Texas Golden Millipede (Orthoporus orantus) Care

[Sterls]

Some say to mix sand with it for the desert soil

This is such a smart idea that I feel idiotic not thinking of it before. Literally have a 40 pound bag of sand just sitting in the "dirt closet"

 

[Matts inverts]

So funny. Is it calci sand or play. I heard to do this for scorpions from desert regions too.

 

[LizardStudent]

This is such a smart idea that I feel idiotic not thinking of it before. Literally have a 40 pound bag of sand just sitting in the "dirt closet"

I try to mix some sand with all my pedes substrate. My narceus americanus came from the NRG in West Virginia where there is tons of sandstone causing the soil to have sand particles throughout, so I provide some to mine along with sandstone chunks to make it feel at home. My sonoran centipede I give notably more sand mixed into its substrate and also some quartz rocks I pulled from that very desert to try and naturalize its enclosure as best possible

 

[Sterls]

So funny. Is it calci sand or play. I heard to do this for scorpions from desert regions too.

I have play sand at the moment. Cheaper, and having my roots in the reptile hobby I probably still have some stigma towards calcisand. I don't imagine it's bad for inverts like it is reptiles though.

 

[goliathusdavid]

Yeah, calci sand can actually be quite good for millies, but play sand works fine if you add supplemental calcium to the substrate mix.

 

[Sterls]

I've just always used crushed eggshells and veggies with high calcium

 

[Matts inverts]

I don’t know if millipedes can get impacted but I have some reptiles and amphibians so I try to stay away from it, I think the millipedes might eat it for the calcium like the geckos so I would just use play sand or any sand with no additives.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Funny you mention, just last week I spotted this post (https://beetleforum.net/topic/5066-baby-orthoporus-ornatus/) on the beetle forums that someone got some first gen ornatus babies after witnessing their pedes exhibiting breeding behaviors

The offspring in that thread as always are not yet large enough to tell from common cage pests (mature julids) which the "orthoporus babies" have never exceeded in past reports.