Bred Coromus vittatus!

[NathanB]

So after months of wishing to the millipede gods that I might one day find some little baby C.vittatus, I suddenly have an enclosure filled with them! I read that breeding these guys is difficult, and success with any babies is even more so. So my question is, is there anything that I can do to have the best possible chances of survival for these guys? Should I just keep the enclosure exactly how it is right now? Lots of oak leaf litter, pile of super soft white rotten beech and oak, a cuttlefish bone and a pile of bark to hide under at one end. The substrate is also soil and leaf humus from my local woods that I had in the freezer for a few days beforehand. I feel like the key is just stability and patience with this enclosure, but I just thought I'd get some ideas from you lot.

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[Brewser]

[/QUOTE]

So after months of wishing to the millipede gods that I might one day find some little baby C.vittatus, I suddenly have an enclosure filled with them!

Thanks,
Nathan

So after minutes of researching on the interweb, I couldn't find any millipede gods.
However, I did find an ancient egyptian centipede god named Sepa a protective deity over venomous creatures.

 

[PillipedeBreeder]

So after months of wishing to the millipede gods that I might one day find some little baby C.vittatus, I suddenly have an enclosure filled with them! I read that breeding these guys is difficult, and success with any babies is even more so. So my question is, is there anything that I can do to have the best possible chances of survival for these guys? Should I just keep the enclosure exactly how it is right now? Lots of oak leaf litter, pile of super soft white rotten beech and oak, a cuttlefish bone and a pile of bark to hide under at one end. The substrate is also soil and leaf humus from my local woods that I had in the freezer for a few days beforehand. I feel like the key is just stability and patience with this enclosure, but I just thought I'd get some ideas from you lot.

Thanks,
Nathan

Hello Nathan,
problem with Coromus vittatus is the often occurring high die-off of the growing up juveniles. I personally cannot quite explain why. However, I would recommend the following practices to ensure sucess:

- make sure the ventilation is good. Many Polydesmids constantly secrete airborn cyanide, to which they are not immune. Good container ventilation and airing out the room once in a while to reduce cyanide build up is crucial.
- add lots of rotting wood. I would add lots of fine crumbled, best quality, white rotten hardwood onto the surface. Also try offering larger pieces of rotting wood with the bark still attached.
-the latter statement is exclusively regarding Coromus spp.

Also you‘ll always want to ensure the enclosures are very large. Less a problem with Coromus, moreso with Paradoxostimidae is that the waste products and probably cyanide build up in ever increasing amounts after youngs hatched, due to their fast metabolism and growth. That is probably the reason why many people record cultures collapsing, as there are too many millipedes in a far too small space.
They easily lay dozens if not hundreds of eggs and it gets too crowded very fast. Therefore, always start out with an enclosure that seems oversized for the few Polydesmids that you put in there to negitate that issue later on.
Once they reach a certain size, you can start splitting them up in extra containers.

Best regards

 

[NathanB]

Hello Nathan,
problem with Coromus vittatus is the often occurring high die-off of the growing up juveniles. I personally cannot quite explain why. However, I would recommend the following practices to ensure sucess:

- make sure the ventilation is good. Many Polydesmids constantly secrete airborn cyanide, to which they are not immune. Good container ventilation and airing out the room once in a while to reduce cyanide build up is crucial.
- add lots of rotting wood. I would add lots of fine crumbled, best quality, white rotten hardwood onto the surface. Also try offering larger pieces of rotting wood with the bark still attached.
-the latter statement is exclusively regarding Coromus spp.

Also you‘ll always want to ensure the enclosures are very large. Less a problem with Coromus, moreso with Paradoxostimidae is that the waste products and probably cyanide build up in ever increasing amounts after youngs hatched, due to their fast metabolism and growth. That is probably the reason why many people record cultures collapsing, as there are too many millipedes in a far too small space.
They easily lay dozens if not hundreds of eggs and it gets too crowded very fast. Therefore, always start out with an enclosure that seems oversized for the few Polydesmids that you put in there to negitate that issue later on.
Once they reach a certain size, you can start splitting them up in extra containers.

Best regards

That’s all really helpful, thank you very much! I can still see lots of tiny babies but nowhere near as many as when i first saw them they have lots of crumbled super soft wood in there and pieces of bark too. I’ll make sure to add more ventilation. I just added more leaves and sprayed them with dechlorinated water (i sprayed them outside of the tub before adding them to not stress the millipedes, wasn’t sure if it was necessary but no harm in doing it!)

thanks for all your help!