Florida Ivory Millipede mating question

DeniseCasey · Florida Ivory Millipede mating question

Hello!

I obtained some Florida Ivory Millipedes from Francisco. They are so adorable! I think Francisco gave me 3 females and 2 males. BTW This is my first time owning millipedes so I might ask some silly questions if I can not find good info on the net.

Anyhow, I saw my millipedes mating 2 days ago. I saw the male actually mating with 2 different females Embarassed

I was wondering how long it takes for the female to lay eggs after mating (if everything was successful). I did some research on the internet and I did not come up with anything. I did see that it takes 30 days once the eggs are laid? Is this true or does it depend on the species?

I have them in a Kritter keeper with deep substrate along with Moss. Francisco is going to give me some mulch at the BBQ. I currently feed them Romain lettuce, cucumber, apples, green and yellow squash. They love apples! Any other food suggestions?

Any useful imformation is appreciated.

Celeste

Ask Christy (Bugmom).

ftorres

Hello,
They can start laying right away.

Usually mating is present when the right substrate is available.
These specie usually deposits one egg inside an egg capsule, and they like to dig down and deposit a group of them in one spot, so make sure there is enough substrate for them to ovoposit. If they feel it is too crowded they will not lay egg if they do it will be a very little amount.
Too many members in one terrarium can erradicate and destroy all the eggs as they are very sensible.

good luck.

francisco

DeniseCasey

Ok well I have them in a Small to medium KK. I would like to move them a larger one. There is room but if they have babies, I would like a larger one.

I do have the substate deep in relation to the size of the container.

Since I saw them mating, should I leave them alone or should I transfer them to the larger KK?

Thanks!

BugMom

I would leave them alone. You never know if they already laid some eggs and you won't usually see the eggs cuz they look like poop. Good luck, I hope you do get babies!

DeniseCasey

Thanks Christy. I will leave them alone then. Very Happy

ftorres

DeniseCasey

Are they black looking capsules?

Are there any veggies or fruit that I should not give them?

Francisco, I think you gave me 5 but I only see four at any given time. I am sure they are all ok. I keep the cage moist and humid. They sure eat like pigs.

BugMom

Mine love squash -- any kind of squash. But they'll eat most veggies. I've never given them citrus or onions, acidy stuff like that, it just didn't seem like a good idea. They do like potato and they like fruit, but it gets moldy too fast. They love cucumber, but it goes mildewy and limp really fast. I like to stick with stuff that doesn't spoil easily esp. if there are a bunch of microscopic babies -- it makes it really difficult to change the food all the time. I need a magnifying glass and a flashlight!

cacoseraph

depending on how much vent you have, one way to decrease the chance of spoilage (vs drying the food out) is to thinly slice stuff like apples and potatoes... and i mean THIN slices. for myself, it seemed like the food was much more likely to dry out than spoil

and honestly, i would be more worried about cucumbers than citrus. the cuc family all have at least one kind of poison in them... it is what gives them their bitter flavor. in fact, wild cucumbers are fairly poisonous and NOT to be eaten by anything but specialist animals!

DeniseCasey

Thank you so much for the information.

I did not think about the potatoes.

What I do about the dryness is mist the food with water when I go in to mist the cage.

Thanks again thumbleft