Diarrhea? AGM

[RDRobbs]

Hey y'all, fairly new pede keeper here (3 months), I have an adult N. Americanus that I obtained from the wild (3 adults, 2 babies total), I've had her for about 3 months now. I think she is older but can't be sure. I watch them all closely and observe them several times throughout the night (EVERY NIGHT). So a few days ago I noticed that she was still out (on top of substrate) at sunrise, this is obviously very unusual, so I looked closer. I noticed she had what looked like diarrhea, she was on a large piece of bark so it was easy to see her feces. It was loose, not formed much at all. So I tried to gently "pet" her, normally she would curl up if I try to do this, but she didn't, she didn't seem to react much at all. So I picked her up, she walked on my hand and started biting me! It was not terribly painful, but definitely uncomfortable and something I've never experienced before when holding her (I don't often). I put her in a new enclosure alone and watched her overnight and the next day. By the next night she seemed normal! She was eating good, and BM was a formed ball. So I've put her back in the communal enclosure. She seems fine. Just curious if anyone has any ideas what may have caused it. I've read (ALOT) info here and other online sources and have seen it mentioned not to feed them the fresh veggies everyday. Not sure where I saw it or how reliable it is. She has balanced substrate nutrition as far as I know. I use natural soil, bark, sticks, and moss (baked) in her enclosure. But... I do usually add fresh veggies every day to every other day. Usually cucumber, apple, romaine and such. Not large quantities, but enough for everybody to eat on each day. TIA for and advice or theories! Sorry for the long post!

 

[ArtisticAardwolf]

My ivories get diarrhea when I give them a lot of cucumber... I assume it is just because of a significantly higher amount of water in their diet. Of course I could be wrong, but all my millipedes seem healthy! I can't explain her behavior however.

 

[RDRobbs]

My ivories get diarrhea when I give them a lot of cucumber... I assume it is just because of a significantly higher amount of water in their diet. Of course I could be wrong, but all my millipedes seem healthy! I can't explain her behavior however.

Thank you for your reply! Maybe she was just grumpy that day! But I've still been noticing her out a lot during the day. No helpful info online other than here

 

[ArtisticAardwolf]

Thank you for your reply! Maybe she was just grumpy that day! But I've still been noticing her out a lot during the day. No helpful info online other than here

Thank you for your reply! Maybe she was just grumpy that day! But I've still been noticing her out a lot during the day. No helpful info online other than here

It might be the weather, my desert millipedes are significantly more active during the summer when it's hot. It could be any number of reasons really, millipedes tend to (in my experience) vary their activity levels quite a bit.

I don't know how much you handle your millipedes during the day, but when I don't handle them for a while they seem to be more confident walking around on the surface haha!

 

[RDRobbs]

It might be the weather, my desert millipedes are significantly more active during the summer when it's hot. It could be any number of reasons really, millipedes tend to (in my experience) vary their activity levels quite a bit.

I don't know how much you handle your millipedes during the day, but when I don't handle them for a while they seem to be more confident walking around on the surface haha!

I don't handle them, hardly ever. I want to, but I don't want to stress them out! I have 2 babies (about an inch long) , I suppose I should start handling them, maybe they will be more accepting of it! Hey, maybe thats why she was biting me, because she has been wild her whoke life. She looks to be pretty old, she is close to 4 inches long, a little darker in color, and has some "scars" on her

 

[Arthroverts]

Is there any rotting wood/rotting leaves available to them? You didn't mention it and these are the No. 1 most important food source for most any commonly-kept millipede. That could be why it is having diarrhea so to speak.

As far as I know, most millipedes chew on you due to them confusing the keratin of your skin for chitin (relatively similar), which they use to build their exoskeleton. Both CB and WC specimens due to this.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[RDRobbs]

Is there any rotting wood/rotting leaves available to them? You didn't mention it and these are the No. 1 most important food source for most any commonly-kept millipede. That could be why it is having diarrhea so to speak.

As far as I know, most millipedes chew on you due to them confusing the keratin of your skin for chitin (relatively similar), which they use to build their exoskeleton. Both CB and WC specimens due to this.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

Yes! I use natural soil, i get it from a wooded area so there is plenty of dead wood and leaves naturally in it, plus I add a few dead leaves occasionally, and i will crumble some dead wood on top of the substrate as well. I've also added some fern moss from my yard. I see them eating lichen fairly often also (seem to me). I give them veggies and occasionally fruit almost everyday, since this episode I have cut down on that to only twice a week or so in small amounts. I sprinkle in some cuttlebone occasionally. Thanks for your help! I'm going to try and add a pic of my vivarium.

 

[RDRobbs]

Yes! I use natural soil, i get it from a wooded area so there is plenty of dead wood and leaves naturally in it, plus I add a few dead leaves occasionally, and i will crumble some dead wood on top of the substrate as well. I've also added some fern moss from my yard. I see them eating lichen fairly often also (seem to me). I give them veggies and occasionally fruit almost everyday, since this episode I have cut down on that to only twice a week or so in small amounts. I sprinkle in some cuttlebone occasionally. Thanks for your help! I'm going to try and add a pic of my vivarium.

Sorry about the first pic! That was an accident and cant figure out how to delete it! Boy, that could've been much worse huh?

 

[RDRobbs]

Yes! I use natural soil, i get it from a wooded area so there is plenty of dead wood and leaves naturally in it, plus I add a few dead leaves occasionally, and i will crumble some dead wood on top of the substrate as well. I've also added some fern moss from my yard. I see them eating lichen fairly often also (seem to me). I give them veggies and occasionally fruit almost everyday, since this episode I have cut down on that to only twice a week or so in small amounts. I sprinkle in some cuttlebone occasionally. Thanks for your help! I'm going to try and add a pic of my vivarium.

Sorry about the first pic! That was an accident and cant figure out how to delete it! Boy, that could've been much worse huh?

 

[RDRobbs]

Ahh, I figured it out! Lol