pinkpolicebox
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
- Messages
- 30
Hello! I'm new to this forum and to millipedes and was hoping I could get some general advice and opinions on some specific things.
To start I have never raised millipedes, but I have had a wide variety of other animals and am hopeful that that experience will help me out some
On Monday I'll be ordering one or two African Black Millipedes and they should be arriving the next day. I looked up the basics for an enclosure and went out and bought some things yesterday, but after reading through some of the threads on here I'm a little concerned that I may not have a good enough set up.
Specifically I am worried about ventilation, substrate content, heating, and food.
As you can see in the above photo the lid allows for a fair amount of air flow, do you think it's too much? I have a hydrometer so that I can monitor the humidity once things are set up, but I would rather fix any issues before they happen instead of after. Should I buy a new tank all together? Should I just tape over some of the lid? Or is it fine as is.
For substrate I got a mixture that is not listed as anything besides 'forest moss' (http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/forest_moss.php), thoughts on this?
In terms of heating I did not get anything extra, but a couple of websites recommended an under tank heating pad. I worry that might cause things to get too dry or too hot, but again, any thoughts?
Food seemed really straight forward on the couple of websites I read before I went out bought the things for my set up, but after I read through various threads on here it looks a lot more complicated. I don't mind complicated, I just want to make sure I have all my information straight. According to the sites I looked at I basically would need to feed them a combination of various decaying fruits/vegetables along with a calcium supplement, but I saw all kinds of different suggestions here (shredded aspen, oak leaves, ect.). What do you all personally use and why?
The millipedes I'll be getting are just babies (I think they said they are around 1 inch at the moment), so this is just my set up until they grow a bit. Please let me know what you think!
Also one question that isn't directly related, what are some other types of millipedes that could do well living with AGBs? I am specifically looking for something that is similar in size when fully grown, but different in appearance. On a side note, how do you tell the difference between your millipedes? Is there a safe way to mark them? For example, I helped a friend raise puppies once and we would paint the nails on one of their paws different colors so we knew who was who. I imagine nail polish wouldn't be safe for a millipede, but do you have any similar methods?
Anyway, thank you very much for your time! And I hope this thread is okay and is in the right forum (please let me know if it's not!)
To start I have never raised millipedes, but I have had a wide variety of other animals and am hopeful that that experience will help me out some
On Monday I'll be ordering one or two African Black Millipedes and they should be arriving the next day. I looked up the basics for an enclosure and went out and bought some things yesterday, but after reading through some of the threads on here I'm a little concerned that I may not have a good enough set up.
Specifically I am worried about ventilation, substrate content, heating, and food.
As you can see in the above photo the lid allows for a fair amount of air flow, do you think it's too much? I have a hydrometer so that I can monitor the humidity once things are set up, but I would rather fix any issues before they happen instead of after. Should I buy a new tank all together? Should I just tape over some of the lid? Or is it fine as is.
For substrate I got a mixture that is not listed as anything besides 'forest moss' (http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/forest_moss.php), thoughts on this?
In terms of heating I did not get anything extra, but a couple of websites recommended an under tank heating pad. I worry that might cause things to get too dry or too hot, but again, any thoughts?
Food seemed really straight forward on the couple of websites I read before I went out bought the things for my set up, but after I read through various threads on here it looks a lot more complicated. I don't mind complicated, I just want to make sure I have all my information straight. According to the sites I looked at I basically would need to feed them a combination of various decaying fruits/vegetables along with a calcium supplement, but I saw all kinds of different suggestions here (shredded aspen, oak leaves, ect.). What do you all personally use and why?
The millipedes I'll be getting are just babies (I think they said they are around 1 inch at the moment), so this is just my set up until they grow a bit. Please let me know what you think!
Also one question that isn't directly related, what are some other types of millipedes that could do well living with AGBs? I am specifically looking for something that is similar in size when fully grown, but different in appearance. On a side note, how do you tell the difference between your millipedes? Is there a safe way to mark them? For example, I helped a friend raise puppies once and we would paint the nails on one of their paws different colors so we knew who was who. I imagine nail polish wouldn't be safe for a millipede, but do you have any similar methods?
Anyway, thank you very much for your time! And I hope this thread is okay and is in the right forum (please let me know if it's not!)