Millipede shrieking?

[Kiteflyer]

I picked up one of my A. gigas today to show to someone, and it sounded like it was shrieking in protest!

I have two gigas, one that's calm and fearless, and one that's kind of skittish. The one that happened to be wandering around was the skittish one, and as I picked it up, it sounded to both of us like the millipede was making a high-pitched screeching noise. Then it pooped, but didn't curl up, and after a minute it calmed down and seemed fine. We didn't hear any more noises.

Were the two of us hearing things, or do millipedes really make sounds? I haven't had these guys very long, and am still new to keeping millipedes, but I didn't think they were capable of making noise! The sound was very similar to that of a bessbug, but I don't have any bessbugs. If it helps any, my two A. gigas live in a ten gallon aquarium along with with four Narceus americanus, three Florida ivories, and numerous pillbugs.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Sounds like the beautiful stories written by naturalists concerning the mysterious singing tree snails. Turns out they mistakenly thought the frog calls were made by the snails.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

Once upon a time (when I was new to this) I was convinced I heard my Ivory millipedes chirping. Turns out it was just a cricket hiding somewhere close by. Ambient sounds + coincidence = singing millis

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[RDRobbs]

Once upon a time (when I was new to this) I was convinced I heard my Ivory millipedes chirping. Turns out it was just a cricket hiding somewhere close by. Ambient sounds + coincidence = singing millis

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Isn't there evidence that they do "sing" to attract mates by rubbing body parts together? Atleast that's the info I've found

 

[heldipede]

Isn't there evidence that they do "sing" to attract mates by rubbing body parts together? Atleast that's the info I've found

According to a several sources, some millipedes do stridulate, or create a shrill rubbing sound during the mating process. I don't know all the species do and don't, and how wide spread the practice is among different species, but some definitely do make a shrill sound. According to the papers I've located in my research, it appears to mostly be pill-millipedes that do this during mating. I have never heard of it as a defensive mechanism, however. And if pill-millipedes do this, maybe others do and we've never been able to document it. There is so much that is unknown about millipedes that it's not impossible.

Source: https://www.wired.com/2011/10/millipede-stridulation/

 

[RDRobbs]

According to a several sources, some millipedes do stridulate, or create a shrill rubbing sound during the mating process. I don't know which species do and don't, and how wide spread the practice is among different species, but some definitely do make a shrill sound. According to the papers I've located in my research, it appears to mostly be pill-millipedes that do this during mating. I have never heard of it as a defensive mechanism. And if pill millipedes do this, maybe others do and we've never been able to document it. There is so much that is unknown about millipedes that it's not impossible.

Source: https://www.wired.com/2011/10/millipede-stridulation/

Thank you for your response! I've searched the internet and you're right, not much info out there