Problems
Keeping millipedes can be frustrating at times. On the one hand they are very low maintenance once their enclosure has been set up properly, but on the other hand building the substrate can be difficult, and other organisms can make life difficult for you and your animals.
Animal Disappeared/Is Changing Color/Is Not Moving/Is Limp
If a millipede has disappeared for an extended period or is behaving strangely there are two possibilities. Either it is molting or it has died/is dying. Millipedes usually borrow into the substrate to molt and also stop eating during the process. Do not stop offering food as they are ravenous after molting! Molting can take several days to weeks and usually coincides with a color change where the millipede looks lighter in color, and moves slowly like a worm without using its legs (since it cannot move them) if disturbed. DO NOT TOUCH molting millipedes and DO NOT DISTURB THEM!
While molting millipedes are usually buried in the substrate, it is possible to find them curled in a spiral on the substrate surface if they were forced to molt there because they were uncovered by the keeper while in the immobile molting state. If they were not disturbed, an immobile millipede on the substrate surface is probably a dying millipede. Dead/dying millipedes often sprawl across the substrate...and smell awful if not removed promptly.
Limpness usually indicates that the millipede is near death.
I Can't See Them!
As I have said before, millipedes are nocturnal and typically run from light! There are two solutions: keep their enclosure dark and use a flashlight when you want to observe them, or watch them at dawn, dusk, and at night. A good LED flashlight, such as a LED Maglite, is your friend and will enhance the millipedes' color. Some millipedes, especially juveniles, will disappear into the substrate. You'll only see these once they get older.
Foot Rot
A common problem. Foot rot is caused by a bacteria that turns a few legs into stumps with a black tip. Simply decrease moisture levels and replace the substrate to remedy. Legs will regenerate a little more with each molt.
Fungal Disease
Millipedes can experience various fungal problems. Fungus normally afflicts old and ailing animals of certain species. The two I know to be susceptible to fungal infections are Epibolus pulchripes and Archispirostreptus gigas--(AGBs or African Giant Blacks). Healthy animals with good substrate and high humidity will be immune. Some sources claim that defensive excretions protect healthy animals from fungal diseases. For this reason, fungal diseases are usually an indicator of failing health and animals with a fungal affliction are usually as good as dead.
The cause of fungus can be rather surprising. Rather than too much moisture, the cause could be too little. This seems contradictory until we consider the fact that millipedes kept in dry conditions are not in a proper environment and will be stressed and weakened. And fungus is usually a consequence of a weak immune system. I know that one retailer of African Giant Black millipedes complained of heavy losses despite the fact that AGBs are a hardy species. He admittedly kept the millipedes in a fairly dry environment, similar to the deserts of Africa (in which millipedes do not live), and advised all his customers to do the same. A male millipede I received from him and paid $135 for arrived with a small amount of the seemingly species-specific thread/hairlike fungus directly under the head on the first few front legs. After battling the fungus with fungicure with it for over half a year, the millipede died. I was not happy. However, millipedes kept in wet conditions suffer a much quicker fate, so don't run into another problem trying to avoid this anomaly.
Fungicure is a remedy that could--but most likely won't--help your pet. Apply the liquid to the fungus. The millipede won't like it, but you're not hurting him/her much.
Mites
Most mites do millipedes no harm. Mite that actively roam the surface of the substrate and avoid the millipedes should not cause concern. Mites that cluster on rotting food in the substrate can be removed with the food--and don't let the food rot in the first place! Replace food every other day. Mites that stay only on the millipede but move quickly are usually harmless. HOWEVER, mites that stay only on the millipede and are firmly attached, clustered especially on the legs, head, and joints of the millipede are debilitating and could be parasitic--the infected animals and enclosure should be quarantined to prevent the spread of mites to other enclosures. Parasitic mites are extremely rare in captivity, however. The most likely culprit for what seems to be parasitic is actually something generally called "grain mites." These mites thrive on excess amounts of uneaten food and can proliferate in great numbers. The best remedy is to replace the current substrate with a leaner substrate that the millipedes can still eat and then stop feeding them fruit and vegetables. This will cut the mites' food source and in a few months they should be gone. Alternatively, predatory mites such as Hypoaspis miles can be purchased online and introduced into the affected enclosure. These may feed on the "grain mites" and reduce population numbers. However, feeding must be drastically reduced as "grain mites" will return to thrive on uneaten food if it is not removed.
Fruit Flies
This somewhat common pest thrives primarily on rotting fruit. Easy to get rid of, simply remove uneaten food (fruits and veggies) in a timely manner. Bear in mind that millipedes do not need fruit and veggies to be healthy and can live solely on a nutritious substrate (see CARE). You can vacuum these up in the short term as described in Fungus Gnats.
Fungus Gnats
Generally harmless to the millipedes but a great annoyance to us keepers! Fungus gnats explode when there is fungus or uneaten food in the terrarium. Unlike fruit flies they are much smaller, weaker, and harder to control. I repeat: Difficult To Control! To prevent the gnats from getting into the terrarium in the first place you can use a lid with ventilation holes covered with a very fine mesh (much finer than window screen). To reduce population numbers you can take your vacuum cleaner and literally vacuum them up. This will only help short-term and gets very time consuming if you have many infested enclosures. The real problem is an excess of readily available food for the gnats and larva. As always, feed fruits and veggies sparingly and removing uneaten food after a day or two to deny fungus gnat larvae rotting produce.
Dieoff Prevention:
I have lost millipedes en-mass on several occasions. The following are guidelines to help you prevent a seemingly sudden epidemic in your millipede enclosure:
Essentially, feeding the millipedes a diverse substrate, different fruits and veggies (that they eat, no point in feeding them stuff they don't eat...or try cooking things like carrots which are naturally too hard for the millipedes), protein...keeps them strong.
And keeping a relatively fresh substrate (its more work, I know) along with keeping that substrate relatively dry really prevents outbreaks. I mean, how would you like to live in and eat your excrement? Especially if it was really wet and ucky. Sounds like the perfect breeding ground for disease.
Population Theory:
I have come up with a theory, which I will call Population Theory, to combat fungus gnats. Fungus gnats can proliferate in the absence of uneaten food and actually thrive on the fungus and rotting material in a nutritious breeding substrate. In other words, they directly compete with millipedes for food. This is why they are such a problem...a millipede enclosure is the perfect fungus gnat breeding ground! Millipedes, however, can eat material at a lesser stage of decomposition than fungus gnats can, and sufficient numbers of millipedes and supporting organisms can easily out-compete fungus gnats for food, driving them to extinction in the particular enclosure. By supporting organisms I mean springtails and predatory mites. I seem to have both in my enclosures--naturally--and whenever I create enclosures I always introduce some soil from established enclosures to jump-start their numbers. While supporting organisms certainly help by reducing fungus levels and maybe even consuming fungus gnat larvae, I believe it is possible to control fungus gnats with millipedes alone.
To out-compete fungus gnats, enclosure size and millipede numbers become key factors. If you have only a few medium millipedes, you should house them in a small enclosure, say 5 gallons or less. Large populations of millipedes can effectively out-compete fungus gnats in much larger enclosures. Remember that substrates composed of any type of coconut fiber exclusively will probably not have a problem. Population Theory applies to nutritious substrates containing lots of decomposing organic matter. When there are too few millipedes and supporting organisms in a given enclosure size, fungus gnats will find sufficient food to reproduce in plague proportions. If on the other hand there is a balance between millipede population and enclosure size, the millipedes will be the primary beneficiaries of the nutrients in a nutritious substrate and will out-compete the gnats.
Finding the proper enclosure for your millipedes may take practice and experimentation (if you have fungus gnats around, otherwise you will never have a problem). But do bear in mind that a properly matched enclosure-millipede population may still support a small population of fungus gnats when it is first created and all that organic material begins to decompose at once. Once the enclosure matures and the millipedes start to eat the substrate, however, the population should decrease and remain at marginal numbers.
Theory Success!:
I am pleased to report that two months after placing 100 juvenile flameleg millipedes in a 14x30 inch enclosure...during which time the population decreased to ~50 millipedes (the others were sold)...only a marginal population of the gnats was supported (mostly 3 weeks into the enclosure's life), and the substrate is visibly being consumed by the millipedes. I also added some soil from a mature enclosure to jump-start the populations of supporting organisms. The substrate was primarily oak leaves with oak logs and sand, peat moss, a bit of coconut fiber and chalk.
Mushrooms
Usually harmless. Remove manually or let animals eat them.
Fungus on Substrate
Directly harmful only in rare cases, but acts as a food source for fungus gnats (with will bother YOU). Introduce springtails or remove manually. Although isopods or "pill bugs" will eat fungus, the consensus of the millipede community is that they can eat millipede eggs and young and anyone who has kept them knows that they can certainly overrun a millipede enclosure. Use springtails instead of isopods since they are harmless and keep themselves under control. You can buy springtails online or find them outside and introduce them into the enclosure.
Exoskeleton is Damaged
External damage can be caused by many things. Physical crushing/dropping the millipede can cause irreversible damage that can lead to death. Handle the animals carefully and over a soft surface as they can slip. Minor damage will not harm the animal and will be progressively repaired with each molt. An exoskeleton that looks pitted or deformed is probably the result of disturbance during molting. A weak or soft-looking exoskeleton is a sign of calcium deficiency. To prevent this you should add cuttlebone, limestone, or natural chalk (not blackboard chalk as it is not calcium) to the substrate of your millipede.
If a millipede has disappeared for an extended period or is behaving strangely there are two possibilities. Either it is molting or it has died/is dying. Millipedes usually borrow into the substrate to molt and also stop eating during the process. Do not stop offering food as they are ravenous after molting! Molting can take several days to weeks and usually coincides with a color change where the millipede looks lighter in color, and moves slowly like a worm without using its legs (since it cannot move them) if disturbed. DO NOT TOUCH molting millipedes and DO NOT DISTURB THEM!
While molting millipedes are usually buried in the substrate, it is possible to find them curled in a spiral on the substrate surface if they were forced to molt there because they were uncovered by the keeper while in the immobile molting state. If they were not disturbed, an immobile millipede on the substrate surface is probably a dying millipede. Dead/dying millipedes often sprawl across the substrate...and smell awful if not removed promptly.
Limpness usually indicates that the millipede is near death.
I Can't See Them!
As I have said before, millipedes are nocturnal and typically run from light! There are two solutions: keep their enclosure dark and use a flashlight when you want to observe them, or watch them at dawn, dusk, and at night. A good LED flashlight, such as a LED Maglite, is your friend and will enhance the millipedes' color. Some millipedes, especially juveniles, will disappear into the substrate. You'll only see these once they get older.
Foot Rot
A common problem. Foot rot is caused by a bacteria that turns a few legs into stumps with a black tip. Simply decrease moisture levels and replace the substrate to remedy. Legs will regenerate a little more with each molt.
Fungal Disease
Millipedes can experience various fungal problems. Fungus normally afflicts old and ailing animals of certain species. The two I know to be susceptible to fungal infections are Epibolus pulchripes and Archispirostreptus gigas--(AGBs or African Giant Blacks). Healthy animals with good substrate and high humidity will be immune. Some sources claim that defensive excretions protect healthy animals from fungal diseases. For this reason, fungal diseases are usually an indicator of failing health and animals with a fungal affliction are usually as good as dead.
The cause of fungus can be rather surprising. Rather than too much moisture, the cause could be too little. This seems contradictory until we consider the fact that millipedes kept in dry conditions are not in a proper environment and will be stressed and weakened. And fungus is usually a consequence of a weak immune system. I know that one retailer of African Giant Black millipedes complained of heavy losses despite the fact that AGBs are a hardy species. He admittedly kept the millipedes in a fairly dry environment, similar to the deserts of Africa (in which millipedes do not live), and advised all his customers to do the same. A male millipede I received from him and paid $135 for arrived with a small amount of the seemingly species-specific thread/hairlike fungus directly under the head on the first few front legs. After battling the fungus with fungicure with it for over half a year, the millipede died. I was not happy. However, millipedes kept in wet conditions suffer a much quicker fate, so don't run into another problem trying to avoid this anomaly.
Fungicure is a remedy that could--but most likely won't--help your pet. Apply the liquid to the fungus. The millipede won't like it, but you're not hurting him/her much.
Mites
Most mites do millipedes no harm. Mite that actively roam the surface of the substrate and avoid the millipedes should not cause concern. Mites that cluster on rotting food in the substrate can be removed with the food--and don't let the food rot in the first place! Replace food every other day. Mites that stay only on the millipede but move quickly are usually harmless. HOWEVER, mites that stay only on the millipede and are firmly attached, clustered especially on the legs, head, and joints of the millipede are debilitating and could be parasitic--the infected animals and enclosure should be quarantined to prevent the spread of mites to other enclosures. Parasitic mites are extremely rare in captivity, however. The most likely culprit for what seems to be parasitic is actually something generally called "grain mites." These mites thrive on excess amounts of uneaten food and can proliferate in great numbers. The best remedy is to replace the current substrate with a leaner substrate that the millipedes can still eat and then stop feeding them fruit and vegetables. This will cut the mites' food source and in a few months they should be gone. Alternatively, predatory mites such as Hypoaspis miles can be purchased online and introduced into the affected enclosure. These may feed on the "grain mites" and reduce population numbers. However, feeding must be drastically reduced as "grain mites" will return to thrive on uneaten food if it is not removed.
Fruit Flies
This somewhat common pest thrives primarily on rotting fruit. Easy to get rid of, simply remove uneaten food (fruits and veggies) in a timely manner. Bear in mind that millipedes do not need fruit and veggies to be healthy and can live solely on a nutritious substrate (see CARE). You can vacuum these up in the short term as described in Fungus Gnats.
Fungus Gnats
Generally harmless to the millipedes but a great annoyance to us keepers! Fungus gnats explode when there is fungus or uneaten food in the terrarium. Unlike fruit flies they are much smaller, weaker, and harder to control. I repeat: Difficult To Control! To prevent the gnats from getting into the terrarium in the first place you can use a lid with ventilation holes covered with a very fine mesh (much finer than window screen). To reduce population numbers you can take your vacuum cleaner and literally vacuum them up. This will only help short-term and gets very time consuming if you have many infested enclosures. The real problem is an excess of readily available food for the gnats and larva. As always, feed fruits and veggies sparingly and removing uneaten food after a day or two to deny fungus gnat larvae rotting produce.
Dieoff Prevention:
I have lost millipedes en-mass on several occasions. The following are guidelines to help you prevent a seemingly sudden epidemic in your millipede enclosure:
- Keep things on the dry side. Millipedes really don't need that much moisture. let the surface of the substrate get dry. As long as it's damp underneath they're fine. I don't mist at all. What I do is add water when the substrate is dry like this. I alternate between slightly moist and dry. And I really do mean dry. Like the top half of the substrate is...well...pretty much devoid of water. That's a bit extreme but you should let the top 1/5th get this way. One more note, when I do substrate I put in cocofiber, oak leaves (and the wood which sometimes comes with them) some bamboo leaves right now, sand, and I'd put more types of leaves if I had a good supply of them. Then I mix things up evenly, maybe throwing a bit of a leaf layer on top if I feel like it. Its not needed, and in certain circumstances don't do it. Pedes are much more visible without leaf cover BTW. My Pomegranate tree should be dropping leaves soon!
- Have a high concentration of inedible/less edible matter in your enclosures. I don't know what it is, maybe lots of oak makes things more acidic or something. I've been using a good amount of coco-fiber, and then I even add dried bamboo leaves since I have those readily on hand. Fungus grows on the bambo leaves, and that is eaten, but the leaves themselves are not and they don't decompose quickly, so they also help areate the media.
- Related to 2: try to diversify. Just oak--I think you should mix things up. Millipedes can eat a lot of leaves, and if they don't want to they seem to just avoid.
- Don't know how much it helps, but add some sand to the soil. It makes the substrate airier, and much easier to dig through.
- Limit the use of rotting wood. I think its just too rich oftentimes.
- Feed LOTS of different fruits and veggies. Make yourself a fruit/vegie smoothy and feed the pedes the tops of persimmons, the cores of apples. Mango pits. Melon rinds. They love avocado peels and I think the more animal-like composition of avocado does them good. Place face down on the substrate and they will crawl in and eat it. You can usually leave the peel in indefinitely if you got most of the "meat" out. Eventually they may eat the peel itself.
- Feed some protein. Fish food works great. Dog or cat food will probably do the trick also. I don't do this much anymore but it would probably help a lot. I should start again.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did I make that clear? NEVER, EVER let the substrate become like potting soil...deep and black when it used to be brown leaves and coco fiber. When this happens epidemics break out. If the substrate doesn't look at the very least vaguely like it did when you put it in, CHANGE IT. Put the millipedes (and some of the old substrate is fine) gently in a bucket...pick them out by hand...and plop them in 100% brand new substrate. This will stop the epidemic (well, ones that are too far gone will die anyway).
- Don't let the food rot too much. Practice makes perfect...but oftentimes you can leave apple cores in there to rot and its fine.
- keep the substrate shallowish...less room for anaerobic bacteria.
- Make sure ventilation is not low. Higher is probably better...to a point.
Essentially, feeding the millipedes a diverse substrate, different fruits and veggies (that they eat, no point in feeding them stuff they don't eat...or try cooking things like carrots which are naturally too hard for the millipedes), protein...keeps them strong.
And keeping a relatively fresh substrate (its more work, I know) along with keeping that substrate relatively dry really prevents outbreaks. I mean, how would you like to live in and eat your excrement? Especially if it was really wet and ucky. Sounds like the perfect breeding ground for disease.
Population Theory:
I have come up with a theory, which I will call Population Theory, to combat fungus gnats. Fungus gnats can proliferate in the absence of uneaten food and actually thrive on the fungus and rotting material in a nutritious breeding substrate. In other words, they directly compete with millipedes for food. This is why they are such a problem...a millipede enclosure is the perfect fungus gnat breeding ground! Millipedes, however, can eat material at a lesser stage of decomposition than fungus gnats can, and sufficient numbers of millipedes and supporting organisms can easily out-compete fungus gnats for food, driving them to extinction in the particular enclosure. By supporting organisms I mean springtails and predatory mites. I seem to have both in my enclosures--naturally--and whenever I create enclosures I always introduce some soil from established enclosures to jump-start their numbers. While supporting organisms certainly help by reducing fungus levels and maybe even consuming fungus gnat larvae, I believe it is possible to control fungus gnats with millipedes alone.
To out-compete fungus gnats, enclosure size and millipede numbers become key factors. If you have only a few medium millipedes, you should house them in a small enclosure, say 5 gallons or less. Large populations of millipedes can effectively out-compete fungus gnats in much larger enclosures. Remember that substrates composed of any type of coconut fiber exclusively will probably not have a problem. Population Theory applies to nutritious substrates containing lots of decomposing organic matter. When there are too few millipedes and supporting organisms in a given enclosure size, fungus gnats will find sufficient food to reproduce in plague proportions. If on the other hand there is a balance between millipede population and enclosure size, the millipedes will be the primary beneficiaries of the nutrients in a nutritious substrate and will out-compete the gnats.
Finding the proper enclosure for your millipedes may take practice and experimentation (if you have fungus gnats around, otherwise you will never have a problem). But do bear in mind that a properly matched enclosure-millipede population may still support a small population of fungus gnats when it is first created and all that organic material begins to decompose at once. Once the enclosure matures and the millipedes start to eat the substrate, however, the population should decrease and remain at marginal numbers.
Theory Success!:
I am pleased to report that two months after placing 100 juvenile flameleg millipedes in a 14x30 inch enclosure...during which time the population decreased to ~50 millipedes (the others were sold)...only a marginal population of the gnats was supported (mostly 3 weeks into the enclosure's life), and the substrate is visibly being consumed by the millipedes. I also added some soil from a mature enclosure to jump-start the populations of supporting organisms. The substrate was primarily oak leaves with oak logs and sand, peat moss, a bit of coconut fiber and chalk.
Mushrooms
Usually harmless. Remove manually or let animals eat them.
Fungus on Substrate
Directly harmful only in rare cases, but acts as a food source for fungus gnats (with will bother YOU). Introduce springtails or remove manually. Although isopods or "pill bugs" will eat fungus, the consensus of the millipede community is that they can eat millipede eggs and young and anyone who has kept them knows that they can certainly overrun a millipede enclosure. Use springtails instead of isopods since they are harmless and keep themselves under control. You can buy springtails online or find them outside and introduce them into the enclosure.
Exoskeleton is Damaged
External damage can be caused by many things. Physical crushing/dropping the millipede can cause irreversible damage that can lead to death. Handle the animals carefully and over a soft surface as they can slip. Minor damage will not harm the animal and will be progressively repaired with each molt. An exoskeleton that looks pitted or deformed is probably the result of disturbance during molting. A weak or soft-looking exoskeleton is a sign of calcium deficiency. To prevent this you should add cuttlebone, limestone, or natural chalk (not blackboard chalk as it is not calcium) to the substrate of your millipede.