Millipede plants

[gingerjessie]

I hope I have done this right first time on a forum. I have a very large tank I am converting for millipedes (a few to house together). I want make a natural looking environment and I am looking to put some plants in. Does anyone know if ivy, chronos or ficus will be ok? They are the only plants I have that I can guarantee will be pesticide free. Would they also be ok to plant in a hissing cockroach tank set up?

 

[RoachCoach]

Not sure about the pedes, but your hissers won't really care what you got for décor. They care more about surface area and food. If you are building a display your best bet would be to use fake foliage is you plan to breed them. I mean, it's not even really up to you if they breed. They will do so almost under any conditions. Better conditions = more nymphs, worse conditions = more less nymphs. You should be rinsing any plants before you place in your enclosures. Pesticides are easily washed away with water. Even if the plants are poisonous to them they will still be eating them. Your plant stock will go down regardless.
Google and a few message boards have some awesome hisser active setups. You will have to remove any pregnant females. The males will battle, which is absolutely hilarious. Fake plants to save you the headache of shuffling so much. The larger hissers are very, very strong. Like surprisingly. They might uproot any plants you have in there.

 

[Arthroverts]

@BepopCola has experience with plants in millipede enclosures, perhaps she can shed some light on the subject?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[BepopCola]

I hope I have done this right first time on a forum. I have a very large tank I am converting for millipedes (a few to house together). I want make a natural looking environment and I am looking to put some plants in. Does anyone know if ivy, chronos or ficus will be ok? They are the only plants I have that I can guarantee will be pesticide free. Would they also be ok to plant in a hissing cockroach tank set up?

it'll depend on the species of millipede you'll be keeping.

I've no idea bout the hissers though

 

[RoachCoach]

it'll depend on the species of millipede you'll be keeping.

I've no idea bout the hissers though

*poke* Uh, I'm right here dude...

 

[Matts inverts]

I would not use ivy because some are toxic to pedes so I would not use it. I think ficus is safe. But can I recommend pothos. It’s like the perfect plant. It lives in most conditions and my millipede has one in his tank and he has not eaten it.

 

[gingerjessie]

Thanks for the tips so far, I have several species of millipede. Not sure which ones are gonna be in the display but most of them have same heat and humidity requirements. In total I gotta a. Gigas, t. Outi, n. americanus, n. Gordanus, c. Spirugerus and ornatus and a couple saluwesi hornets. Oh and also have a spider plant but I felt confident on this

 

[gingerjessie]

Oh and I have spider plant which I'm pretty sure on anyway

 

[Matts inverts]

I think the flower is toxic so I would be careful when using it. Just cut off the flower once it pops up

 

[BepopCola]

Thanks for the tips so far, I have several species of millipede. Not sure which ones are gonna be in the display but most of them have same heat and humidity requirements. In total I gotta a. Gigas, t. Outi, n. americanus, n. Gordanus, c. Spirugerus and ornatus and a couple saluwesi hornets. Oh and also have a spider plant but I felt confident on this

I used a spider plant with A. gigas with success.
They will try eat every plant you have, ime, hopefully, thier leaves are touch enough to deter them.

*poke* Uh, I'm right here dude...

I always wondered if they'd eat/nibble real plants?

 

[RoachCoach]

I used a spider plant with A. gigas with success.
They will try eat every plant you have, ime, hopefully, thier leaves are touch enough to deter them.





I always wondered if they'd eat/nibble real plants?

If they aren't toxic they will eat everything. They are pretty hard to keep satiated every single day. McMonigle doesn't mention any poisonous plants. As long as you are keeping their biomass pretty balanced they can't eat all the plants even if they wanted to. But the larger ones can eat a ton.

 

[gingerjessie]

Thanks for all the advice. I have one last question, do you think Boston fern is ok and also would organic top soil be ok to plant in?

 

[Matts inverts]

Boston fern in all organic soil is fine

 

[BepopCola]

Thanks for all the advice. I have one last question, do you think Boston fern is ok and also would organic top soil be ok to plant in?

I kept a Boston fern with A. gigas and Ivory millipedes for about a year before I moved it to another tank. It was the only fern to survive them, they tend to nibble the rhizomes of other ferns to death.

Just make sure that the organic part isn't cow/chicken manure. Bat guano is ok, if I recall correctly. Worm castings/ bone meal are safe