Is This Mold on My Millipede? What Do You Recommend?

[Orbe]

Hello,
I'm new to the whole raising millipede thing so I'm not sure what to think of this. I currently have 7 young Orthoporus ornatus millipedes kept in a 16" by 8" kritter keeper enclosure. I have not fitted the cage to keep in moisture very well so I have to spray everyday. Recently 3 of my pedes came up looking like this. Is this mold or them about to go into molt. I can't tell because there isn't a lot of pictures of pedes in the beginning stages of molt but it sort of looks like mold. The antennas and legs are powdery looking. There's also specks covering their face.
What should I do?

 

[JAFUENTES]

Might be a severe case of mites

 

[Arthroverts]

It looks like a large outbreak of mites. In any case, you should immediately change out your substrate (throw it all away), clean out the cage with warm water, and wash off all cage decorations. You might try and gently wipe off some of the mites/mold from the body of the millipede, but not the antenna or head area.
In order to figure what the problem is exactly, could you give us some more information? What have you been feeding to your millipedes, and how often? Is the cage saturated with water?

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts

 

[Orbe]

I set up that cage around 2-3 weeks ago when I got the new set of pedes. I usually feed them bananas, cucumbers, tomatos, lettuce, fish flakes that froze for a week, boiled dog food, and blueberries. I usually only change out the food when it starts to mold and haven't noticed anything weird on the food. I didn't notice it until a few days ago when my original millipede that I had for about 2 months started having those whitish specks on and the legs an antennas and legs looking like a dusty color. I thought it might be molting so I left her alone. Then two more came up from the ground and started getting those specks. I don't think it's the new pedes fault since I split up the batch and the second batch is doing fine despite some fungus gnats. The cage has been a bit on the dry side since the air in my house is dry and warm. There is a small corkbark and a few sticks in there that I put in without sanitizing but it's been with me for a few months. The corkbark is consistently moist and that's where they like to spend their time.

Do you think I can just bake the soil to sanatize it?

 

[Orbe]

I got some more pics
Its only those 3 pedes that have it. I put the one above in strong lighting which might've made it look like mites but I don't think it is. Their legs and antennas just looks powdery. I re dug them up.

 

[Polenth]

It's hard to see in the pictures. I think you'd do better taking a hand lens to them and reporting exactly what you see. Also maybe try rubbing a damp cotton bud on the area and see if anything comes off.

If it's mites, my guess would be it's because they're being given too much food (ideal quantities would mean they eat it all, so there's nothing to remove) and a lack of springtails to eat the tiny particles. Though some mites are parasitic, the little white jobs that commonly latch on are just there for the ride, and actually eat other stuff.

If it's bacteria/fungi, low humidity could be to blame, as it stresses the animals. These types of infections are usually common stuff that's just around and not usually a problem, but suddenly become one when an animal is weak. Cling film over the top would sort that one. That's what I do when I don't have time for a more elaborate lid alteration.

In both cases, changing the substrate wouldn't really tackle the underlying problem, so you need to do everything at once (change substrate, clean up millipedes, and sort things that might have caused it). If it does look more fungal, I've heard clotrimazole (athlete's foot cream) can work, but I've not had to use the treatment myself.

 

[Schledog]

Also just sayin next time post for millipedes and centipedes in the myripod section