Hey all,

I did a bit of an impulse buy at the Barking Fair... and got two millipedes, the guy i bought them from said they were from nigeria, however they aren't black like the typical african millipedes, they are dark brown, and have no other colours to them. can anyone tell me what species they are?

i havent got any pics as of yet, camera battery died earlier...

also can anyone let me know of any foor caresheets, i looked at a few on the net and they all seem toooooo simple for my liking.

atm i have them on about 2 inches of sterilised soil (the stuff you get as a brick and add water to) and some (sphaghum) moss on top at one side. ive given them some apple a couple of days ago, and sprinkled an area of the soil with calcium dust. their tank is moist and, ive been spraying it every other day. am i doing this right?

they are quite big, about 5-6 inches, and they guy said they would live for about 10 years, though one of the sites i looked at said 3, and they seem adult size as they are now, so who knows how long i'll have them for.

all help would be much appreciated.
i feel like such a fool impulse buying animals i know little about, my knowledge at the time extended to "i used to play with these little guys when i was a kid in south africa" lol

Ella

__________________
1.1.8 Corn snakes (Rubin & Ookie)
1.0.0 Bearded dragon (Dude)
0.0.4 Crested geckos (Cocoa, Mogwai, Smoothie and still need names for the last one)
0.0.2 Millipedes (Shongu, Lolos)
THREE amels and FIVE snows from my first ever breeding (named two of them Ziggy and Pissy McNillus)

Sounds about right. My lot have a deeper substrate as they like to burrow and I use a RUB as I found things like faunariums do not hold humidity well.

I have a piece of cuttlefish bone in at all times and feed a variety of fruit and veg. That's about it really. (mine however are currently in a sterile RUB on plain kitchen towel with a water bowl as I am currently removing a population of mites!)

Cheers

Andy

__________________

they are in a seedling tray (the ones from garden shops) atm, and it only allows for 2 inches.

im planning to put them into my crestie tank when the cresties are big enough. they're good comanions for a crestie viv, and can help create a bio-active substrate

what a RUB?
and are they giant africans?

many thanks for the info

__________________
1.1.8 Corn snakes (Rubin & Ookie)
1.0.0 Bearded dragon (Dude)
0.0.4 Crested geckos (Cocoa, Mogwai, Smoothie and still need names for the last one)
0.0.2 Millipedes (Shongu, Lolos)
THREE amels and FIVE snows from my first ever breeding (named two of them Ziggy and Pissy McNillus)

RUB = Really useful box - either google that to find online suppliers or check out your local staples.

Mine are African trains, but most millepedes have very similar care, many people keep mixed species vivs.

Unfortunately, without pics it will be very difficult to tell you what your guys are.

Cheers

Andy

__________________

Only things I'd change are :

1) Either calcium dust the food, not the substrate or give them cuttlefish bone or my millipedes favourite - tortoise food.

2) Give them a water dish

3) Deeper substrate

4) Consider a heatmat at one end creating a gradient

__________________
Click for pictures of my Tarantulas, Scorpions, Mantids, Millipedes, Horned Frog, Malawi Cichlids and Cat.

Do you have these as pets? Or are they food for your gecko or something?

I doubt they'd be much good as food for anything?

__________________
Click for pictures of my Tarantulas, Scorpions, Mantids, Millipedes, Horned Frog, Malawi Cichlids and Cat.

Hey all,

sorry for late reply. firstly they are pets not food, i agree with simon; probly not good food for anything. as i said in my previous post, they're friends for the cresties when they're big enough to go into their adult tank.

as for you're checklist simon, i have given them a waterbowl (the lid off a jar, so its shallow enough for them) and i will dust their food until i can get some cuttlefish. the substrate is as deep as it can be until they get moved into the big tank, though from what i've read the depth i have is ok, and the deeper it gets the more likely they are to breed, and i would like to provent that for a while. if they are opposite sex...
they are above the beardie tank with one edge above the hot spot of the breadie light, so temp sorted.

with regards to food, is there anything they really can't eat? and does the food need to be gone off, or will they just as happily eat fresh (they didn't seem to mind the fresh apple) and are tortoise pellets a suitable staple food for them?

and finally, for andy here are some pics of them:




many thanks guys (and girls)
all help is much appreciated
ella
x

__________________
1.1.8 Corn snakes (Rubin & Ookie)
1.0.0 Bearded dragon (Dude)
0.0.4 Crested geckos (Cocoa, Mogwai, Smoothie and still need names for the last one)
0.0.2 Millipedes (Shongu, Lolos)
THREE amels and FIVE snows from my first ever breeding (named two of them Ziggy and Pissy McNillus)

Those looks suspiciously like Giant Chocolates (Ophistreptus guineensis), when you said Giant African I thought you meant A.gigas. I think Chocolates are much nicer, got 2 huge ones myself.

They will hapily take fresh fruit, I replace it when it starts to turn into mush. My Chocolates love mushroom and will often take it out of the food dish and cart it off around the tank with them. I use tortoise food for the calcium and it must taste good as they're always eating it. If you use tortoise food you still need to use fruit and veg. I also use oak leaves which they nibble at now and again.

As for what they can't eat I'd avoid citrus fruits like orange, lemon etc. I tried a bit of orange once and then had a millipede die the next day, could have been a coincidence but I've never used it since.

Substrate wise you have to remember that their natural behaviour is to dig burrows so when you do move them don't skimp on the substrate. There's no guarantee they will breed anyway and if they do there's always people willing to buy millipedes.

__________________
Click for pictures of my Tarantulas, Scorpions, Mantids, Millipedes, Horned Frog, Malawi Cichlids and Cat.

Hey,
They are very pretty at least i know what they are now, was the guy right in saying they come from nigeria?

i got some mushroom for mine today, so i'll try it out on them tomorrow, i hope they like it, otherwise it's a waste, as none of the people like mushrooms here lol. i'll steal some tortoise food from my parents next time i'm round theirs and will go leaf picking when i next see an oak tree.

i'll remember no citrus, it's the same for the creaties so i won't forget.

and as soon as they go into the big tank they'll have about 4-5inches to play in

many thanks for your help simon
ella

__________________
1.1.8 Corn snakes (Rubin & Ookie)
1.0.0 Bearded dragon (Dude)
0.0.4 Crested geckos (Cocoa, Mogwai, Smoothie and still need names for the last one)
0.0.2 Millipedes (Shongu, Lolos)
THREE amels and FIVE snows from my first ever breeding (named two of them Ziggy and Pissy McNillus)