Narceus gordanus and Chicobolus spinigerus mating?

[possumfriend]

Hey all,
I am very curious about what's going on in this video!

I've only been keeping millipedes for a few months now, so I am still learning about their behaviors (I wouldn't normally have the flash shining on them, but I wanted to make sure this wasn't aggression). This went on for several more minutes and then they both went on their way. From what I've read, Lawrence (the N. gordanus) will not produce crossbred babies, but may lay eggs via parthenogenesis due to the mating stimulus.

I keep 5 individual millipedes in this tank: 2 smokey oak, 1 ivory millipede, 1 giant American millipede, and 1 orin's scrub. All millipedes are relatively young, with the smokey oaks being the oldest and largest. Both smokey oaks are female, since I intentionally do not want to breed any millipedes.

Is this mating or aggressive behavior? Should I separate the millipedes? These 5 are moving into a 24"x18"18" tank soon, if that knowledge helps.

I am hoping we will not have millipede babies, but will absolutely care for them if it happens!
Thanks for any insight!
View attachment joined_video_87c897c155e2454dba62969fe8501bf3.mp4

 

[Arthroverts]

The Ivory male is trying to mate with the gordanus female (who eventually got tired and tried to tear away from the male; this usually does not cause any harm to either specimen). This regularly happens in multi-species tanks, and in this case as you already know will not produce any offspring. N. gordanus has also not been confirmed to be parthenogenetic.

That is a great video of mating behavior by the way!

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts

 

[possumfriend]

The Ivory male is trying to mate with the gordanus female (who eventually got tired and tried to tear away from the male; this usually does not cause any harm to either specimen). This regularly happens in multi-species tanks, and in this case as you already know will not produce any offspring. N. gordanus has also not been confirmed to be parthenogenetic.

That is a great video of mating behavior by the way!

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts

ah thank you so much for the info! could this have happened because they were stressed being in a more confined space before? or will millipedes just do this? i have since moved my pedes into a larger tank anyways ^^

 

[Arthroverts]

I definitely would not call a 24"x18"18" tank housing five specimens that will likely never get above 4” a confined space, ha ha. Even in larger tanks this will happen once they inevitably cross paths.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[possumfriend]

I definitely would not call a 24"x18"18" tank housing five specimens that will likely never get above 4” a confined space, ha ha. Even in larger tanks this will happen once they inevitably cross paths.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

they were in a 12x8x8 before this! apologies for the confusion haha. thanks again for the insight ^^