i currently have 5 glaint african land snails (among other things) & want to try keeping another sort of 'creepy crawly' & giant milipedes interest me so i'm just after a bit of info about them. all i know is that they eat fruit & veg i don't even know how big they grow lol. but i do like the look of them, my local reptile shop sometimes has them in & they just fasinate me.

so here's my list of questions
how big a tank would i need?
can you keep more than one in a tank or are they best kept alone and if i did get more than one, is there a way to sex them?
how much would i expect to pay?
any general husbandry tips?
and does anyoen have any pics opf their millipedes and/or set ups?

fankoo

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steph & alex along with

parrots: senegal, african grey & blue headed pionus
mammels: children, exeedingley black cat, yorkie, frech lop, mini lop & 4 babies.
herps & inverts: corn snake & 5 gals

Expecting about £15-£20 depending on the species. Make sure the tank is secure, they are known escape artists.

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lucifus@hotmail.com - feel free to add.

Prices actually range from free to £20. I've bought Millipedes from Virginia for as little as £3 but it really depends what species you're after as the list is endless.

I suspect when you think about giant millipedes you're picturing A.gigas commonly known as Giant Train or Giant African Black. They grow up to 12" long so take that into account when buying their habitat, ideally you'd want double or triple their body length and at least 4 - 6 inches of substrate. There are plenty of smaller species that grow to around 12cm. Be wary of flat millipedes as they produce cyanide, you don't commonly see these for sale though.

You can keep more than one and you can keep different species in the same tank. Sexing is done by looking at the underside of the millipede. Basically males will appear to have a gap/stumps at the seventh segment. Don't expect your millipedes to happily allow you to try and sex them though.

Food wise as you've said fruit and veg but they also need calcium. You can use cuttlefishbone, egg shells or what I find works best is tortoise food. Mine love the stuff. They also eat rotting leaves and wood. You can buy bags of oak leaves from dartfrog.co.uk. Give them a shallow water dish, although they will get most of their water from the fruit and veg they do sometimes require extra. My fire legs can regularly be seen drinking from the dish. Also a slither of meat once a week or so, I use cooked ham sandwich meat.

Substrate - I find coconut fibre ideal as it retains moisture for a very long time and it's clean, it can also be had very cheap. I get mine at £1.99 per block (they expand in warm water) I also use spaghnum moss, at this time of year you can get large bags from garden centres / garden section at various stores for a few quid.

Tips - I find 22C+ a good temperature to keep them at, they're a lot more active than at room temperature. Use a mat on the side of the tank above susbtrate level. Keep the humidity quite high, spaghnum moss can help with this - just spray it a few times a week. Add spring tails and tropical woodlice to the tank to help keep it clean, millipedes can poo quite a bit. Give them an interesting habitat i.e. varying levels and things to climb on.

Millipedes can bite although you might not realise they've done it at the time and they can excrete substances that will stain your skin / cause irritation although I've never experienced this. The only time I handle them is with new ones to put them in the tank.

For pics see the link in my signature.

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Click for pictures of my Tarantulas, Trapdoor Spider, Scorpions, Horned Frog, Snakeheads and to read my blog

Some excellent critters there, have you any room in your house for yourself ????

great advice, simon thanks loads.

i'm loving your madagasar fire millipede and your malay black. how big do they grow? and yes i was picturing the big ones that grow to about a foot.

as for their habitat, doesn't sound too different to what my snails have. they have cuttle fish & spagnum moss & that stuff that expands when you put it in water. the tank, is length better than height or does it not really matter?

oooooh and you have babies. are they difficult to breed? no i'm not getting any ideas lol just would be worth knowing so that if i did get more than one, i'd make sure they were the same sex.

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steph & alex along with

parrots: senegal, african grey & blue headed pionus
mammels: children, exeedingley black cat, yorkie, frech lop, mini lop & 4 babies.
herps & inverts: corn snake & 5 gals

Sprocket, I'm not done yet lol Should be adding a fantasy horned frog to my collection this week

teshu, height is only important in that it allows you a greater depth of substrate, remember that millipedes are burrowers, so the more depth you can give them the better. In my tank I've got a slope which gives them 5 1/2 inches at the front growing to about 12" at the back. They've also got 2 half coconuts that they use.

Madagascan Fire millipedes unfortunately are hard to get hold of and will set you back £15+ each when they do pop up. I've never seen a fully grown one but I understand they will reach 7 - 8". I've never seen a Malay sold as a Malay, it seems they are often mis-sold as Giant Africans and you may never realise until someone points it out to you as was the case with mine. They reach about 7" as well. I had 3 but one died last year and another this year, I have no idea how old they were though and they weren't kept in very good conditions in the pet shop which at the time I didn't know.

I don't know if any of mine have had babies yet, I've received at least 2 by accident when ordering other millipedes. They are so small and secretive that I may never see them again until they're an inch or 2 long as has happened with my Burmese. I bought them as tiny white things in April, hadn't seen them since and then last week I spotted one in the food bowl and it was a good inch long and brown.

If you want active millipedes then out of the ones I currently keep I'd highly recommend Philippine Fire Legs or Pink legged. You could get a few A.gigas just to see how impressive they are when fully grown but I've not found them to be very active. Madagascan are active but it's unlikely you'll manage to find any.

I buy most of my Millipedes from here Virginia Cheeseman

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Click for pictures of my Tarantulas, Trapdoor Spider, Scorpions, Horned Frog, Snakeheads and to read my blog

had a look at that link, she's got quite a few creepy crawleys i'd be interested in. (don't know why i've got into crawleys, just kinda happened lol). did your madagascan come from there? it doesn't really matter if they're hard to come by. other half isn't even close to agreeing yet so if i start looking for one now, he might be in agreement by the time i find one.

how did you find you find out that your malays were malays? is it an issue if get mis-sold a giant african as a malay, i'm so new to this i could go to a rep shop & they could tell me anything & i wouldn't know any different.

oh, one last thing. will you be keeping your accidental babies

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steph & alex along with

parrots: senegal, african grey & blue headed pionus
mammels: children, exeedingley black cat, yorkie, frech lop, mini lop & 4 babies.
herps & inverts: corn snake & 5 gals

I've had my Madagascan, Fire legs, Marbled, Olives, Rainbows and Trains from Virginia. Also had 2 adult scorpions from her.

I was told my big Millipede(s) were Malay's by someone more knowledgeable. I think the main give away is that Malay's have dark red legs and Train's have black. The Malay's were my first millipedes so I knew very little back then. If you bought them from Virginia you wouldn't need to worry about being mis-sold anything.

Unless I'm suddenly overrun with babies I will be keeping them.

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Click for pictures of my Tarantulas, Trapdoor Spider, Scorpions, Horned Frog, Snakeheads and to read my blog