Rose leaves and more questions

[SDCPs]

It's a great looking book with tons of great photos but if you take away the species pages which are mostly things that have never been bred anywhere, were never here in the US, and take up two pages per animal (you might wonder how they could get two pages out of a species where the details end in saying nobody has ever bred this species -- mostly photos) there's not a lot left. Also, there were a number of detail issues. However, I think my wholesale price when it first came out may have been higher than the retail on that page link you gave. At that price the book is a steal! At that price there's no reason any millipede enthusiast shouldn't have a copy.
I have never had problems with springtails.

Yes, I see what you mean. Over half the book is on the individual species, and mostly photos at that. How come those species were never here in the US? Did we always have laws against their importation?

The substrate and cage setup sections were pretty good IMHO. But other sections were brief, such as the disease section...basically you have to read VERY carefully, and there's not much to back up what the author is saying. In fact, those "species accounts" run from page 63 to page 203. Leaving only 60 pages of general information, of which 18 focus on anatomy, 13 on sexing and the general reproduction habits, and only 17 on captive care. And these pages are full of pictures. Relatively little text, alot of information packed in there without examples. But it is a nice book...if you don't mind drooling over species you can't obtain

Thanks for the price information. That's what I paid at a local LLL store that carried larger North American millipedes.

 

[Spepper]

Yes, I see what you mean. Over half the book is on the individual species, and mostly photos at that. How come those species were never here in the US? Did we always have laws against their importation?

No, we didn't. At least that is what I have gathered. That's how the AGBs got into the U.S. They're banned from being imported into the U.S. now, but it wasn't always that way.

 

[The Snark]

Near Moreno Valley, take San Timoteo Canyon Rd/Oak Valley Parkway to the southeast. Lots of scrublands to glean detritus from. AVOID getting stuff from parks! Insecticide to the max.
Sterilizing. Baking/microwave: Pretty much forget it. Think 350 degrees for 4 to 6 hours to kill gram negatives. (You will end up with future powdered leaf debris or a campfire.) Complete sterilization: 272 degrees saturated steam, (28 psi), 3 minutes, or, 232 degrees saturated steam, (7 psi) for 45 minutes. IE use a pressure cooker. OR 212 degrees steam, no pressure, 6 to 18 hours depending on thickness. Bark needs a LOT of time. Use a double boiler arrangement.

The above sterilization specs are hospital standards. Dry heat below ~550-600 degrees cannot achieve 100% kill of spores. Likewise with UV if there is any shading as leaf debris will always have.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

The targets are nematodes, earthworms, centipedes, millipedes, etc., not spores or fungus, so thoroughness rather than high temperature is needed.

 

[shebeen]

According to http://www.earthlife.net/insects/diplopoda.html:

"Millipedes when they eat rotting vegetation are really only digesting the fungi and bacteria and the plant material they have already broken down."

A lot of information on the net should be taken with a grain of salt, but I believe the above statement to be correct.

 

[Cavedweller]

A book full of gorgeous millipedes I'll never be able to own? That sounds like the most depressing book ever! :'''D

 

[MrCrackerpants]

a book full of gorgeous millipedes i'll never be able to own? That sounds like the most depressing book ever! :'''d

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[The Snark]

I've been wondering what all the bellowing regarding clean debris is about when these guys, detrivore cum laudes, spend their normal lives in the most biologically active environment known.

 

[Cavedweller]

For me, it's a fear of parasites from all the nematode horror stories I've seen on the boards. I'm not really concerned about fungi.