- Joined
- Oct 30, 2019
- Messages
- 102
So, the weirdest thing just happened. Ever since I got my millipedes I've been getting occasional unexplained deaths. Not frequently, just once every few weeks or month. Their temperature and humidity are fine and I'm very careful to only give organic veggies. I've done a lot of research and failed to find anything I could be doing wrong, so I came to the conclusion that there must be some sort of disease or parasite in my population. I haven't had any deaths recently but I have noticed a new symptom: every now and again I'll see a millipede on the surface just writhing about uncontrollably, like they're having an epileptic seizure or something. Between the fits they seem perfectly healthy and their behaviour is normal, so I'm not considering euthanasia unless they get significantly worse. Even when the fits are happening they seem weirdly unbothered by them, I've never seen them secrete at all. It's very upsetting to know that my milli-babies are ill and there's nothing I can do about it, except make them as comfortable as possible for the time they have left. However, while that's all very sad it isn't the crazy thing I wanted to talk about. It gets weirder.
About two months ago I noticed some white woodlice had gotten into my substrate, and I wondered if that might be the cause of the deaths (this was before the seizures started). Because I was busy with exams I didn't have time to treat and redo the whole tank, so I decided to move my millipedes to a temporary tank with fresh substrate until I could deal with the isopod problem. I know that you shouldn't dig up millipedes unless it's totally necessary so I only moved them when I caught them on the surface. After about a week or so I'd moved four of the five millipedes, but the fifth one (an S.sp8) didn't turn up even after a month. I know it's not uncommon for millipedes to burrow for a long time, but given all the deaths I'd been having I wasn't too hopeful. But this morning, nearly two months later, she appeared ... and she's BLUE?! Not a super bright blue, more of a greyish shade, but definitely noticeably blue. If I didn't know better I'd think she was a Acladocricus sp. (AKA Philippine giant blue) but she isn't. She's a Spirostreptidae sp.8 from Africa, and they're supposed to be green or greenish-brown, which she was when I first got her. I've included a picture to show you what I mean, as well as a photo of an S.sp.8 with normal colouring to compare with.
At the moment I only have two guesses as to what might have caused this:
1. My first thought was iridovirus. I know it's quite common in isopods and apparently there is also a strain that affects insects, so maybe there could be one that affects millipedes? However I've done a bit of research and I can't find any mentions of this, so I think it's unlikely.
2. I know that a lot of animals which appear green do so by a combination of yellow pigment and blue structural colour. I'm wondering if, during her recent moult, she was unable to produce yellow pigment for some reason, possibly to do with the disease, and has therefore been left with only the blue part of her colouring. This is also supported by the fact that she seems to have a lot of moulting defects, not too big but more of them than I've seen before on a single millipede before. She has calcium mixed in the substrate as well as being given both calcium and protein regularly in the form of supplemental foods, so I don't think it's a diet problem. Unless perhaps I've been giving them too much?
Either way I don't think this is a good thing, but I'll try to keep her as comfortable as possible and hope her and her friends can pull through whatever is happening. I'd love to know what you guys think.
About two months ago I noticed some white woodlice had gotten into my substrate, and I wondered if that might be the cause of the deaths (this was before the seizures started). Because I was busy with exams I didn't have time to treat and redo the whole tank, so I decided to move my millipedes to a temporary tank with fresh substrate until I could deal with the isopod problem. I know that you shouldn't dig up millipedes unless it's totally necessary so I only moved them when I caught them on the surface. After about a week or so I'd moved four of the five millipedes, but the fifth one (an S.sp8) didn't turn up even after a month. I know it's not uncommon for millipedes to burrow for a long time, but given all the deaths I'd been having I wasn't too hopeful. But this morning, nearly two months later, she appeared ... and she's BLUE?! Not a super bright blue, more of a greyish shade, but definitely noticeably blue. If I didn't know better I'd think she was a Acladocricus sp. (AKA Philippine giant blue) but she isn't. She's a Spirostreptidae sp.8 from Africa, and they're supposed to be green or greenish-brown, which she was when I first got her. I've included a picture to show you what I mean, as well as a photo of an S.sp.8 with normal colouring to compare with.
At the moment I only have two guesses as to what might have caused this:
1. My first thought was iridovirus. I know it's quite common in isopods and apparently there is also a strain that affects insects, so maybe there could be one that affects millipedes? However I've done a bit of research and I can't find any mentions of this, so I think it's unlikely.
2. I know that a lot of animals which appear green do so by a combination of yellow pigment and blue structural colour. I'm wondering if, during her recent moult, she was unable to produce yellow pigment for some reason, possibly to do with the disease, and has therefore been left with only the blue part of her colouring. This is also supported by the fact that she seems to have a lot of moulting defects, not too big but more of them than I've seen before on a single millipede before. She has calcium mixed in the substrate as well as being given both calcium and protein regularly in the form of supplemental foods, so I don't think it's a diet problem. Unless perhaps I've been giving them too much?
Either way I don't think this is a good thing, but I'll try to keep her as comfortable as possible and hope her and her friends can pull through whatever is happening. I'd love to know what you guys think.