American Giant Millipede (Narceus americanus)

[Stacy737]

Hello everyone,

I read from Josh's Frogs N. americanus needs a calcium supplement, but more importantly does best with oak mulch and oak leaves. Care suggestions that work for the long term health of your set up is appreciated.

Side note: I was initially going to use coconut substrate and moss for T's or buy packaged leaves/ forest floor from Petco. Since its a very wet spring here I doubt I can find leaves (maple is only available) and bake those dry, yum yum

 

[Matts inverts]

I use egg shells for calcium and hardwood leaves. Maple is good leaf litter to use. I would use a compost with hardwood flake soil or rotten wood. I mixed aspen with oak and cottonwood leaves with peat and coco choir soil. They make millipede soil from Josh’s frogs and a couple other brands. I would try not to support pet co or pet smart. Buying leaves is super expensive and is unnecessary if you can get your own. Aquarimax makes a super cheap mix and has a recipe on YouTube

 

[TwoJays]

Also, I personally avoid using cococoir. It's nutritionally deficient. If using cococoir you should only be using enough to help retain moisture I feel like sphagnum moss is a better product for that

 

[LizardStudent]

I've used a mix of coconut coir, organic top soil, Zoo Med creatures soil, sand, sphagnum, leaf litter, and crushed up cuttlebone for calcium for years for this species and they enjoy it. You don't need to avoid coco coir, it is good for retaining humidity and great for burrowing, you just can't purely/mainly use it for the substrate since they can't consume it and detritus is a large part of their diet

 

[Madnesssr]

I use crushed egg shell for calcium. As others suggest, avoid coco fiber/Ecco earth. It can cause impaction and death. Several of us have experienced this firsthand. Use lots of rotting hardwood. Several of us have had high death rates with hickory. So I also suggest avoiding it and walnut.

I collect lots of leaves in the fall and store them for later. But in a pinch, you can collect limbs that fall off in the rain and use the leaves from them. They love lichen and will pick a limb clean. I use live miss on the damp end to retain moisture. I feed fish flakes and/or pellets once every few weeks and lettuce, carrots, or another veggie weekly. Make sure that any supplemental food you offer is pesticide and herbicide free.