# Chicobolus Spinigerus Pedelings!



## Cavedweller (Mar 19, 2013)

Two nights ago I discovered tiny plings in my Florida ivory tank! I counted 30-something, but those were only the ones against the glass. They're only 1/2 cm long and clearish, and only have 8-10 legs (unfortunately they're way too tiny for my bleh camera to pick up right now). I've never successfully bred pedes before and I'm super excited and kinda nervous. 

I'm feeding them a 1 to 3 mix of brown sugar and water, as suggested in Millipedes in Captivity. I'm not sure how often to offer it, though. My D. macracanus rushed over to pig out on the sugar water as well. 

Any tips on caring for my new brood?

Reactions: Like 1


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## satchellwk (Mar 19, 2013)

Congrats! 

Pretty much, as long as you have a good, nutritious substrate, just leave them alone and let them do their thing. They'll eat what's around them and be fine; I don't think sugar water will really be necessary.


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## Cavedweller (Mar 19, 2013)

Thanks!

From what I can gather the sugar water improves growth or something, so I figured I'd just use it as a supplement. They're chowing down on the current substrate, so I'm preparing more rotted leaves tonight.


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## shebeen (Mar 20, 2013)

Sugar water helps when your substrate is low in nutritious value.  It gives very young millipedes something to eat without having to travel far.  If you have a nutritious substrate, it's not necessary, although it won't hurt anything.  My low instar Ivories have done fine without it, but I did use it for a time in my Bumblebee tank when I noticed my first plings.  The Bumblebee substrate was rather lacking at the time so I added brown sugar water to the substrate a couple times a month with an eye dropper.


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## MrCrackerpants (Mar 20, 2013)

That's awesome! Good luck with the babies.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Cavedweller (Mar 20, 2013)

Alright, couple times a month, got it!

I'm so lucky that the eggs were laid up against the glass. I probably wouldn't discover the plings for weeks if that hadn't happened. It's so cool to be able to watch them eat/crawl around underground/grow.

Here's the proud papa with the babies. Sorry the photo's terrible. Phone camera is not good for tiny things. 





I'll try to persuade my friend with a nice camera to come over soon.

Reactions: Like 2


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## MrCrackerpants (Mar 20, 2013)

Cavedweller said:


> Alright, couple times a month, got it!
> 
> I'm so lucky that the eggs were laid up against the glass. I probably wouldn't discover the plings for weeks if that hadn't happened. It's so cool to be able to watch them eat/crawl around underground/grow.
> 
> ...


Cool! Thanks for the picture...


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## Cavedweller (Mar 24, 2013)

So, anyone have a rough idea of the growth rate of these guys? I keep wondering when I'm gonna see some molts. I guess they're at second instar. They've spread out throughout the whole tank, instead of just staying where they hatched. And they are RAVENOUS.


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## shebeen (Mar 25, 2013)

They grow fairly quickly for a millipede.  Here are some of mine at ages ranging from 2 weeks to 2 months.

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## Cavedweller (Mar 25, 2013)

Oh that's a great pic! I can't wait to watch my ivories grow. Is that brown sugar?


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## sr20det510 (Mar 25, 2013)

Those look so awesome!
I have had five for almost eight months but they have not laid any eggs : (
Maybe they are all the same sex FTL!


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## Cavedweller (Mar 25, 2013)

How big are yours? They might not be old enough yet. Do you know how to sex them? It's pretty easy.


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## shebeen (Mar 25, 2013)

Cavedweller said:


> Oh that's a great pic! I can't wait to watch my ivories grow. Is that brown sugar?


It's crushed cat food.  I was hoping for a feeding shot, but they were more concerned with finding a way off the "slippery rock" they found themselves on.


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## Cavedweller (Mar 25, 2013)

You'll have to try to get that shot again! Also, for some reason I always see people recommend dry dog food as a pede supplement, but never cat food. Any idea why that is?


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## shebeen (Mar 26, 2013)

I think you can use either dog food or cat food.  I use cat food because that's what I feed my cricket colony.


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## 3skulls (Mar 26, 2013)

Congrats!!!!
That's so awesome.


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## Cavedweller (Mar 26, 2013)

@Shebeen: That's good to know. I've always got dogfood handy, so I supplement with a kibble roughly once a week. 

@3skulls: Thanks! I'm really excited about this (gotta find people to pawn the babies off on once they get big, though). 

More good news! I just got in from walking the dog and right as I did, two of my Thai rainbows began mating. I hope they're successful! I've heard this species can be somewhat slow to breed and I've only had 'em about a month, so I'm really excited. I did take some photos, but they're really bad (phone camera + I didn't want to disturb them by lifting the lid for a better shot)


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## 3skulls (Mar 27, 2013)

I'll be a pawn !!


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## Cavedweller (Mar 27, 2013)

Sweet! I gotta learn the ins and outs of packing bugs for shipping (sooo nervous about that). I'm also not sure how old/big they need to be for shipping. 

I keep waiting for these guys to molt, I'm really hoping some of them will molt against the side of the tank so I can watch.


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## 3skulls (Mar 27, 2013)

I know what you mean. As soon as temps warm up a bit, ill be shipping my first Ts.


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## Cavedweller (Mar 27, 2013)

Good luck! You'll have to teach me all the packing tricks you learn.


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## Cavedweller (Mar 29, 2013)

The plings have started coiling up underground. I can see 3 of em doing it against the glass, one has been like that for a few days. Any idea if this is dieoff or molting?


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## 3skulls (Mar 29, 2013)

I hope it's a molt!


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## antinous (Apr 1, 2013)

Congrats!
Don't have any advice sadly, but I wish you luck!


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## Cavedweller (Apr 1, 2013)

Thanks guys! 

Nearly all the visible plings have coiled up and begun molting. It's taking foreeeeverrrr. The one who coiled up first looks about halfway through, but I have no idea how long these molts normally take, though. So impatient to see how big they'll be afterwards.


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## antinous (Apr 1, 2013)

Cavedweller said:


> Thanks guys!
> 
> Nearly all the visible plings have coiled up and begun molting. It's taking foreeeeverrrr. The one who coiled up first looks about halfway through, but I have no idea how long these molts normally take, though. So impatient to see how big they'll be afterwards.


If you don't mind, do you think you could take pictures? I'm quite curious how they would look premolt!


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## Cavedweller (Apr 1, 2013)

I've not been very successful since I've only got a camera phone and it can't really pick up something so small (as you can see in the photo on the first page). However, Mom's visiting on Thursday and her camera is much nicer. I'll get some shots then. Since the molting is taking so long I'm sure there will still be some to photograph. 

They don't have any sort of visible premolt discoloration since they're still clearish-white. The one who is furthest along looks really thick now and I assume the molt is partway off.


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## antinous (Apr 1, 2013)

Okiedokie, will look forward to that haha!

That sounds pretty cool!


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## Cavedweller (Apr 1, 2013)

Update: The first pling to start molting has finished! It looks about the same, except fatter (and leggier). Maybe they'll put on some length after eating. No exuvium lying around that I can see.

Edit: Holy crap the post molt plings did not put on just 4 legs. They have a full number of legs per segment now, as opposed to just having like 5 pairs in the front of portion. So I guess they're real millis now. I'm so impatient to take pictures.


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## antinous (Apr 2, 2013)

Congrats! That's really cool! Can't wait to see the pics!


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## Cavedweller (Apr 6, 2013)

I come bearing photographs! With a slightly better camera!

Here's the proud mama





A terrible photo of some molting babies





And a postmolt baby






I've got no idea when they'll start getting their stripes, but I'm looking forward to documenting each step of their development.

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## 3skulls (Apr 6, 2013)

Very cool!!
I'll be watching. With my roach project going and snakes dropping eggs. I kinda have to put the millipedes on a side burner for a bit. 

Pics like these are making it hard


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## antinous (Apr 6, 2013)

Nice! Very small and cute!


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## MrCrackerpants (Apr 6, 2013)

Great pictures! Thanks. Is the surface of the substrate slightly dry? I tend to keep my Chicobolus Spinigerus babies surface substrate moist and do not allow it to dry out as much as in the pictures. Good luck. : )


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## Cavedweller (Apr 7, 2013)

Thanks guys. 3skulls, good luck with the snake eggs!

Yeah, that little area of dry substrate has been driving me crazy. I had a tiny bit of substrate left over from filling some other tanks, so I just put it on top of the other stuff in that tank. For some reason that thin layer dries out really fast even though all the old substrate beneath stays moist, but I'm afraid of pouring too much water on since there are molting babies beneath. Suggestions? I'm wondering if putting some more leaf litter on top will help conserve moisture.


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## MrCrackerpants (Apr 7, 2013)

Cavedweller said:


> Thanks guys. 3skulls, good luck with the snake eggs!
> 
> Yeah, that little area of dry substrate has been driving me crazy. I had a tiny bit of substrate left over from filling some other tanks, so I just put it on top of the other stuff in that tank. For some reason that thin layer dries out really fast even though all the old substrate beneath stays moist, but I'm afraid of pouring too much water on since there are molting babies beneath. Suggestions? I'm wondering if putting some more leaf litter on top will help conserve moisture.


I would us a spray bottle. Put it on the finest mist. How much ventilation do you have? It sounds like you have too much. What type of lid do you have? : )


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## Cavedweller (Apr 7, 2013)

Yeah I use a spray bottle to mist. I have a screen top on that tank, but I cover it with a sheet of plastic to reduce ventilation. 
Man the pedelings are super active today. It's exciting!


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## MrCrackerpants (Apr 7, 2013)

Cavedweller said:


> Yeah I use a spray bottle to mist. I have a screen top on that tank, but I cover it with a sheet of plastic to reduce ventilation.
> Man the pedelings are super active today. It's exciting!


With my enclosures, ventilation is minimal. I have 16 1/8 inch holes in my enclosure lid. They are all on one end. I've never had any issues of drying with the upper lay of the substrate. This moist increases the rate of decomposition of the wood shavings and leaves on the surface. Because of this I often see the millipedes on the surface eating these two foods.


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## 3skulls (Apr 7, 2013)

What temps are you keeping your millipedes at? 

I found 2 of my Flat Backed dead the other day. I didn't know if my T room is too warm for them.


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## Cavedweller (Apr 7, 2013)

@Crackerpants: I try to keep the humidity at around 75-80 in the tank, with no heating and the plastic covering the screen, I only need to mist every week or so (I do water the plants that grow in the upper level of the tank too). I'll try bumping it up until the fresh substrate decomposes more I guess? 

@3skulls: They're at 75-6 during the day, and the low 70s at night. No heating now that the weather isn't in the 40s anymore. Aw man that sucks. I seem to recall reading that polydesmids are intolerant of high temperatures but I'm probably wrong about that?


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## 3skulls (Apr 7, 2013)

It's around 82 during the day. 
I took them all out but would really like to keep them in there if I can. 

I caught a bunch the other day and they are very active right now.


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## Cavedweller (Apr 8, 2013)

Yeah, that might be a bit warm for them. 

Good to hear they're out and about.


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## Cavedweller (Apr 9, 2013)

SECOND WAVE! Suddenly my tank is crawling with 1st instars again after everyone finished molting. I guess there was another clutch in there. Man, the post molt babies are like twice the size of the new ones.


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## 3skulls (Apr 9, 2013)

Congrats again!


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## MrCrackerpants (Apr 9, 2013)

Cavedweller said:


> SECOND WAVE! Suddenly my tank is crawling with 1st instars again after everyone finished molting. I guess there was another clutch in there. Man, the post molt babies are like twice the size of the new ones.


Cool. We sound like out babies are on the same schedule.


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