Millipedes

Millipedes are one of the easiest pets to care for, and they range from 1 inch to over 15 inches long, as well as many color combinations. Generally safe to handle, but consider all millipedes to be poisonous. (Remember: poisonous means swallowed or inhaled, venomous means injected through the skin by puncturing.) 

Wash your hands with soap and water after handling, never put them around your mouth or eyes.

Millipedes are mostly nocturnal, though you may see them out and about during daylight hours, you can also have many in the same enclosure as they are gregarious, meaning they are social and form colonies.

While not out adventuring, they will be curled up in a spiral under the substrate, in a den they dug for themselves or may be on the surface if they're brave, you can create hut style hides for them to find a dim place to sleep where you can also view them.

Please note: Some species require humid environments, others like the Orthoporus, want dryer, arid climates with sand and clay, please research what your millipede will appreciate and thrive in, we also mention their preference on their individual pages.

Horizontal or vertical? That's a big topic among milli keepers, as a wider area gives them space to explore, and leaves more room for surface hides where they can still be seen, where vertical enclosures can have much deeper substrate offering more food sources, and more area to dig themselves under and hide. If you can have best of both worlds, we encourage that.

Whichever one you choose it's important to have substrate that's as deep as the millipede you're housing is long, so they can fully burrow when it's time to molt.

You can use glass tanks or plastic tubs, just be sure there's proper ventilation, but not enough that your enclosure will ever dry out. If using a mesh lid, throw a towel over the top so it doesn't dry out quickly.

Humidity is very important to most millipedes, they can dry out overnight, and drying out is probably the most common millipede killer. Proper moisture and humidity is however very simple to maintain, you want the lower layers of substrate to be nice and moist, almost wet, and the surface layer can be more dry with the occasional misting. Humidity can be monitored with a hydrometer. Water can be poured onto the substrate, onto moss and on any wood hides, they will suck up water and slowly release it over time to create the humidity millipedes crave.

Room temperature works for all millipedes, and a nice humid tank will be a few degrees warmer than the room it's in, which will encourage growth and activity.