depends on how many of them you have and how big the container is. So in that case, it varies. I also heard that if ur planning to breed them, you should be aware of the substrate when you change it as they lay their eggs there and around places where you've placed food/water.

You should feed them enough so that it'll be finished in a few hours. Just don't leave it in there for too long or else it'll turn bad/moldy or enough to the point that you have pest problems. 

I boil my vegetables and let them eat it and whatever isn't finished the next day, I take it out and trash it. I plan to change my millipede tank when it looks dirty or starts to smell. Thats just how I do it with most of the animals that I have....


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## spydrhunter1 (Oct 21, 2007)

It's been almost a year since I set up my AGB cage. There is six inches of coconut coir mixed with aspen shavings as a base. I then added rotten logs shoved into the substrate and topped with several inches of hand shredded oak leaves. Something must be working, because there are babies everywhere. When I did have problems with fruit flies I set out homemade traps and covered the tank with cheese cloth.


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## Mr. Mordax (Oct 21, 2007)

I never change mine.  I also remove food infrequently.  They don't seem to have a problem, as I've kept them in a setup like that for years at a time.


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## RoachGirlRen (Oct 21, 2007)

Yeah, I don't mess with mine much. I stir it up and overturn it regularly, constantly add fresh leaves and wood, etc. Sometimes I'll add more if it gets packed down, and I'll do a cleaning if it gets really infested with those little white mites that eat left over food. Honestly, I almost never have leftover food; my pedes go through handfulls of greens and spoiling fruit every few days. Having four BIG pedes in one enclosure tends to mean few leftovers. heh.


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## REAL (Oct 21, 2007)

IHeartMantids said:


> I never change mine.  I also remove food infrequently.  They don't seem to have a problem, as I've kept them in a setup like that for years at a time.


So you only change them if you happen to see mites or if it starts smelling or something?

What about waste building up such as poop etc etc?

Thanks for the info


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## spydrhunter1 (Oct 21, 2007)

Mine only smells like damp soil and leaves. The only mites I have currently are the commensal one which live on the pedes and they're in extremely low numbers. My guess is that the poo breaks down in the humid enviroment.


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## keqwow (Oct 21, 2007)

*How important....*

How important is the mix?  Can one get by with JUST the coconut shavings mix (brick form), or do you really need to add oak leaves etc?  
spydrhunter, how did you make fruit fly traps?  What did the cheese cloth do for you?


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## RoachGirlRen (Oct 21, 2007)

Personally, I think hardwood leaves are a vital part of nutrition since they provide chitin and are more similar to the natural diet of millipedes as they are detritivores. However, I know people who have kept their pedes on soil or coco fiber and just fed spoiling fruits and leafy greens with _decent_ success.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mr. Mordax (Oct 22, 2007)

REAL said:


> So you only change them if you happen to see mites or if it starts smelling or something?
> 
> What about waste building up such as poop etc etc?


I've been keeping AGBs for several years, and I've only changed the substrate three times -- first, when I had a slime mold take up residence; second, when I realized they weren't on appropriate substrate; and third, when I moved them into a larger container.

Waste isn't really an issue.  I can take out individual mold colonies that take a while to grow back, and their poop is pretty much just compost.



keqwow said:


> How important is the mix?  Can one get by with JUST the coconut shavings mix (brick form), or do you really need to add oak leaves etc?


Pretty much what RoachGirl said . . . they need rotting hardwood wood and / or leaves to fulfill their mineral requirements.  I've heard of only limited success with chalk and also heard that it doesn't contain the correct minerals.


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## spydrhunter1 (Oct 22, 2007)

keqwow said:


> How important is the mix?  Can one get by with JUST the coconut shavings mix (brick form), or do you really need to add oak leaves etc?
> spydrhunter, how did you make fruit fly traps?  What did the cheese cloth do for you?


I put a couple of inches of apple cider vinegar in a jar, then stretch plastic wrap tightly over the mouth of the jar. Using a toothpick punch holes in the plastic just large enough for the flies to crawl through. Flies go in and don't come out. Cheese cloth draped over the tank prevents the flies from entering the tank.
As other folks have already mentioned I think decaying wood and leaves are vital to these guys in captivity. These guys in the wild are detritivores and fresh fruits and veggies probably only make up a small part of their diet. Also don't forget to offer dry dogfood occasionally as well, for a protein source.


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## RoachGirlRen (Oct 22, 2007)

::nods:: Mine love it if you give them some plain cooked chicken, they go wild over it! Hissers love the stuff too, heh.


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## keqwow (Oct 22, 2007)

*size of tank?*

What about size requirements?   I know for emperor scorps. the general rule is like 5 gal. per specimen.  I was considering 3 or 4 millipedes....10, 15, 20 gal?  Smaller is better for me, but I want an optimal enclosure for these guys obviously, at the same time I don't want to go too big if they simply aren't going to need/use it.


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## Mr. Mordax (Oct 22, 2007)

I have three in a 40-gallon tank, plus one red-leg (no flames please, I read other users having success with inter-species communities ).

That's probably way more space than they need, and I've had three adults in something around 15 gallons, but they seem to enjoy exploring the whole thing.  I'm also hoping to (eventually) have a breeding population, so the extra space will come in handy then.

I've heard the general rule is one millipede wide by two millipedes long, but I'm not sure how that expands for multiple 'pedes.


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