Velvet Worm Chat

[wormguy]

Sorry mate, my colony recently suffered a pretty big crash. Turns out, temperate white springtails, not just tropical pinks, can chew through their skin and drink their fluids. I'm waiting for my remaining individuals to recoup.

I would check kijiji, but as far as I know, the two sellers there both are low on supplies this year. I would message them a few months later.

O sorry to hear that man good to know about the white spring tails

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

Howdy y'all! Back with good news and bad news (again)

Bad news is my initial research on African velvet worm (Peripatopsis capensis) range was very very incorrect. The report that cape velvetworms were found in South America due to invasion was made by 1 guy in the 1800s and never spoken of again. My guess is he misclassified a native worm. Additionally, even though a few of people in Capetown that I've talked to have been seeing worms, there are a lot more species of them than I thought, and each distinct population is actually a species that's endangered as hell. Crazy that theses aren't on the IUCN red list like at all.

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/ddeab72a-138c-4e32-85b2-637d3097d0e3/content

Other bad news is that nowadays, in Canada, these guys are being given the same import requirements as earth worms, which is to say there is a lot of paperwork involved. It's gonna be a bit harder since that first import by Makenzie

Back to the drawing board then. Maybe I'll revisit the Chile idea...

Good news is that my remaining worms have walked off the springtail infestation and one that I saw was bleeding has stopped loosing fluids, and was last seen munching on a cricket. The colony has also been eating more now, so hopefully that means they are feeling better.

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

Large female with what I think are scars from being crawled/chewed on by springtails (Folsomia Candida). She was not responsive and covered in those little jerks a month ago, but now she has healed and is feeding well.


Velvet worms can recover from skin injuries, contrary to Wikipedia. This article will be much more useful:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239730515_Behavior_of_Epiperipatus_biolleyi_Onychophora_Peripatidae_under_laboratory_conditions

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

Fun experiments with what to feed them:

Crickets: they seem fine with both banded and house crickets. They don't love these but don't seem to hate them either. Staple food.

Mealworms: they bite off the head and take a few bites, but never seem to finish these if I also feed crickets during the same feeding. They seem to offer pupated ones, but not by much

Hornworms: same with mealworms. Some curious bites, but they eat about 1/4 of the worm at most.

Fruit flies: baby food. I put in a handful, and they are usually gone in a few days. Don't know if the worms did it or if other soil fauna are to blame. They definitely seem less hungry after I add flies though

Isopods (powder blue): they demolish these. I found my worms ignoring crickets to go after them. A lot of bisected isopods after I feed them, and they don't take crickets for a couple weeks after.

 

[aragogthemonster]

Can I join? I'm not American but my parents are

My dream Velvet is Peripatus solorzanoi. This is the largest extant Onchophoran and can reach up to 8.7 inches in length.

I'm currently only keeping E. barbadensis but I'm awaiting some P. novaezealandiae (too hot right now to ship those)

Do you ship to europe?

 

[Tytyty]

Hi! I would like to learn as much as I can about velvet worms. One day I would like to keep a colony of my own. Can anybody point me to some good sources and species for a complete beginner? Are there any species that live in colonies around room temp?

Thanks!

 

[catboyeuthanasia]

Hi! I would like to learn as much as I can about velvet worms. One day I would like to keep a colony of my own. Can anybody point me to some good sources and species for a complete beginner? Are there any species that live in colonies around room temp?

Thanks!

The only good species in the hobby right now that you can have without a wine cooler is Epiperipatus barbadensis. Arthroverts from here has a good care sheet:

http://arthroverts.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Onychophora.pdf

I agree with most of it but I use lots of ventilation, frequent misting, and critters to control springtails. Other people keep theirs differently, so you might need to experiment until you find something that works for you. They are (relatively) easy to get in Canada and sometimes show up for $$$ in the states.

The original importer is based in the west coast, and there are a few people in the great lakes region with sizable colonies. My own colony has finally recovered from springtail troubles and I might start exporting by fall.

From my experience, they are very sensitive to mold, humidity, and springtails. These guys loose humidity easiely, can succumb to mold, and are really hurt when springtails walk on them. My solution is to introduce critters that eat springtails, but it can be a bit of a challenge to balance these three things. If you go for a planted tank, definitely cycle it first to get the initial mold outbreak out of the way and, if you go for it, reign in springtails with micropredators.

 

[friden710]

Hi everyone! I'm in invert hobbyist located in the US and I'm super interested in onychophorans. I'd love to join this club to learn as much as I can about them and their care, and to potentially get the chance to obtain some someday.

 

[Brewser]

Welcome to the Club, I too find these most interesting.
Like You am always trying to learn more.
Feel Free to keep Us informed with any Insights you may have.
Best Regards,

 

[Kyre Fiskrof]

Good morning everyone. I was the individual who operated the "Evolutionary Wonders Enterprises" account on Twitter/X, which I shut down last week. Through this enterprise, I sold at least a dozen quartets of juvenile Epiperipatus barbadensis velvet worms descended from a group of ten I initially bought from @AbraxasComplex back in 2020, and I was probably one of the "Great Lakes region" sellers implied by @catboyeuthanasia.

I am heartbroken to inform everyone that after four years of keeping them, my velvet worm population, owing to a gradual dieoff of my core adult population that numbered around ten individuals since moving into my new place in August, is on the verge of extinction and is possibly doomed. There are now only two healthy adults and two healthy offspring. Any population that could possibly emerge from them, I fear, will be very inbred and potentially less hardy than their ancestors.

I go from being a seller to a desperate seeker in hopes of saving my population from extinction. If anybody here is able and willing to sell any this spring, I would like to get in touch.

Some insights from keeping Epiperipatus barbadensis over the years:

• It's possible to keep them successfully in an airtight container with just a wet paper towel layer and sphagnum moss for them to hide in, as long as you regularly change it out (every 1-2 weeks).
• Juveniles are much more vulnerable to things that ail adults.
• NEVER feed them cockroaches (including dubia roaches) as their pathogenic fecal matter can make them very sick and die off rapidly.
• Do not use Turface for substrate as it can burn their skin.
• If attempting to keep in a bioactive setup, beware of mites as they can eat your worms alive much like the springtails discussed before in this thread.
• Adult female velvet worms, when they're on the way out, may expel the contents of their uteri, resulting in premature births and miscarriages, before finally dying.
• When they shed, they may occasionally eat the cuticle.