black cottonwood

[spasskgirl]

Hey, just accidentally got some shredded black cottonwood with some pieces of it. I'm amazed at how soft it is. Does anyone know if it would be good replacement for coconut fiber in Narceus Americanus, A. monilicornis, Acladocricus, flameleg, tonkinbolus dollfusi enclosures? Thinking to mix black cottonwood with NEHERP vivarium mix.
Also, I find contradicting information on this, but based on your experience, is coconut fiber a bad choice? Or which species is it that try to eat it and lethally can't digest it?



Thanks!
KK

 

[Arthroverts]

Black cottonwood is a deciduous hardwood, so it should be fine. As a food substrate it would work well in tandem with the NEHERP substrate, but it wouldn't work very well as a base substrate replacement I'd think.
T. dollfusi is now Atopochetus dollfusi by the way.

If you use too much of it, yes. As a base substrate (i.e it holds the food substrates) that is no more than 30%-40% of the total substrate mix it is perfectly acceptable however, and while I have seen many reports to the contrary (which I think may be exaggerated by the fact that a lot of people have kept millipedes on just straight coco fiber, which is a death sentence for the specimens in question) in my experience and the experience of many of the most respected breeders in the hobby it is fine if used appropriately.

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts

P.S Do you have A. dollfusi?

 

[spasskgirl]

Arthoverts, thank you! May I ask why it wouldn't work as a base substrate? Too tired to source the idea, but is it true that if most of the substrate is edible, millipedes begin to ignore it and starve? I got that cottonwood as extra substrate with Gosodesmus claremontus. Their breeder keeps them just on this mix of shredded and chunky wood. Not sure if I should mix something in now.

P.S Do you have A. dollfusi?

I am waiting on a package and preparing their home.

 

[Arthroverts]

In my experience using a straight wood/leaves substrate for spirobolids/spirostreptids doesn't work out very well. I suppose you could, but for myself I just prefer to have some sort of base substrate in the form of compost/coco coir/millipede frass/etc. instead of it just being straight wood or leaves (fungi seem to attack overly-nutritious substrates faster as well).

Ah, I see where your line of reasoning comes from. Remember that G. claremontus is a platydesmid; most platy-and-polydesmids naturally feed on strictly rotting wood or fungi (often being found inside and under rotting logs), so keeping them on straight wood makes sense. The reverse is not true with most round millipedes (spirostreptids, spirobolids, julids, etc., though julids are crazily adaptable in general).

Wow, good find! I haven't been overly interested in that species but after hearing how many people have struggled with them I kind of want to try my hand with them to see if they are as sensitive as they are made out to be or just kept improperly.

Thanks,

Arthroverts