velvet worm, mysterious white stuff??

catboyeuthanasia

catboyeuthanasia

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I was cleaning my velvet worm (Epiperipatus barbadensis) enclosure after a feeding today and noticed this pile of white stuff next to one of my worms. The worm was still moving around and didn't look injured. What could this be? Afterbirth? Sperm? Guts? Poop? Your guess is as good as mine

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Tentacle Toast

Tentacle Toast

Arachnobaron
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catboyeuthanasia said:
I'm 99% sure the worm on top of it is female, but this species might externally fertilize so who knows. There is a male right behind her, just off screen in the photo I took
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... you're even more impressive if SHE was that happy to see you this morning...
 
catboyeuthanasia

catboyeuthanasia

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SpookySpooder said:
Time for the good old "taste test" 🤭
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I'm leaning towards it being poop. The springtails in the tank have eaten it all. The worms that I think left this goop are all fine so I think it's most likely waste.

It also turned pink??? I guess these worms poop pink???
 
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S

Sameleon

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This white stuff is the skin after a shed, I had the pleasure of watching one shed after gooing itself when I transferred it from the shipping container to their bin, it looked just like this.

Hi guys! I'm new here, I just bought 6 eperipatus barbadensis and they got to me about a week and a half ago after being stuck in transit for 5 days. I've since had a birth and 2 deaths. One of the deaths was a female and there was a premature baby trying to get out.

I got them from a breeder here in Canada but he's away on a trip and not able to answer as quickly. I keep them in a 16"L x 11"W x 7"H with reptisoil and sphagnum moss. I spray with distilled water every 2-3 days when the condensation on the lid starts to clear. The container isn't airtight but there's always condensation on the walls. They've eaten 6 1/2" crickets between the group. I spot clean their enclosure whenever I see something. I'm loving that they toss their trash out of their lair.

I'm hopeful that the losses were just due to stress but if there's anything particular you guys recommend I do to keep my numbers up, I'm open to advice!
 
catboyeuthanasia

catboyeuthanasia

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Sameleon said:
This white stuff is the skin after a shed, I had the pleasure of watching one shed after gooing itself when I transferred it from the shipping container to their bin, it looked just like this.
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That makes sense! I just didn't expect she'd to look so much like a liquid. I saw the worm who left this crawling around, so I hope it's not the infamous "metalic white discharge" that follows a bad birth.

Sameleon said:
Hi guys! I'm new here, I just bought 6 eperipatus barbadensis and they got to me about a week and a half ago after being stuck in transit for 5 days. I've since had a birth and 2 deaths. One of the deaths was a female and there was a premature baby trying to get out.

I got them from a breeder here in Canada but he's away on a trip and not able to answer as quickly. I keep them in a 16"L x 11"W x 7"H with reptisoil and sphagnum moss. I spray with distilled water every 2-3 days when the condensation on the lid starts to clear. The container isn't airtight but there's always condensation on the walls. They've eaten 6 1/2" crickets between the group. I spot clean their enclosure whenever I see something. I'm loving that they toss their trash out of their lair.
Click to expand...
I keep mine in a similar setup, and I've had them for about 3 months with at least 3 births and at least 1 death (it looked like stuck shed, the body was fine but the head was covered in a white, dry substance and completely mangled). I used a 12×12×12 with coco fiber, potting soil, and moss.

I've been doing smaller sprays twice a day instead of a larger spray less often. Like maybe 5-10 sprays from the bottle every morning and every night. The enclosure i use has a lot of cross ventilation. I keep the substrate moist to the touch, but not compacted due to moisture (dark brown, but still "fluffy" looking"). Misting schedule depends a lot on enclosure, though, so who knows what's gonna work.

I also have a lot of moss in there with them to provide extra moisture regulation, and springtails to get rid of waste. According to my breeder, including some plants will make the worms breed faster by giving babies more places to hide.

The other care I've been doing is fairly similar to you. I feed 2-4 large crickets for 7-10 worms once a week and sprinkle in a few fruit flies/pinheads to give the small ones something to hunt. I spot clean after feeding

I got most of my info from this care sheet:
 
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catboyeuthanasia

catboyeuthanasia

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For posterity: white excrement not following a birth is probably harmless. This could be pasty waste, or shed.

Either scoop it or wait for the springtails to get rid of it
 
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