What makes this species so fragile?

[Ratmosphere]

What makes Zoosphaerium neptunus so hard to keep? I hear they're super hard to keep alive. Anybody have experience in raising these?

 

[pannaking22]

Far as I can tell, they're super super sensitive to changes in temp and have very specific keeping requirements. Keep them above ~70F and they will stress and die. They also need a wide variety of rotting things to eat and won't just eat one thing, with mosses sounding like they're popular. They also overstress very easily during shipping, so they could all already be half dead when they arrive because of shipping stress.

From what I've heard, the Tanzanian species are a bit more hardy, but I think that's probably just relative to those from Madagascar.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Has there been any pill millipedes available in the U.S. hobby yet?

 

[UltimateDracoMeteor]

Has there been any pill millipedes available in the U.S. hobby yet?

Sadly, no. I'd love to get some, but they're so hard to get.

 

[pannaking22]

I've seen them pop up once or twice over the last couple years, but it always seemed to be singles and even those probably died shortly after being bought. I believe there is actually a US species as well, but it hasn't quite made it into culture yet (though I think one or two people have them now).

 

[Marika]

From what I've heard, the Tanzanian species are a bit more hardy, but I think that's probably just relative to those from Madagascar.

I keep Arthrosphaera cf. brandtii. They seem to be sensitive to shipping stress, that's probably what killed most of mine, but if they survive that, they are not that difficult to keep. I have two left, I've had one for 1,5 years and the other for 9 months. I keep them at room temp like my other pedes and even witnessed some mating behavior in summer.

 

[Ratmosphere]

If you end up with babies, please let me know!