My Very Fussy MILLIPEDE Substrate

MillipedeTrain

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 19, 2019
Messages
78
These are the substrates I used for my juvenile giant african millipede. It hasn't arrived yet but I wanted to see if this was okay. I have mostly the coconut stuff on the bottom but then the blacker stuff on top. Any thoughts?
If you want your millipedes to breed and not have them die for impaction get rid of most of that coconut fibre. Coconut fibre is terrible. When I first got into millipedes I knew nothing about them and put them mainly on coconut fibre. It killed them all. 😭

The substrate you have for your millipedes is EXTREMELY important because unlike other creatures that simply use it for bedding to live and dig in, millipedes actually spend a significant amount of time burrowing in and eating all contents of their substrate! So if you have poor quality, lacking in nutritional value substrate your millipedes unfortunately will not live for a very long time as opposed to how much they could eating a proper nutritionally balanced substrate. Not only that but they especially will not breed successfully. I’m not trying to sound harsh here I’m trying to help you not make the same mistakes I did when I first got millipedes I watched a terrible video on YouTube that told me to put them directly onto coconut fibre with a few leaves and a stick. They all died very quickly despite the fact that I gave them more leaves and lots of moss and a bit of wood and sticks, nutritionally it just wasn’t enough. I tried again with a half coconut fibre half other organic black earth mix and I was still having some die but they weren’t breeding. Another bad thing about cocofibre is that it impacts babies and adults and pulls the moisture out of adult millipedes as it dries. These were all things I personally experienced with coco fibre which is why I hate it so much because I know it’s not safe. So after my first major loss and the second time of continued failures I was devastated and then spent lots of time researching appropriate substrates and then I spent hours making my ultimate substrate of which ALL my millipedes are happily eating, thriving, and breeding excessively upon! Coconut fibre is not part of that and never will be. I have so many babies now I’m actually going to have to start separating the males from the females!

Here’s my substrate mix plus extras for happy ‘pedes. It’s not really too much different than the fussy millipede substrate except for the lack of coconut fibre. That stuff, especially in excess isn’t safe and this I know for a fact. Others are of course welcome to disagree. I just know what I’ve seen and experienced and I will never let my millipedes suffer again...Anyways, sorry I ramble on haha 🤣 without further delay...

My breeding millipede substrate

40% Organic Black earth soil bags purchased from the grocery store free of pesticides and fertilizers(made of Humus and peat loam. Humus is basically a fancy word for composted plant material, often collected from forests as well. Peat loam is the decaying matter from plants and Sphagnum moss harvested below the living sphagnum moss in peat bogs. It’s far more nutritional than peat moss itself.)
34% Baked maple and oak leaves
Baked decaying oak , alder, beech and maple wood
20% Sphagnum moss
5% Asian forest moss (the kind that is sold in the reptile section in a block sealed in plastic)
1% Shaved cuttlefish bone reduced to a fine powder
+ Springtails
+ Hypoaspis miles mites (Predatory mites that ONLY eat bad mites. So if you find grain mites disgusting like I do they’re wonderful! I don’t have a single grain mite in any of my enclosures now! However keep in mind they do eat springtails too so make sure your springtails are absolutely booming before you introduce some predatory mites into your enclosures! They will NOT harm babies or molting millipedes like isopods will!
+ Oak, maple, beech branches for climbing
+ Cork bark tubes for hiding
+ Pillow moss for decorations or to retain humidity
+ Small exoterra reptile caves for hiding
+ Exoterra water bowl that is filled with fresh filtered water at all times
+ Exoterra rock dish that is filled with fresh ORGANIC FRUITS & VEGGIES ONLY!
+ fake plastic plants for decoration

In all honesty I don’t really hold to the percentages too much regarding the leaves, decaying wood and black earth soil too closet because I mix in COPIOUS AMOUNTS of them! And after I have mixed everything thoroughly I then add even more baked decaying wood on top as well as nice leaf layer across the entire top of the substrate because that acts as a cover and keeps the humidity in and keeps the substrate from drying out too quickly and gives your millipedes a place to hide and feel safe!


If there is one other thing I cannot possibly stress enough that poses a serious danger to millipedes that most people have no idea about...NEVER EVER PUT ISOPODS INTO YOUR MILLIPEDE ENCLOSURES ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO BREED! Isopods gang up and kill and EAT babies, moulting millipedes, injured millipedes and even fully grown healthy adult millipedes! They’re TERRIBLE to poor millipedes! 😭 Unless you have so many millipedes that them killing and eating a bunch of your millipedes doesn’t matter then I do not under any circumstances recommend! (Even in that case, I still wouldn’t recommend I would just recommend you separate the males instead if you have too many!)

Attached a buncha pics of my happy lil’ babies that are growing wonderfully! I have 3 different species of babies growing up together(soon to be bumblebee babies as they’ve laid eggs in my baby bin!) Attached a pic showing each of them together with their species name.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Indiglowoods

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 4, 2020
Messages
27
That's a good start; but I would recommend adding organic compost (no ferts) as well as decaying leaves and decaying wood (white wood that you can crumble with your hand). Coconut fibre and jungle mix contains little nutrients, so adding a lot of decaying organic matter (in the form of wood and leaves from hardwood trees as well as organic compost) will be exponential for your millipedes health!

Dagan H.
Thank you, yes! I plan to hunt for those things outside when my 'pede is soon to arrive!
 

0001

Arachnopeon
Active Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
22
Hi guys, just wondering how much of this I would need to whip up for a 30x30x40 terrarium with 2-3 millipedes and a few beetles so I have enough for half a year? Is a mix like this something you’d need to whip up in advance so it can ferment/decay for a bit or is it suitable to mix-and-go?
 

mickiem

Arachnoprince
Active Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
Messages
1,652
Hi all! Yes, i am very irregular. Life is happening around me in a very demanding and urgent way and I am focused on "family things". Hopefully it will settle soon. I am back for now. I am not shipping animals yet. I am selling only at Miamitown Reptile Show (Cincinnati).

But to @0001 - I make the entire recipe in parts. There are 3 parts, so figure how much you need and divide by 3. I use a little less coco fiber than the other ingredients. What kind of millipedes do you have? I prefer to allow the length of the pede in depth and 2 1/2 X the length of the pede in width. So for a 5" pede, you would allow 5" depth X 12.5" width. Of course, a little bigger for more pedes. Vague, I know. Honestly, I would give them as much room as possible; these are minimums. If your substrate is rich and good, the pedes don't have to trek far for a meal.

There is no need to let it rot or ferment. If you are adding the decayed wood to the wood portion, you have food readily available and the other wood sources will decay in a time release fashion. Same with the leaves. This is a "Now and Later" mix.


Best of luck in your Millipede adventures!
 

Aracnophile

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 18, 2020
Messages
16
If you want your millipedes to breed and not have them die for impaction get rid of most of that coconut fibre. Coconut fibre is terrible. When I first got into millipedes I knew nothing about them and put them mainly on coconut fibre. It killed them all. 😭

The substrate you have for your millipedes is EXTREMELY important because unlike other creatures that simply use it for bedding to live and dig in, millipedes actually spend a significant amount of time burrowing in and eating all contents of their substrate! So if you have poor quality, lacking in nutritional value substrate your millipedes unfortunately will not live for a very long time as opposed to how much they could eating a proper nutritionally balanced substrate. Not only that but they especially will not breed successfully. I’m not trying to sound harsh here I’m trying to help you not make the same mistakes I did when I first got millipedes I watched a terrible video on YouTube that told me to put them directly onto coconut fibre with a few leaves and a stick. They all died very quickly despite the fact that I gave them more leaves and lots of moss and a bit of wood and sticks, nutritionally it just wasn’t enough. I tried again with a half coconut fibre half other organic black earth mix and I was still having some die but they weren’t breeding. Another bad thing about cocofibre is that it impacts babies and adults and pulls the moisture out of adult millipedes as it dries. These were all things I personally experienced with coco fibre which is why I hate it so much because I know it’s not safe. So after my first major loss and the second time of continued failures I was devastated and then spent lots of time researching appropriate substrates and then I spent hours making my ultimate substrate of which ALL my millipedes are happily eating, thriving, and breeding excessively upon! Coconut fibre is not part of that and never will be. I have so many babies now I’m actually going to have to start separating the males from the females!

Here’s my substrate mix plus extras for happy ‘pedes. It’s not really too much different than the fussy millipede substrate except for the lack of coconut fibre. That stuff, especially in excess isn’t safe and this I know for a fact. Others are of course welcome to disagree. I just know what I’ve seen and experienced and I will never let my millipedes suffer again...Anyways, sorry I ramble on haha 🤣 without further delay...

My breeding millipede substrate

40% Organic Black earth soil bags purchased from the grocery store free of pesticides and fertilizers(made of Humus and peat loam. Humus is basically a fancy word for composted plant material, often collected from forests as well. Peat loam is the decaying matter from plants and Sphagnum moss harvested below the living sphagnum moss in peat bogs. It’s far more nutritional than peat moss itself.)
34% Baked maple and oak leaves
Baked decaying oak , alder, beech and maple wood
20% Sphagnum moss
5% Asian forest moss (the kind that is sold in the reptile section in a block sealed in plastic)
1% Shaved cuttlefish bone reduced to a fine powder
+ Springtails
+ Hypoaspis miles mites (Predatory mites that ONLY eat bad mites. So if you find grain mites disgusting like I do they’re wonderful! I don’t have a single grain mite in any of my enclosures now! However keep in mind they do eat springtails too so make sure your springtails are absolutely booming before you introduce some predatory mites into your enclosures! They will NOT harm babies or molting millipedes like isopods will!
+ Oak, maple, beech branches for climbing
+ Cork bark tubes for hiding
+ Pillow moss for decorations or to retain humidity
+ Small exoterra reptile caves for hiding
+ Exoterra water bowl that is filled with fresh filtered water at all times
+ Exoterra rock dish that is filled with fresh ORGANIC FRUITS & VEGGIES ONLY!
+ fake plastic plants for decoration

In all honesty I don’t really hold to the percentages too much regarding the leaves, decaying wood and black earth soil too closet because I mix in COPIOUS AMOUNTS of them! And after I have mixed everything thoroughly I then add even more baked decaying wood on top as well as nice leaf layer across the entire top of the substrate because that acts as a cover and keeps the humidity in and keeps the substrate from drying out too quickly and gives your millipedes a place to hide and feel safe!


If there is one other thing I cannot possibly stress enough that poses a serious danger to millipedes that most people have no idea about...NEVER EVER PUT ISOPODS INTO YOUR MILLIPEDE ENCLOSURES ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO BREED! Isopods gang up and kill and EAT babies, moulting millipedes, injured millipedes and even fully grown healthy adult millipedes! They’re TERRIBLE to poor millipedes! 😭 Unless you have so many millipedes that them killing and eating a bunch of your millipedes doesn’t matter then I do not under any circumstances recommend! (Even in that case, I still wouldn’t recommend I would just recommend you separate the males instead if you have too many!)

Attached a buncha pics of my happy lil’ babies that are growing wonderfully! I have 3 different species of babies growing up together(soon to be bumblebee babies as they’ve laid eggs in my baby bin!) Attached a pic showing each of them together with their species name.
I know that this is a relatively old thread, but just asking a question here, would this soil mix work for A.Gigas and successfully breeding them
 
Top