New Inverts

[Finn19]

Hey everyone I’m new to the forum and happy to be here.

I was going to be getting a chameleon a little while back but instead decided to buy 3 turtles - however this left me with the chameleon tank spare. It is much taller than it is wide and I thought about filling it with insects or some type of invertebrate as they fascinate me. At first I thought stick insects as I kept them when I was younger, however I realised I could lie the tank down on its side and it would become much less tall, but much longer. This opened me up to a wide range of other species that I was intrigued by.

First off i was particularly interested in a hissing roach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) as they are apparently easy to look after and very docile. I was also very interested in mantids (particularly praying mantis). One that really struck me was the giant African millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas), which I would love to own and believe my tank would be ideal for given the right substrate. I would also love to own a scorpion or tarantula, however I don’t know how my parents would feel about this so would need confirmation first and I’d likely get a smaller tank if I was to get one of those species.

I am also really attracted to the idea of a community tank. The viv is big and long and could house more than one animal. I tried researching animals that come from roughly the same types of areas and a giant African millipede, ghost mantis and a hissing cockroach. Would this work? Could the roach damage the small mantids or the millie if it’s molted? I naturally assumed no tarantulas or scorpions could exist in a community environment with other inverts but if there’s any that can please do let me know.

If you have any suggests and animals I could get or if my community setup idea or others would work, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

 

[davehuth]

I’m always trying experiments with communal tanks, and I find it very rewarding. You’re right though to think carefully about what might be able to live together without issues. In general, most Millipede species can live together provided they generally need similar conditions. Some of my most successful tanks are desert tanks with many kinds of darkling beetles in them. I’ve also included brightly colored velvet ants with those beetles. I also hear that there are some Arizona desert scorpions that can live with darkling beetles, but scorpions are definitely not my thing so other people might have better feedback on that. My most diverse communal tank contains several species of millipedes, Halloween hissing cockroaches (all male to prevent population explosions), harvestman, and some forest darkling beetles.

 

[Finn19]

Sounds interesting. Communal tanks are definitely something I’m into and want to look more at. If there’s no chance of the roach hurting the millipede after moulting, I’m happy to house them together. I’m happy to also house mantids in there providing they can live there, but what I’d really want is a tarantula or scorpion - but we will see haha

 

[davehuth]

One thing that always helps is to keep the substrate a little bit deeper than normal and to provide lots of nooks and crannies for creatures to hide under. As well as lots of climbing structure. This allows all the inhabitants plenty of space and hiding places when they need some alone time.

 

[Finn19]

Sounds like a good idea, will factor that into account. Difficult to get the combinations right for the animals, as each has their own personality I suppose. It would be a great world if you could house tarantulas and scorpions together but unfortunately it just won’t happen haha

 

[Arthroverts]

Hissing roaches tend to be more arboreal, while millipedes molt underground usually, so I doubt that the roaches would want to go digging around for a freshly molted millipede if they are well fed. The mantis might be chewed on though because they molt above ground.

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts

 

[Finn19]

It does thank you!

 

[Finn19]

So I’m not allowed to get a tarantula or a scorpion however this does draw me closer to a community tank. I’d love to have a reptile of some sort that can coexist with the insects such as the millipede, but I don’t know if this is possible. Does anyone know?