A while ago (as some of you know) I stated that I met somebody who prolifically breeds A. gigas. Fortunately I was able to make a return to the place (and land a job in the process). Here at Oklahoma State University A. gigas are bred quite readily, and I was able to sit down with the head of the insect collection to figure out what the secrets are. I am no millipede expert by any means, but I tried to pick this person's brain as much as I could. However, I will be working here as said before so I will have a lot of time to figure out how to answer any questions any of you may have in the future.
Anyways, here what I was able to gather:
1. DO NOT DISTURB Every time you mess with your millipede colony, whether by digging to find them, trying to count your numbers, etc. you are literally killing the colony. The eggs are laid in their frass, and the babies eat their way out when they hatch. When you dig through you can easily knock the eggs out of the dung ball they are in, and thus make them unable to survive. Apparently at Ward's (where they bred tons of these before a disease a few years back knocked out most of their colonies) somebody accidentally forgot that a garbage can full of substrate contained millipedes (or just one female) and left it in a closet for a year or two. When the closed can was discovered over a year later it was teeming with millipedes. Old food isn't even removed at the colony here (anything that is not citrus), and the isopods in the enclosure are allowed to break them down.
2. Feed them hardwood leaves, but don't bury them! Hardwood leaves (particularly oak) are extremely essential to healthy millipede breeding. However, you do not want to bury the leaves, just simply spread them over top of the substrate. The adults will naturally bury them as they come up and go back down into the soil. If you bury them manually you will just perpetuate the problems caused by disturbing them. WITHOUT HARDWOOD LEAVES THEY WILL NOT BREED.
![IMG_2894[1].jpg](https://arachnoboards.com/data/attachments/69/69867-bf1e54e2292b6f503b31495b02ba70ca.jpg "IMG_2894[1].jpg")
^put leaves in like this
3. Provide multitudes of cover A. gigas require a lot of cover to feel secure. They also require cover so that they can find a spot that is just right as far as humidity is concerned. It is important to place pieces that are sitting flat on the surface of the substrate so that a high humidity environment is concerned. Other pieces that do not sit as flat against the surface are also important to create lower humidity environments.
![IMG_2892[1].jpg](https://arachnoboards.com/data/attachments/69/69868-ce8f80985419ec422e32a5a04dfc58f0.jpg "IMG_2892[1].jpg")
4. Humidity As many of you know, humidity is very important to A. gigas survival. However, in the same vein, air flow is not. At the colony here the there is very little airflow. There is a very fine fabric covering over the colony container, and then a solid plastic cover is over the top.
![IMG_2890[1].jpg](https://arachnoboards.com/data/attachments/69/69869-7ad80d4f9f688be948ea218209fe3423.jpg "IMG_2890[1].jpg")
5. Substrate What the substrate is comprised of isn't so important (mostly coco-fiber with I think some sand in it is used, but I will try and clarify that later) as the dampness of it. The substrate should be damp, but it should never be such that any water comes out when it is squeezed together. Apparently too much moisture can kill them very very quickly.
![IMG_2891[1].jpg](https://arachnoboards.com/data/attachments/69/69870-4e071252be0d24fb467d70dfd9399781.jpg "IMG_2891[1].jpg")
Sorry for the upside-down, but this is what the substrate used looks like.
6. Size Matters, but not in the way you think. A. gigas will only breed if the males and females are almost the same size as each other. As impressive as large females are, if they are larger than your males, they will not breed. In addition, how condensed the colony is with adults does not seem to affect how much they breed.
Again, I hope that this information will help a lot of you to breed A. gigas in the future. I will try and update this thread as I find out more information. Also, I'm sorry for the inverted pics.
Anyways, here what I was able to gather:
1. DO NOT DISTURB Every time you mess with your millipede colony, whether by digging to find them, trying to count your numbers, etc. you are literally killing the colony. The eggs are laid in their frass, and the babies eat their way out when they hatch. When you dig through you can easily knock the eggs out of the dung ball they are in, and thus make them unable to survive. Apparently at Ward's (where they bred tons of these before a disease a few years back knocked out most of their colonies) somebody accidentally forgot that a garbage can full of substrate contained millipedes (or just one female) and left it in a closet for a year or two. When the closed can was discovered over a year later it was teeming with millipedes. Old food isn't even removed at the colony here (anything that is not citrus), and the isopods in the enclosure are allowed to break them down.
2. Feed them hardwood leaves, but don't bury them! Hardwood leaves (particularly oak) are extremely essential to healthy millipede breeding. However, you do not want to bury the leaves, just simply spread them over top of the substrate. The adults will naturally bury them as they come up and go back down into the soil. If you bury them manually you will just perpetuate the problems caused by disturbing them. WITHOUT HARDWOOD LEAVES THEY WILL NOT BREED.
^put leaves in like this
3. Provide multitudes of cover A. gigas require a lot of cover to feel secure. They also require cover so that they can find a spot that is just right as far as humidity is concerned. It is important to place pieces that are sitting flat on the surface of the substrate so that a high humidity environment is concerned. Other pieces that do not sit as flat against the surface are also important to create lower humidity environments.
4. Humidity As many of you know, humidity is very important to A. gigas survival. However, in the same vein, air flow is not. At the colony here the there is very little airflow. There is a very fine fabric covering over the colony container, and then a solid plastic cover is over the top.
5. Substrate What the substrate is comprised of isn't so important (mostly coco-fiber with I think some sand in it is used, but I will try and clarify that later) as the dampness of it. The substrate should be damp, but it should never be such that any water comes out when it is squeezed together. Apparently too much moisture can kill them very very quickly.
Sorry for the upside-down, but this is what the substrate used looks like.
6. Size Matters, but not in the way you think. A. gigas will only breed if the males and females are almost the same size as each other. As impressive as large females are, if they are larger than your males, they will not breed. In addition, how condensed the colony is with adults does not seem to affect how much they breed.
Again, I hope that this information will help a lot of you to breed A. gigas in the future. I will try and update this thread as I find out more information. Also, I'm sorry for the inverted pics.
