Glomerida breeding

[ouroboross]

stop reigniting my pill millipede obsession

 

[PillipedeBreeder]

Hello,
this morning I checked upon my Glomeris balcanica, mainly to spray some water.
The juveniles like huddling together into nooks and crannies in the wood, I‘ve seen them in up to ten together.
Some juveniles are already pretty far along in forming their adult coloration.


Still very small in size though, about 2-4mm.

Best regards

 

[Smotzer]

Congrats once again man!! Really awesome to see!!

 

[PillipedeBreeder]

Hello,
two days ago I suspected I interrupted a mating/courting Rhopalomeris cf. carnifex „Strawberry“ pair, so I thought I could investigate further… so yesterday I took a closer look and found four eggs, which means there’s likely more, which I‘m quite happy about!

On the last large check on the 29th of October I was already worried because they weren’t laying eggs, even though they were still happily eating and healthy. A week or two later, I noticed that the moisture in the enclosure was a bit too low for my liking. So I went and sprayed it down, especially two corners which had a deep layer of leaves and frass pellets.
Considering they finally bred after that, that was probably it.
Here‘s some pictures:

Peek inside an egg capsule.

Another egg I uncovered.

The „culprits“.

Even though this is one of the easiest pill millipedes to breed, it’s still very satisfying to see success.


On another note, my Hyleoglomeris sp. Vietnam seem to be in breeding spirit again, as I‘ve seen a few matings the past month or two. However since their container got overrun by worms, I‘m going to have to repot all 100 of them. Already dreading this.
I‘ve already picked out a few of the WC individuals into a small container to avoid further crowding with new babies. I guess I‘ll continue doing so until I have their new home ready.


Best regards

 

[Kada]

Could I ask you what your food sources are for the Hyleoglomeris. Anything special?

Also your above post you mentioned FS and BS soil, may I ask what that means. Thanks

 

[PillipedeBreeder]

Could I ask you what your food sources are for the Hyleoglomeris. Anything special?

Also your above post you mentioned FS and BS soil, may I ask what that means. Thanks

Hello,
I simply use decaying leaves, very soft decaying wood (white rot), moss and lichens.
In the beginning there was also FS in the container, but there isn’t anything left from it. They fed on it a bit.

FS is short for FlakeSoil, which is another term for fermented sawdust. It’s hardwood sawdust that is fermented by microorganisms to create a substrate reminiscent of decayed wood. It’s brownish dark in color, first created in Asia as food for rhinoceros beetle larvae, but it will work well for millipedes too.
BS is BlackSoil, which is just a longer fermented, darker (hence the name) FlakeSoil. It’s been fermented for usually 8-9months and is a great substrate for pill millipedes, as they prefer more decayed plant matter.

Best regards

 

[Kada]

Hello,
I simply use decaying leaves, very soft decaying wood (white rot), moss and lichens.
In the beginning there was also FS in the container, but there isn’t anything left from it. They fed on it a bit.

FS is short for FlakeSoil, which is another term for fermented sawdust. It’s hardwood sawdust that is fermented by microorganisms to create a substrate reminiscent of decayed wood. It’s brownish dark in color, first created in Asia as food for rhinoceros beetle larvae, but it will work well for millipedes too.
BS is BlackSoil, which is just a longer fermented, darker (hence the name) FlakeSoil. It’s been fermented for usually 8-9months and is a great substrate for pill millipedes, as they prefer more decayed plant matter.

Best regards

Excellent, thanks for your detailed reply. I know the soil you mean now. Lucky it is readily available here

I wonder if a similar treatment of flakesoil and black soil but using rice hulls would be acceptable. Our farms compost large quantities of rice shells. we do indeed also have rhinoceros beetles helping the composting procedure in it as well hehe.

 

[PillipedeBreeder]

Excellent, thanks for your detailed reply. I know the soil you mean now. Lucky it is readily available here

I wonder if a similar treatment of flakesoil and black soil but using rice hulls would be acceptable. Our farms compost large quantities of rice shells. we do indeed also have rhinoceros beetles helping the composting procedure in it as well hehe.

Hello Kada,
when rhinoceros beetle larvae (I assume Trypoxylus dichotomus tsunobosonis) can grow healthy on the fermented rice shells, they probably are usable for millipedes too. Similar diet after all.
However it’s possible they are not decayed enough for them, so you might have to keep them rotting/fermenting for a month or two longer until the millipedes like them.

Best regards

 

[PillipedeBreeder]

Hello,
I just had a look into the Rhopalomeris cf. carnifex enclosure. Besides an empty (hatched) egg capsule, I found two juveniles on a rotten stick.

Looks like the eggs are fertile and starting to hatch!

Now they only got to grow up.

Best regards