subtleselkie
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- May 5, 2025
- Messages
- 1
Hello there! I got a giant African millipede a bit over a month ago and it seems she has died. I am pretty disappointed because I thought I did enough research, but I guess I didn't. I wanted to know if any of you had any insight as to what may have gone wrong.
Timeline: I got in her in the mail on April 1st. I had a tank already set up for her with millipede substrate (premade bought off Etsy, coco free). A few days later, I did add more because it felt too shallow. I periodically put pieces of fruit and vegetables in, which she liked. She curled up and stopped moving around the week of April 22nd (I forget the exact date). She officially appears dead as of this morning, May 6th.
Possible issues: a few days later, she did fall on a hard wood floor when I took her out. She seemed fine after that and continued to walk around, so I figure if she was injured from that, there would be an immediate reaction, but I don't know if it takes a while.
-It may have gotten too cold. I live in coastal Southern California, so it doesn't get extremely cold here, but it did sometimes dip below seventy degrees. I had a room heater going so it wouldn't get below the seventies, but that may not have been enough.
-A fruit fly or fungus gnat problem developed. From my research, I don't see anything about fruit flies being harmful to them, but I did change the substrate and take everything out and clean the tank and everything in it (using only water).
-I may have let it get too moist. I misted in pretty regularly (about every other day), but that may have been too much.
-There may have been something wrong with the calcium carbonate. This is the one I got:
I bring this up because literally the day after I sprinkled this in her enclosure is when she suddenly curled up and stopped eating. It could be she had other issues, but the timeline makes me suspicious.
-When she initially curled up and wouldn't move after about two days, I was concerned that she was dead and did pick her up to see if she would move, which she did. I looked it up and saw
that they do that when they are molting. I checked her a few times and am concerned that, if she was molting, moving her may have harmed her.
>>>Because the fruit fly/fungus gnat/whatever they were problem got bad, I did take her out of her enclosure during that time, into a smaller container with substrate (with holes in it and everything)
Incidentally, after I cleaned her enclosure and put her back, she uncurled, but wasn't really moving much. I checked on her a few times and she was barely moving, but still a bit. I checked on her this morning and she did not appear to be moving at all. I picked her up and her body was limp.
Maybe it was a mix of all of these, but I really would like to know what you all read as the issue so I can know for the future. I feel pretty stupid for having a critter that I really liked having die on me in less than a month, but I am willing to learn so I don't make those mistakes again in case I get another in the future, which I would like, but I don't want to kill another.
Timeline: I got in her in the mail on April 1st. I had a tank already set up for her with millipede substrate (premade bought off Etsy, coco free). A few days later, I did add more because it felt too shallow. I periodically put pieces of fruit and vegetables in, which she liked. She curled up and stopped moving around the week of April 22nd (I forget the exact date). She officially appears dead as of this morning, May 6th.
Possible issues: a few days later, she did fall on a hard wood floor when I took her out. She seemed fine after that and continued to walk around, so I figure if she was injured from that, there would be an immediate reaction, but I don't know if it takes a while.
-It may have gotten too cold. I live in coastal Southern California, so it doesn't get extremely cold here, but it did sometimes dip below seventy degrees. I had a room heater going so it wouldn't get below the seventies, but that may not have been enough.
-A fruit fly or fungus gnat problem developed. From my research, I don't see anything about fruit flies being harmful to them, but I did change the substrate and take everything out and clean the tank and everything in it (using only water).
-I may have let it get too moist. I misted in pretty regularly (about every other day), but that may have been too much.
-There may have been something wrong with the calcium carbonate. This is the one I got:
I bring this up because literally the day after I sprinkled this in her enclosure is when she suddenly curled up and stopped eating. It could be she had other issues, but the timeline makes me suspicious.
-When she initially curled up and wouldn't move after about two days, I was concerned that she was dead and did pick her up to see if she would move, which she did. I looked it up and saw
that they do that when they are molting. I checked her a few times and am concerned that, if she was molting, moving her may have harmed her.
>>>Because the fruit fly/fungus gnat/whatever they were problem got bad, I did take her out of her enclosure during that time, into a smaller container with substrate (with holes in it and everything)
Incidentally, after I cleaned her enclosure and put her back, she uncurled, but wasn't really moving much. I checked on her a few times and she was barely moving, but still a bit. I checked on her this morning and she did not appear to be moving at all. I picked her up and her body was limp.
Maybe it was a mix of all of these, but I really would like to know what you all read as the issue so I can know for the future. I feel pretty stupid for having a critter that I really liked having die on me in less than a month, but I am willing to learn so I don't make those mistakes again in case I get another in the future, which I would like, but I don't want to kill another.
