Missing millipede

[pinkpolicebox]

Hello, I recently got a scarlet millipede (about 1" long) and after putting her into the enclosure I had set up on Wednesday I have not seen her since. The other millipedes I got occasionally crawl around on the surface or I see them burrowed up against the side, but I haven't found her once. I want to look for her but I'm worried about injuring her if she is molting or something.

Is this something to be concerned about? What should I do?

 

[SDCPs]

You have 2 options:

-Dig through the substrate in an attempt to find her.
-Just wait...it might take a few months before you see her again.

If you wait, you can always dig around later. Digging around can harm millipedes, but if you do it carefully it's not much of a problem.

I, personally, would just wait. Look at night with a flashlight. I hardly see the majority of my pedes during the day.

 

[Cavedweller]

Everything's probably fine. I've gone months at a time without seeing my millipedes, and then they emerge a little bigger with a shiny new exoskeleton. You can try putting some really tasty food out like melon or something and see if that draws her attention (this won't work if she's molting of course).

 

[pinkpolicebox]

You have 2 options:

-Dig through the substrate in an attempt to find her.
-Just wait...it might take a few months before you see her again.

If you wait, you can always dig around later. Digging around can harm millipedes, but if you do it carefully it's not much of a problem.

I, personally, would just wait. Look at night with a flashlight. I hardly see the majority of my pedes during the day.

I'm a night owl so I usually am checking at night. Since it doesn't seem to be too urgent I can wait a bit, but if I do decide to eventually dig around for her do you have any suggestions on how to do so carefully?

---------- Post added 05-05-2014 at 10:00 PM ----------

Everything's probably fine. I've gone months at a time without seeing my millipedes, and then they emerge a little bigger with a shiny new exoskeleton. You can try putting some really tasty food out like melon or something and see if that draws her attention (this won't work if she's molting of course).

I have actually noticed that none of my millipedes have been interested in the fruit/veggies I have tried putting out for them. I have some cucumber in there right now, but it seems untouched!

 

[Cavedweller]

Mine ignored cucumber too! What else have you used? I've noticed food preference can vary by species. My O. ornatus LOVE carrot, but my Ivories don't care much for it.

 

[SDCPs]

I'm a night owl so I usually am checking at night. Since it doesn't seem to be too urgent I can wait a bit, but if I do decide to eventually dig around for her do you have any suggestions on how to do so carefully?

We should qualify "night" in millipede terms. The room needs to be completely dark for some time, and dark consistently. For instance, when I come into my millipede room and turn on the lights, the millipedes that I never see otherwise (one particular species that you don't have) are usually on the surface. If I leave the light on, in a few minutes they are nowhere to be seen.

And my lights are not very bright. The containers look fairly dark to the human eye.

But if, say, all of the sudden in the middle of the day things went completely dark for a few hours, since the millipedes are not used to darkness at that time I don't know if they would come out then. So consistency is probably important also.


One more thing. Small millipedes tend to stay underground. When they get bigger they become more adventuresome.

Check my website for more care info.

Millipedes love apple cores and melon and avocado and mango over here.

 

[pinkpolicebox]

Mine ignored cucumber too! What else have you used? I've noticed food preference can vary by species. My O. ornatus LOVE carrot, but my Ivories don't care much for it.

Besides cucumber I've tried romaine lettuce, strawberries, and carrot. I could try some melon though!

---------- Post added 05-06-2014 at 10:32 PM ----------

We should qualify "night" in millipede terms. The room needs to be completely dark for some time, and dark consistently. For instance, when I come into my millipede room and turn on the lights, the millipedes that I never see otherwise (one particular species that you don't have) are usually on the surface. If I leave the light on, in a few minutes they are nowhere to be seen.

And my lights are not very bright. The containers look fairly dark to the human eye.

But if, say, all of the sudden in the middle of the day things went completely dark for a few hours, since the millipedes are not used to darkness at that time I don't know if they would come out then. So consistency is probably important also.


One more thing. Small millipedes tend to stay underground. When they get bigger they become more adventuresome.

Check my website for more care info.

Millipedes love apple cores and melon and avocado and mango over here.

Well I keep them in my closet so it is pretty much always dark. I have just been either shining a flashlight or pulling the tub out to check throughout the day/night.

And I will definitely try your fruit/veggie suggestions