# The Secrets to Breeding A. gigas



## herpguy (Aug 15, 2014)

A while ago (as some of you know) I stated that I met somebody who prolifically breeds A. gigas.  Fortunately I was able to make a return to the place (and land a job in the process).  Here at Oklahoma State University A. gigas are bred quite readily, and I was able to sit down with the head of the insect collection to figure out what the secrets are.  I am no millipede expert by any means, but I tried to pick this person's brain as much as I could.  However, I will be working here as said before so I will have a lot of time to figure out how to answer any questions any of you may have in the future.

Anyways, here what I was able to gather:

1. *DO NOT DISTURB*  Every time you mess with your millipede colony, whether by digging to find them, trying to count your numbers, etc. you are literally killing the colony.  The eggs are laid in their frass, and the babies eat their way out when they hatch.  When you dig through you can easily knock the eggs out of the dung ball they are in, and thus make them unable to survive.  Apparently at Ward's (where they bred tons of these before a disease a few years back knocked out most of their colonies) somebody accidentally forgot that a garbage can full of substrate contained millipedes (or just one female) and left it in a closet for a year or two.  When the closed can was discovered over a year later it was teeming with millipedes.  Old food isn't even removed at the colony here (anything that is not citrus), and the isopods in the enclosure are allowed to break them down.

2. Feed them hardwood leaves, but don't bury them!  Hardwood leaves (particularly oak) are extremely essential to healthy millipede breeding.  However, you do not want to bury the leaves, just simply spread them over top of the substrate.  The adults will naturally bury them as they come up and go back down into the soil.  If you bury them manually you will just perpetuate the problems caused by disturbing them.  WITHOUT HARDWOOD LEAVES THEY WILL NOT BREED.



^put leaves in like this


3.  Provide multitudes of cover  A. gigas require a lot of cover to feel secure.  They also require cover so that they can find a spot that is just right as far as humidity is concerned.  It is important to place pieces that are sitting flat on the surface of the substrate so that a high humidity environment is concerned.  Other pieces that do not sit as flat against the surface are also important to create lower humidity environments.  




4.  Humidity  As many of you know, humidity is very important to A. gigas survival.  However, in the same vein, air flow is not.  At the colony here the there is very little airflow.  There is a very fine fabric covering over the colony container, and then a solid plastic cover is over the top.




5. Substrate  What the substrate is comprised of isn't so important (mostly coco-fiber with I think some sand in it is used, but I will try and clarify that later) as the dampness of it.  The substrate should be damp, but it should never be such that any water comes out when it is squeezed together.  Apparently too much moisture can kill them very very quickly.



Sorry for the upside-down, but this is what the substrate used looks like.

6. Size Matters, but not in the way you think.  A. gigas will only breed if the males and females are almost the same size as each other.  As impressive as large females are, if they are larger than your males, they will not breed.  In addition, how condensed the colony is with adults does not seem to affect how much they breed.

Again, I hope that this information will help a lot of you to breed A. gigas in the future.  I will try and update this thread as I find out more information. Also, I'm sorry for the inverted pics.

Reactions: Like 11


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## Cavedweller (Aug 15, 2014)

Thank you so much for this! I don't normally provide hides for my millipedes, but it looks like I should do that for my A. gigas.


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## Aquarimax (Aug 15, 2014)

Thank you for posting this! Great info!


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## mukmewx (Aug 15, 2014)

Three cheers! This may be the best post ever!


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## Aquarimax (Aug 16, 2014)

It is interesting to note the isopods in this setup do not appear to have a negative effect on the A. gigas.  I have read threads that state that springtails are fine, but isopods can harm eggs and or molting pedes. (I haven't kept millipedes yet, so I cannot offer any personal experience one way or the other.)


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## herpguy (Aug 16, 2014)

Thanks everybody!  I hope that this can be a great contribution to the hobby.



Aquarimax said:


> It is interesting to note the isopods in this setup do not appear to have a negative effect on the A. gigas.  I have read threads that state that springtails are fine, but isopods can harm eggs and or molting pedes. (I haven't kept millipedes yet, so I cannot offer any personal experience one way or the other.)


Hmm good observation.  I will find out the exact species of isopod(s) in the setup and update the original post with the information.


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## herpguy (Aug 24, 2014)

Update:  DO NOT feed tomatoes.  If they eat tomatoes they will die.

Reactions: Like 2


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## mukmewx (Aug 25, 2014)

S*&%! Hope that's just for these guys, I have feed it to my orthoporus texicolens recently.


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## mukmewx (Sep 1, 2014)

Hey, I am planning on getting some soon, about how deep does the substrate need to be in order for successful molts? I'm thinking about 6''.


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## Cavedweller (Sep 3, 2014)

The general rule I work by (which isn't backed by any sort of research) is to make the sub at least as deep as the millipede is long.

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## dactylus (Sep 5, 2014)

herpguy,

Thank you for the extremely informative post!  It is much appreciated.

David


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## shebeen (Sep 5, 2014)

herpguy said:


> Hmm good observation.  I will find out the exact species of isopod(s) in the setup and update the original post with the information.


They're probably Trichorhina tomentosa (Dwarf tropical woodlice).  The AGBs I ordered from Wards a few years ago had T. tomentosa hitching a ride in the sphagnum moss.  I received enough to start a colony.


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## MrCrackerpants (Sep 30, 2014)

I am a little bit late to the conversation but I would like to add a quote from Orin's book "Millipeds in Captivity" for those of you with captive bred 2nd generation Archispirostreptus gigas. 

P. 68 in reference to the Archispirostreptus gigas, second generation picture 

"Offspring from captive-born parents are rare. Letting a wild-caught female drop eggs is a far cry from rearing and conditioning adults."


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## mukmewx (Oct 3, 2014)

A guy I know talked to a local university that breeds them as well. He said they told him to mix cow manure into the substrate, but freeze it first. Any ideas on this?


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## shebeen (Oct 3, 2014)

mukmewx said:


> A guy I know talked to a local university that breeds them as well. He said they told him to mix cow manure into the substrate, but freeze it first. Any ideas on this?


Rather than straight manure, you might want to give Cow Pots a try.  No smell and readily available.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Liquid-Fence-3-in-6-Cell-Tray-Cow-Pots-3-Pack-HG-CP3612/202718813


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## mukmewx (Oct 3, 2014)

Awesome idea!


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## SDCPs (Oct 5, 2014)

MrCrackerpants said:


> I am a little bit late to the conversation but I would like to add a quote from Orin's book "Millipeds in Captivity" for those of you with captive bred 2nd generation Archispirostreptus gigas.
> 
> P. 68 in reference to the Archispirostreptus gigas, second generation picture
> 
> "Offspring from captive-born parents are rare. Letting a wild-caught female drop eggs is a far cry from rearing and conditioning adults."


To me it seems that the egg-laying is just the problem. Don't see why the offspring wouldn't grow up to be adults...unless they wouldn't breed then for some reason.


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## MrCrackerpants (Oct 5, 2014)

SDCPs said:


> To me it seems that the egg-laying is just the problem. Don't see why the offspring wouldn't grow up to be adults...unless they wouldn't breed then for some reason.


Possibly "the master" will see this thread and provide his words of wisdom concerning his quote. 

My 2 cents: imho I would add that the thread presents basic millipede care that we have know for years and many have followed. There is not anything new here that we did not already know. If breeding A. gigas for multiple generations was as easy as this thread suggests then we would have success story's similar to species such as Apeuthes sp., Narceus americanus, Spirostreptus sp., Trigoniulus macropygus, Chicobolus spinigerus and others but we do not. Obviously, some part of our husbandry is lacking and we do not currently know what that is.


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## SDCPs (Oct 6, 2014)

Whoops! I misread your quote.

Part of the problem IMHO is that captive-bred AGBs are rare. I mean if we can't get young in the first place

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## Elytra and Antenna (Oct 12, 2014)

MrCrackerpants said:


> Possibly "the master" will see this thread and provide his words of wisdom concerning his quote.
> 
> My 2 cents: imho I would add that the thread presents basic millipede care that we have know for years and many have followed. There is not anything new here that we did not already know. If breeding A. gigas for multiple generations was as easy as this thread suggests then we would have success story's similar to species such as Apeuthes sp., Narceus americanus, Spirostreptus sp., Trigoniulus macropygus, Chicobolus spinigerus and others but we do not. Obviously, some part of our husbandry is lacking and we do not currently know what that is.


 Those are full grown (or one molt away) now. Let's see if we agree that it's generally easy to get eggs out of a wild-caught adult female (this includes millipedes, tarantulas, lizards, etc.). There is no skill, ability, knowledge, time, nor special setup involved. If a female was getting ready to lay eggs in the wild, the keeper can claim no special understanding of the animal's needs nor any accomplishment. With A. gigas the vast majority of reproduction seen and reported so far has been from wild-caught adult females already loaded with eggs when they arrived (or near to that point). It takes time, skill, and adequate conditions to rear up adults. The explanation of the photo was just to point out those were something special, an actual accomplishment rather than the usual leftovers from nature.

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## MrCrackerpants (Oct 12, 2014)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> Those are full grown (or one molt away) now. Let's see if we agree that it's generally easy to get eggs out of a wild-caught adult female (this includes millipedes, tarantulas, lizards, etc.). There is no skill, ability, knowledge, time, nor special setup involved. If a female was getting ready to lay eggs in the wild, the keeper can claim no special understanding of the animal's needs nor any accomplishment. With A. gigas the vast majority of reproduction seen and reported so far has been from wild-caught adult females already loaded with eggs when they arrived (or near to that point). It takes time, skill, and adequate conditions to rear up adults. The explanation of the photo was just to point out those were something special, an actual accomplishment rather than the usual leftovers from nature.


Thanks for the added comments. Your thoughts are similar to my experiences over the last 14 years with trying to get captive born A. gigas to reproduce in captive.


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## wastedwoodsman (Oct 13, 2014)

MrCrackerpants said:


> Thanks for the added comments. Your thoughts are similar to my experiences over the last 14 years with trying to get captive born A. gigas to reproduce in captive.


I have a few babies crawling around in my 29 gal tank. Both the male and female I had finally passed after having them a little over a year. Before my female died she laid eggs twice in my setup! I was a dip and killed the eggs the first go around... But I watched the whole process of them breeding to her disappearing for a long length of time after another it wasn't until several months later that I begin t see the little baby millipedes... I will have to post an updated picture of my biggest baby.... she's huge compared to my other babies and I have no idea how. I suspect she's molting as I haven't seen her in a few weeks. But I didn't think breeding them was all that hard, they seriously did all the work for me and my substrate was only like 4 inches tall  No manure or anything like that and they did just fine! But when my babies get big anough I am going to observe and see if I get more babies from them. Time will tell!

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## MrCrackerpants (Oct 13, 2014)

wastedwoodsman said:


> I have a few babies crawling around in my 29 gal tank. Both the male and female I had finally passed after having them a little over a year. Before my female died she laid eggs twice in my setup! I was a dip and killed the eggs the first go around... But I watched the whole process of them breeding to her disappearing for a long length of time after another it wasn't until several months later that I begin t see the little baby millipedes... I will have to post an updated picture of my biggest baby.... she's huge compared to my other babies and I have no idea how. I suspect she's molting as I haven't seen her in a few weeks. But I didn't think breeding them was all that hard, they seriously did all the work for me and my substrate was only like 4 inches tall  No manure or anything like that and they did just fine! But when my babies get big anough I am going to observe and see if I get more babies from them. Time will tell!


That is great news. Congratulations! Where did you buy your adult male and female from? I am assuming they were WC from Africa.


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## MrCrackerpants (Apr 23, 2016)

Here is another interesting thread on breeding wild caught versus captive bred Archispirostreptus gigas.


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