My millipede collection

[Marika]

I love when mushrooms start popping up. Have you ever put live plants in with your millipedes? I would love to have some but I don't know what is safe. I figured as long as they are in pots the roots shouldn't be an issue. I've been putting chia seeds in with them as food but really like how it looks when they sprout in my A. gigas and Florida ivories tank. I have been thinking about trying Creeping Jenny with some small species. I don't want to take the risk with my adult gigas.

I wasn't sure so I looked at some old pics and yeah, I did have a spider plant in one of my enclosures. I have no idea how long it lasted, but obviously it died at some point, because I don't have it anymore, lol. Other than that, I've only used fake plants. Live plants would look great, but I'm not good at keeping them alive

 

[The Odd Pet]

I wasn't sure so I looked at some old pics and yeah, I did have a spider plant in one of my enclosures. I have no idea how long it lasted, but obviously it died at some point, because I don't have it anymore, lol. Other than that, I've only used fake plants. Live plants would look great, but I'm not good at keeping them alive

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That's awesome. I have a few small spider plants I propagated from a larger one I planned on using for some vivs.
What are those red millipedes? They are beautiful. You have the coolest millipedes.

 

[Marika]

That's awesome. I have a few small spider plants I propagated from a larger one I planned on using for some vivs.
What are those red millipedes? They are beautiful. You have the coolest millipedes.

Aphistogoniulus hova. Unfortunately I don't have them anymore, I lost my last ones last year due to an unusual heat wave. I also lost my Spirobolus walkeri female and some others too.

 

[The Odd Pet]

Aphistogoniulus hova. Unfortunately I don't have them anymore, I lost my last ones last year due to an unusual heat wave. I also lost my Spirobolus walkeri female and some others too.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Marika]

"Cameroon grey/cream stripe", I usually never see her.


"Mozambique caramel"


A. gigas. "Oo, a female!"




Spirostreptidae sp. 8

 

[Exoskelos]

@Marika I'm curious as to the temps and foods that some of these exotic species thrive on, or die on. I keep my bug room around 76*F, (24.4*C) and if the odd chance I manage to find any of these in the US, I'd like to be able to keep them alive without having to do trial and error on animals with limited availability. Currently searching for a seller of an obscure Central American species, Anadenobolus chichen, it looks exactly like A. monilicornis, only it grows to about 4-6".

 

[Arthroverts]

@Exoskelos, you may have more luck finding Anadenobolus modestior, which also looks like A. monilicornis and reaches lengths of 4"-6", but unlike A. chichen it has been in the US hobby before. Haven't seen any available for a long while though.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Marika]

@Marika I'm curious as to the temps and foods that some of these exotic species thrive on, or die on. I keep my bug room around 76*F, (24.4*C) and if the odd chance I manage to find any of these in the US, I'd like to be able to keep them alive without having to do trial and error on animals with limited availability. Currently searching for a seller of an obscure Central American species, Anadenobolus chichen, it looks exactly like A. monilicornis, only it grows to about 4-6".

I keep my millipedes at room temp, so mostly between 20-25*C, but sometimes higher/lower in summer/winter depending on outside temps. I offer them the basic millipede diet, so decaying wood, leaf litter and supplemental foods.

 

[MillipedeTrain]

There's something wrong with my C. giganteus.

First these yellowish areas were spreading and growing:


And now there's this:


I was thinking that it could be some sort of fungal infection? The one in the photos is the only one left now, the other one just died, even though he didn't look nearly as bad as this.

Be it mold or fungus you need to separate the sick millipedes from the healthy ones and quarantine them. If you find your millipedes are experiencing a lot of mold or fungal infections you likely do not have enough ventilation and the humidity could be too high. Always separate sick millipedes from the healthy colony otherwise the ailments can spread and wipe out the entire colony.

 

[Marika]

Be it mold or fungus you need to separate the sick millipedes from the healthy ones and quarantine them. If you find your millipedes are experiencing a lot of mold or fungal infections you likely do not have enough ventilation and the humidity could be too high. Always separate sick millipedes from the healthy colony otherwise the ailments can spread and wipe out the entire colony.

That's true. This happened over 3 years ago, though, and I haven't seen anything similar since. I also don't have mold issues in my enclosures and they are pretty well ventilated.

 

[Marika]

My juvenile female Sechelleptus argus, Maggie. They usually drag their food under their cork bark, so I don't get to see them much.

 

[SeaNettle]

Wow this is a fantastic collection, looks like you'll be caring for millipedes for a long time.

 

[Marika]

Wow this is a fantastic collection, looks like you'll be caring for millipedes for a long time.

Thanks, my current "collection" is small though.

 

[Marika]

Last night I found this A. monilicornis in an enclosure I haven't watered in months, because I thought it was empty. Poor little thing!

 

[Marika]

 

[The Odd Pet]

What are those?

 

[Marika]

What are those?

"Mozambique caramel millipede" and Spirostreptidae sp. 8.

 

[ColeopteraC]

If you are still keeping them, how difficult is the care of the giant pill millipedes? I’ve been tempted by them too many times but have they are incredibly difficult to keep, need certain moss or lichen cultures to feed on or simply cannot thrive on non-native substitutes...

 

[Marika]

If you are still keeping them, how difficult is the care of the giant pill millipedes? I’ve been tempted by them too many times but have they are incredibly difficult to keep, need certain moss or lichen cultures to feed on or simply cannot thrive on non-native substitutes...

I don't keep them anymore. Most of them died soon after receiving them and some were DOA, so shipping stress was too much for them. I had two that lived for a couple of years and at one point I even witnessed some mating behaviour, but they didn't produce any offspring. I gave them decaying wood, leaf litter and moss, I can't remember if they touched any supplemental foods. I've only kept Arthrosphaera cf. brandtii though.

 

[JBUSN1990]

If you are still keeping them, how difficult is the care of the giant pill millipedes? I’ve been tempted by them too many times but have they are incredibly difficult to keep, need certain moss or lichen cultures to feed on or simply cannot thrive on non-native substitutes...

Maybe I can tell you something about pill millipedes. I am keeping some species of pill millipedes that live in Asia, like Zephronia profuga and Cryxus ovalis.
They are hard to keep. The temperature must be stable at 15~26 degrees,or they will die in several hours.Temperature is the most important key to keep pill millipedes.Of course,humidity is also important.
Have you ever kept beetles? Beetles eat wet decayed wood litter, that`s what pill millipedes mainly eat. You can find it in shops that sell beetles.
Except Decayed wood litter,These pills eat mosses, too. These are the only two things they eat (as far as I know). Smaller species prefer decayed leaf litter,and some bigger species prefer mosses.

As for giant pill millipedes like Zoosphaerium neptunus,they are incredible strict about temperature.You must control the temp in 18~24 degrees. Temp can`t be reached above 24 degrees during transportation,too.
If the temp is too high,the gut flora of millipedes will be destroyed ,pill millipedes depend on them to digest food. If these bacteria die,pill millipedes will die even if they eat something in your house......Things like this will happen to every pill millipedes after a long journey.
And the main problem is: We don’t even know what bacteria are in their organs to help these millepedes digest......
Of course,there are some giant pill millipedes survived successfully, they will eat some special mosses, decayed leaves and some unknown kinds of fungus. I don't suggest you to try your luck like this because many pill millipedes species are near to extinction because of the unrestricted pet trade, include many beautiful species in Southeast Asia and Madagascar.
So,please don`t try to keep giant pill millipedes, Let them live and breed in nature.
If you really want to keep a pill millipedes, please choose some smaller,more common species, they can tolerate higher temperatures up to 26 or 27 degrees,and they don`t eat unknown things, just decayed wood litter. Air conditioners are always needed, there are no pill millipedes that can live until they breed in a temp of 28 degrees or higher.
Thank you.