giant black milli injured + newb q's

[jonah]

i just received a shipment of four giant african black millipedes from reptile city. they came in fast, with all of them in good condition except one. it looks like he was damaged about three inches from his tail. however, it seems to be moving around just fine and has a really healthy appetite. should i try to send it back or just let it try to nurse itself back to health? i'm pretty concerned about it's health....

here are some pics of my pedes chilling out together, just for measure.

they eat like <edit> cows. the other guys just nibble and hide in the peat, but these monsters chow down. i saw them take down an entire leaf of lettuce in absolutely no time when i just got them. i know their housing is a little small now, so i plan on setting up a nice glass terrarium for them here in a few days with organic compost, a inch of nice peat, and an inch or so of leaf litter that's been frozen. any ideas on that or the damaged one? will the desert pedes be fine with the african ones? about the mites: they're beneficial, right?

-j.

 

[thedreadedone]

1 - your injured millipede doesnt look too bad to me. if he is moving fine, should be fine
2 - they can have beneficial mites and non-beneficial mites. the good mites should be small, dark and slow moving
3 - it is generally reccommended to only keep millipedes together, if they come from the same geographical area - ie. african pedes together, american pedes together etc

 

[Crunchie]

I've had one of my bronze millipedes loose the movement in its back legs after a fall. It also looked like some of its guts had been forced out of its rear.
It made a full recovery

 

[jonah]

ok, i'm moving the american 'pedes to a smaller more dry terrarium, and i have set up a nice glass tank for the african gigas. thanks!

-j.