Isopods as big as Oranges in the Tarantula Keeper's Guide?

Tarantel

Tarantel

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In the Tarantula Keeper's Guide they mention a (land, not the giant isopod, those are marine) isopod which is as "big rolled-up as an orange." does anyone know if this is true because I found no information about them on wikipedia? I can't find the actual book right now to verify if it actually said this but I remember it saying something along those lines....
 
Elytra and Antenna

Elytra and Antenna

Arachnoking
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It's a pill millipede and the biggest ones are the size of an extremely small orange.
 
KyuZo

KyuZo

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i've heard that they are hard to keep too.
 
J Morningstar

J Morningstar

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a lot of us tried to keep the "Madagascar giant pill millipedes" back about 10 years ago....they all met with the same fate ..eventual death, with no offspring. Most agreed that it was foolish to keep importing them so it basically stopped then. They are amazing but if you buy them, it is always fatal to them it would seem.
 
Tarantel

Tarantel

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All the really interesting stuff dies in captivity, solifugids, these. Or maybe they just seem more interesting because I can't have them. :) Can normal pill millipedes survive in captivity?
 
J Morningstar

J Morningstar

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"normal" ones yes, from North America or anywhere in the states...but even the marble sized ones from Tanzania all died in my care and I tried everything I could to keep them happy, got shipments of over 50 at a time and...all perished.
 
Luis138

Luis138

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I have kept them too, from Tanzania if I remember correctly. Tried different setups and they all met the same fate, dead quickly and no offsprings. Such a shame because they are indeed interesting remarkable creatures.

Luis

Ageless, still I am.
 
Malhavoc's

Malhavoc's

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Have/had there been any case studies of their native enviroment? Or the food they eat? It is fascinating that both of you had such bad results with them making me think something was crucialy mising which makes for an intresting puzzle to solve.
 
G

Ganoderma

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juding from teh cliamte i saw them in Borneo i think it may be air and or food. They really seem to like to eat somethin on tree bark ( i notice this with many asian millipedes). its always humid and misty in the forests where I saw them, so the trees have lots of life on the bark. I always assumed they were eating algae or fungus or something.

I also find one of the hardest things to provide some animals and even plants is super humid conditions that are very fresh and don't get stagnant. I personally feel, without any real proof, this is the demise of many things. People keep them in hot stuffy cages wen they really need warm, humid fresh air. just a thought, no idea on their true care.
 
J Morningstar

J Morningstar

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You are right indeed I believe. Even though a lot of us here are creative and talented, I don't think many of us are able to rerproduce a tropical cloud forest with mists that rise off the ground and then fall again in the evening, and also since they eat in captivity but die with full guts,it would appear that we are not providing the right food or they need the lichens, mosses and benificial floras of the area and bark they live on to digest food, and getting those cultured and growing would most likely be near impossible even for a good zoo right now. And then yes, the problem of creating a forest breeze, temperate but constantly fresh with no stagnation....yea.

---------- Post added 10-31-2011 at 04:58 PM ----------
Tarantel said:
All the really interesting stuff dies in captivity, solifugids, these. Or maybe they just seem more interesting because I can't have them. :) Can normal pill millipedes survive in captivity?
Click to expand...
I think if the above were commonly bred then you would find them perhaps, disinteresting. :)
 
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