this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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Some millipedes can excrete mild skin irritants, and I believe there are some rare tropical ones that can excrete cyanide? But millipedes can't bite (they are detrivores) and are generally harmless.
Centipedes are the bitey ones with gnarly venom.
Here's a couple of my Giant African Millipedes (Archospirostreptus gigas). They're the largest extant species of millipede (mine are over 10") . They are super gentle, slow moving, social creatures. I think they're both adorable and fascinating.
EDIT I'm an idiot and can't ever get spoiler tags to work in Boost
Holydamn, that's unsettling and beautiful at the same time. ๐ฅฐ๐
What an awesome setup! Can you give us some details about it?
They're adorable. Do you handle them? What are they doing in the last picture, just checking in with each other?
spoiler
Hiding these or other bugs in spoilers is silly. Especially these. It's not a super macro of their mouth parts which I'd still feel was silly but more understandableMy two cents.
Also, I see you got other things going on. Wanna share any other critters you have?
Here's my crested gecko, Yoshi, looking extra colored up
Thanks! Not sure how much detail you're interested in, so prepare for an infodump..
Current setup for these millis is a 10gal glass aquarium with an acrylic top. Substrate is a mix of things - a solid layer of peat & soil on the bottom with layers of leaf litter, sphagnum moss and decomposing hardwood (which they eat).
They also munch on raw fruits & veggies - mine especially love cucumbers, mushrooms and apples - and have cuttlebone for calcium. They have a shallow water dish they can use, which I overfill to keep the substrate moist and humidity high. They share their space with springtails that act as a cleanup crew and keep mold from growing
I have multiple corkbark tubes buried in the sub that they enjoy crawling into and hiding in (they spend most of their time hiding out), but when they're out exploring they crawl all over the place
As with all of our invertebrates, we avoid handling them unless absolutely necessary/unavoidable - more for their safety than ours. Unlike some of our other inverts, the urge to handle these guys is hard to repress
We keep all sorts of inverts, but spiders and tarantulas are our main obsession. We have over 50 tarantulas, hundreds of jumping spiders, and a small variety of other true spiders.
What a beautiful gecko! Great name too, ha! I think they're awesome but I know very little about their actual care and husbandry (my partner is the reptile expert) ๐
((,,((,,((,,((,,((,,(( อกยฐ อส อกยฐ)
Infodump gladly accepted!
The setup you've got for your millis is nearly identical to my gecko. I went with an attempt at bioactive, with basically the same substrate but I added a couple plants. I have 2 strong springtail colonies which I have poured into her cage. I tried putting some isopods in there but I have a feeling she ate them
Would isopods compete with the millis?
If you have or wanted to make a post about your critters I think it would have a warm (cold) reception. I, for one, would love to see more
Thanks for the reply! It made me happy
Awesome that you're utilizing live plants - we plan on doing the same with our next milli tank
Probably ha. Nature is flexible and opportunistic
While some species of millipede and isopod should be capable of coexisting in theory, I wouldn't take the risk myself. There are many protein-driven isopod species that would likely have no qualms munching on a millipede while vulnerable during a molt. Even isopod species that aren't necessarily protein driven are still opportunistic feeders. It's just asking for trouble, as well as complicating the husbandry.
I'm glad! Maybe I'll make a post about our collection somewhere at some point :)
You might want to put them under a spoiler for anyone who's squicked out by bugs but that's so cool; 'never thought about keeping them. Thanks for uploading those.