Why do my millipedes keep dying?

[Smartpants6]

Every time I care for millipedes I do it exactly how people tell me too and I do it well and with much care, but everytime they die within a few months. :cry: Could anybody answer why?

 

[MarkmD]

How do people tell you to? and give more info about your care, enclosure etc.

 

[Smartpants6]

Okay. I have them in a 5 gal tank, which I make sure stays around 80 degrees in heating and 75 in humidity. I use invert-friendly potting soiling and fill it a few inches high and provide a food dish full of some water and salad sprinkled with calcium ( some times I provided a water dish with a stone in it, but that didn't work well ). I provide many places to hide and make sure they are well cleaned with invert friendly materials.

 

[VictorHernandez]

Don't use heating. Under tak heater kills, as they will burrow deeper to escape heat. No water bowl. Use oak leaves on top of cocofiber so they can eat. Use a false bottom setup. Also, you night just have old specimens.

 

[Smartpants6]

I've done all of those, except the false bottom, oak leaves, and coco fiber. What's a false bottom setup and why use it? Use oak leaves instead of romaine lettuce?

 

[SDCPs]

Take a look at the website linked in my sig. Maybe the care info there will give you some information.

 

[macbaffo]

What is an invert friendly substrate?

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Every time I care for millipedes I do it exactly how people tell me too and I do it well and with much care, but everytime they die within a few months. :cry: Could anybody answer why?

Did you happen to buy a book on keeping millipedes? It always amazes me how much money people will spend on animals but not have enough money to grab a care guide.

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

I've done all of those, except the false bottom, oak leaves, and coco fiber...

When I first got into the hobby, I kept my AGBs without offering hardwood/leaves in their diet. Their health suffered a marked decline, and after I corrected this mistake my millis really bounced back.

 

[VictorHernandez]

False bottom helps with humidity, as most millis require humid enclosures, oak leaves provide nutrience and chitin, which helps millipedes live and grow, and the coco fiber retains humidity well, and you can see when it starts to dry out and is perfect for the millipedes to burrow into. For the false bottom, I would just put aquarium gravel under 6 inches of coco fiber, and hydration tubes in the corners.
My enclosures are like that, and I do nothing but add water to the hydro tubes, and they have been alive for months.

 

[shebeen]

I set up my first few millipede enclosures with false bottoms, but I found that they're really not necessary. Once you get the ventilation in balance with the moisture in the substrate, a weekly misting is all you really need. I actually over watered my Bumblebee tank using the false bottom, so be careful if you employ one.

I also second E&A's recommendation about getting a care guide. There's a excellent new book titled Millipeds In Captivity that is a must have for anyone serious about raising and breeding millipedes. I've got it. I've read it. And, I'll read it again. It's that good.

 

[Smartpants6]

Wow. Thanks guys. I'll try that and I'll tell you if it worked or not. Whole-heartedly thanks.

 

[Rico83]

Okay. I have them in a 5 gal tank, which I make sure stays around 80 degrees in heating and 75 in humidity. I use invert-friendly potting soiling and fill it a few inches high and provide a food dish full of some water and salad sprinkled with calcium ( some times I provided a water dish with a stone in it, but that didn't work well ). I provide many places to hide and make sure they are well cleaned with invert friendly materials.

I never use calcium with any invert, it binds the exo to the iner skeletons.