Branching out to Millipedes

[ErinM31]

So this is a really late reply, but I've stumbled across this thread while looking for info on T dolffusi millis, and I saw lots of people talking about them and how hard it is to find them. Clearly, most of the people who commented on this thread live in America, but there's this awesome insect breeder site in the UK, and I'm not sure if they deliver to America, but if there's anyone in the uk, go to Spider Shop, they sell all sorts and have T dolffusi as well!

All sorts of amazing millipedes are available to those who don’t live in the U.S. Here we build walls and make stupid laws banning all foreign millipedes.

 

[SolFeliz]

All sorts of amazing millipedes are available to those who don’t live in the U.S. Here we build walls and make stupid laws banning all foreign millipedes.

Lol I'm so sorry I was trying to be helpful and all I did was annoy someone. Basically the story of my life!
Yeah, I've heard all about the insect laws in America, they seem pretty stupid! Here in the UK, we can get almost any foreign insect we like, thanks to some great breeders!

 

[ErinM31]

Lol I'm so sorry I was trying to be helpful and all I did was annoy someone. Basically the story of my life!
Yeah, I've heard all about the insect laws in America, they seem pretty stupid! Here in the UK, we can get almost any foreign insect we like, thanks to some great breeders!

Lol, noooo, I am not annoyed by you, but rather by our stupid laws and politicians!

No need to be sorry and I hope those with access do find your post helpful and enjoy the vast variety of millipedes available!

 

[eggcellent]

Foreign millipedes aren't completely banned here. In fact, the entire class of Millipede is legal in all states, even California.

However, the import of any animal is illegal. Unless you have a permit, with said permit you must pay a fee per shipment.

I dislike the laws but they are put in place because species can easily become invasive in many of our states, particularly California, Hawaii, and Florida. Inverts even with experience keepers have the chance of escaping and it only takes a few to explode in population.

tdlr; Importing is illegal without a permit, we don't see a lot of foreign ones here because it is costly to import.

Also for op's topic, my first millipedes were Sonoran desert millipedes. They are very cute bugs and don't bite. They do nibble though which can be startling !

 

[ErinM31]

Foreign millipedes aren't completely banned here. In fact, the entire class of Millipede is legal in all states, even California.

However, the import of any animal is illegal. Unless you have a permit, with said permit you must pay a fee per shipment.

I dislike the laws but they are put in place because species can easily become invasive in many of our states, particularly California, Hawaii, and Florida. Inverts even with experience keepers have the chance of escaping and it only takes a few to explode in population.

tdlr; Importing is illegal without a permit, we don't see a lot of foreign ones here because it is costly to import.

Also for op's topic, my first millipedes were Sonoran desert millipedes. They are very cute bugs and don't bite. They do nibble though which can be startling !

It must be prohibitively expensive to acquire said permits and some species are simply not available anywhere in the States.

I suspect that those species capable of being invasive are already here and, indeed, many are already ubiquitous, including several julids and the “greenhouse” millipede. These and others came not as pets, but on imported plants, etc.

 

[eggcellent]

It must be prohibitively expensive to acquire said permits and some species are simply not available anywhere in the States.

I suspect that those species capable of being invasive are already here and, indeed, many are already ubiquitous, including several julids and the “greenhouse” millipede. These and others came not as pets, but on imported plants, etc.

It can be, but I think the real issue with the permits is not the price, but the fact only universities/researchers/zoos/scientist/ect can apply for a permit. Then they must see if the insect is potentially invasive, if it isn't, I do not know if they need to proceed with the next step. But after this, they fill out a request form (along with a fee I think of $55 per shipment) to see if the species can be safely transported without anything escaping and potentially causing havoc. Then, upon approval the package gets held at an airport, looked over by an agent then is released to the person.

After that, it is a matter of the animal being able to reproduce. It is only released to public availability if there is not any potential for it to be invasive or is a known invader.

So yeah, massively difficult to get stuff imported here haha. California has a lot of invaders that were once pets, in my area Water snakes, red eared sliders, and channeled apple snails are causing pretty huge impacts here.

 

[ErinM31]

It can be, but I think the real issue with the permits is not the price, but the fact only universities/researchers/zoos/scientist/ect can apply for a permit. Then they must see if the insect is potentially invasive, if it isn't, I do not know if they need to proceed with the next step. But after this, they fill out a request form (along with a fee I think of $55 per shipment) to see if the species can be safely transported without anything escaping and potentially causing havoc. Then, upon approval the package gets held at an airport, looked over by an agent then is released to the person.

After that, it is a matter of the animal being able to reproduce. It is only released to public availability if there is not any potential for it to be invasive or is a known invader.

So yeah, massively difficult to get stuff imported here haha. California has a lot of invaders that were once pets, in my area Water snakes, red eared sliders, and channeled apple snails are causing pretty huge impacts here.

Well then there's the problem; there should be a separate permit to get for bringing in a species as a pet, which there evidently is for species such as tarantulas, yes? I have never looked into it.

I know of the request form you're talking about, routinely used to obtain transgenic flies, nematodes, etc. for research purposes. I don't think it would be legally applicable here, certainly not as a path to making them available to the public.

I don't argue that people abandoning animals into the wild is a huge problem, and not just exotic species. I'd best not even get started with my feelings on that.

But anyway, it is what it is and even if we were to come up with a perfect solution here, it wouldn't change the laws.

 

[emplosion]

I'm not sure if they deliver to America, but if there's anyone in the uk, go to Spider Shop, they sell all sorts and have T dolffusi as well!

Unfortunately we can't get imports in America anymore.

 

[SolFeliz]

Unfortunately we can't get imports in America anymore.

I'm sorry, there's some awesome bugs out there, it seems stupid that you can't import it to America

 

[LawnShrimp]

Bumblebees (Anadenobolus monilicornis) are a common, easy to care for and easy to breed species that reaches a small size length of 2-2.5 inches. They are very prolific; a small group of these I collected in Florida bred a month later and I am swamped with hundreds of babies now. While their lifespans, and size are both rather short, they make up for it with their color and hardiness. Be aware millipedes stay buried for days even when not molting. Feed them cucumber for a spectacular 'watering hole' display!

For the future, a larger and even more prolific species is Chicobolus spinigerus, the Florida Ivory. They get up to a large size and are very active. I wish I had some myself!

 

[emplosion]

Bumblebees (Anadenobolus monilicornis) are a common, easy to care for and easy to breed species that reaches a small size length of 2-2.5 inches. They are very prolific; a small group of these I collected in Florida bred a month later and I am swamped with hundreds of babies now. While their lifespans, and size are both rather short, they make up for it with their color and hardiness. Be aware millipedes stay buried for days even when not molting. Feed them cucumber for a spectacular 'watering hole' display!

For the future, a larger and even more prolific species is Chicobolus spinigerus, the Florida Ivory. They get up to a large size and are very active. I wish I had some myself!

I think in general all of the pedes found in Florida are great. The scarlets are awesome. What I like about these 3 is you can keep them all in a large enough container together.

 

[pannaking22]

If you could find Tonkinbolus dolfusi that would be a heck of a species to keep. I saw them available a couple years ago from Swift's Inverts but haven't seen them since...still kicking myself for not picking some up lol.

C. spinigerus make a good starter, as would Narceus americanus or N. gordanus. You get some interesting species out in California as well, which comes with the added fun of being able to collect them yourself if you don't want to have some shipped to you. Genus Tylobolus if I remember correctly. They don't get as large as the other species mentioned, but are still decent sized and look interesting.

@Millipedematt what did I say here that you disagree with? Always curious to hear where I may be wrong so I can learn more!

 

[Millipedematt]

@Millipedematt what did I say here that you disagree with? Always curious to hear where I may be wrong so I can learn more!

Sorry for the late reply must have not seen the notification but yeah no I dident mean to click undid the rating. And I'm also pretty new to the millipede hobby.

 

[benjaminfrogs]

I have difficulty with bumblebees they seem to have issues with cold

 

[pannaking22]

Sorry for the late reply must have not seen the notification but yeah no I dident mean to click undid the rating. And I'm also pretty new to the millipede hobby.

No worries, I just wanted to make sure I didn't say something wrong by accident! I've gotten more into millipedes over the last couple months so I know I still have lots to learn about them.

 

[benjaminfrogs]

No worries, I just wanted to make sure I didn't say something wrong by accident! I've gotten more into millipedes over the last couple months so I know I still have lots to learn about them.

What species do you have?

 

[pannaking22]

What species do you have?

Used to keep Acladocricus sp. (Phillipine blues), Apeuthes sp. (Thai rainbows), and millipede sp. Panama, but sold them off due to moving to an area where I wouldn't have regular access to rotting leaves and wood. I'm hoping to get back into them in the future, but we'll see what happens. What species do you have?

 

[benjaminfrogs]

Phillipine Blues and Flames A couple bumble bees, 1 ivory and a small colony of scarletts

 

[LawnShrimp]

Used to keep Acladocricus sp. (Phillipine blues), Apeuthes sp. (Thai rainbows), and milliepede sp. Panama, but sold them off due to moving to an area where I wouldn't have regular access to rotting leaves and wood. I'm hoping to get back into them in the future, but we'll see what happens. What species do you have?

Panama? What color were they?

 

[pannaking22]

Panama? What color were they?

Brown with sort of rusty orange bands. @mickiem has them now, so maybe there are pics? They're definitely on the smaller side, but still good looking pedes.