keeping velvet worms

[lychas]

hey all, i might be getting velvet worms soon, can anyone tell me how to keep them? What temps, food size, how often, growth rate etc. Would also like to breed them eventually, thanks

 

[beetleman]

wow:clap: they are awesome, they must be kept very cool/moist and free of mold in their enclosure, someone on these boards has them and they are doing great for him,i'm sure he'll see this post,and tell ya all about it.

 

[lychas]

i have found 2 tiny little white thing 3-4mm long the look like baby velvet worms but being so tiny its hard to tell, anyone got pics of baby velvet worms?

 

[HepCatMoe]

check out this thread its awesome

 

[lychas]

i let the 2 tiny things i found go, have a better chance out there but i have found a guy who is going to collect me some and send em to me, just need to get a cheap wine cooler or similar to keep them cool

 

[Steven Gielis]

From where is your species originated?

 

[lychas]

New south wales, Australia

 

[lychas]

well i got my velvets worms but i have not been able to contact crashergs, can anyone help me out?

 

[Steven Gielis]

Do you know which species you have? I have some information about specific Australian species. I've kept a New Zealand species a while ago. They did it well as long as you keep them cool and moist.

 

[lychas]

not sure of species, i have found a guy at a uni here that studies them, he should be able to help. How often do you feed them? Do they need ventilation?

 

[Steven Gielis]

I kept them at 18°C and at a relative humidity of 80%. This is easy if you have a small wine cooler. Because they are sensitive to mold, ventilation is very important. I kept them in an open container in the wine cooler. This is adequate for ventilation. They did it very well on a mixture of moss and vermiculite. Make the soil 5cm thick. Make sure it doesn't get wet. You can put an extra container with water into the wine cooler for humidity.
I had 5 of them and they eat a lot! Crickets are fine. About 1/4 of the length of the velvet worms. I fed once a day and cleaned the remaining of the crickets very well because they are messy eaters. I also had some babies and my opinion is that they eat together with the adults. The adults hunted also in group. This is proven for one Australian species (Euperipatoides
rowelli) but I guess it appears in more species.

 

[lychas]

so they cant climb smooth surfaces? I thought they needed moisture? Also where did you get your wine cooler?

 

[Steven Gielis]

I used this cooler: http://www.domo-elektro.be/functions/list.asp?Lid=45&pnav=;4;&cat=2&item=192

They can't climb on glass or smooth plastic.
They need moisture but not wet conditions. Because this induces mold. The relative air humidity is important because they can't close their trachea and so lose constant water in dry air.

 

[lychas]

thanks, i just have the container very lightly moist at the moment as i know that its not real wet under logs.

 

[Steven Gielis]

Maybe this can help you a bit:
http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrec...&recid=4733200&q=&uid=790839491&setcookie=yes
I have the full paper available.