# millipedes



## ubstrong (Jan 2, 2010)

Does anyone besides me have millipede infestations in their vivs.? Yes, it was self inflicted, and I'm kicking myself, but how do you handle it. ? I've been operating on the assumption that they are toxic to the frogs, but maybe not.


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

They are one of the most annoying plagues to have in the tank, the key is to get them before they start multiplying. They biggest problem that they cause is eating plants, dead leaves, and even chewing wood into a nasty mess.

First, crush or remove any adults that you see, ever time you see them. I always have a knife or something by the tanks so I can quickly dispatch any that I see. Over a few weeks/months they will slowly disappear.

Second, you can remove the frogs and bomb the tank with dry ice or CO2.

Good luck!


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/40314-one-important-husbandry-tool-4.html


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## hexentanz (Sep 18, 2008)

I had an infestation awhile back, since using Co2 was out of the question (tiny frog tank, hard to catch the buggers and had no spare) i sat in front of the tank every night with a flashlight and tweezers for two weeks and plucked every bugger out of the tank I could find. 

Have not seen one since then!


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## ubstrong (Jan 2, 2010)

Good to know there is hope. But .., very large vivarium, heavily planted, at it's peak, lots of hiding places. I have some looong tweezers. I ran across an "expert" and have been e-mailing about termites and millipedes. here is the question and his answer, for those of us who wonder..

QUESTION
Hi frank.. hope you don’t mind that I e-mail my question. I raise poison dart frogs and have for years battled millipedes that I unfortunately seeded my vivarium with when I couldn’t resist some native moss growing on my shady property. They and slugs have infested my viv and short of taking out the frogs and using dry Ice to kill everything, I pick them out one by one. I saw a blog yesterday about feeding termites, and your name came up associated with millipedes. Is it possible that dart frogs might eat the baby millipedes.? I’ve been thinking that they were a harmful insect and possibly toxic because they smell SO bad when you crush them. I enjoy catching and feeding the termites because the frogs go wild for them, and I’d love to think millipedes were no longer the scourge I imagine them to be 
REPLY
Hello Barbara,

Email is fine, although your question is very interesting and I'd like others to see...perhaps if time permits in the future you might post a comment on the blog, but whatever suits you is fine.

Actually, I introduce millipedes to various zoo and private exhibits, and sometimes have difficulty in establishing them! Millipedes are great scavengers, consuming frog feces, decaying plants and dead crickets, and usually do not harm live plants. 

In the wild, small millipedes are an important part of poison frog diets, and they are one of the prime sources of toxins in the frogs' skins. I've observed poison frogs to eat millipedes collected here in the USA, so the frogs will likely eat millipedes in your terrarium; there's always a chance that the particular species you have might be distasteful to them, but no way to be sure without direct observation. 

As you know, poison frogs lost their toxicity in captivity when kept on the usual cricket-fruit fly-springtail diet. There is an outside chance that your frogs could synthesize toxins from the millipedes, but in all likelihood they would need to consume species native to their natural environments in order to do so. This did occur at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, when frogs were released into a large rain forest exhibit, but the millipedes involved had been transported their with plants from Central America. In any event, just be sure not to handle the frogs with bare hands, and wash well in general when working around them...could be an interesting situation you have there!

Please keep me posted and let me know if you need further information, 

Best wishes for the new year, Frank

FYI.. I'M NOT EXACTLY SURE WHAT HIS CREDENTIALS ARE.. BUT HIS E-MAIL ADDRESS IS ... [email protected] and he seems happpy to help.. Barb


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

The milipedes I have are either eating live plant roots or causing some sort of damage to them as to debilitate and injure the plants...I'm pretty sure of that - I see them doing it nightly.

Ants and mites are what I thought, gave the wild frogs toxicity. Haven't heard millipedes specifically mentioned....


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

The biggest prob that I have had with them is chewing wood. One of my tanks had tons of malaysian driftwood and mopani wood in it. At night they would gather on the wood, and by morning there would be a brown sludge substance all over it. Over the course of a few weeks this sludge would easily get to be a 1/8-1/4" deep. Gross!


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## FrogsNdogs (Nov 3, 2010)

I have had millipedes in my leuc tank for the four years it's been up and running. though there was a boom in the population it seemed to find it's own balance and now i only ever see one or two at a time. They seem harmless for the most part but, contrary to what I've read on this forum, i have lost a clutch of eggs to the little beasties. My frogs have eaten premature millipedes (ones that are still very light in color), but always spit out the larger ones after they chance a nibble.

As for getting rid of them I leave an apple core or potato piece in the tank over night and by morning its crawling with millipedes which i then remove.

good luck guys, and hooray for my first post!

-Andrew


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## bobzarry (Mar 2, 2005)

They also eat insects, so they will probably chow down on your good fauna such ass wood lice and springtails.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I know people that have had them in thier enclosures for years with little or no problem, to some extent it depends on the type of milipede that you have in the tank. 
Some people just wait them out and let the population boom and bust. 

Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

bobzarry said:


> They also eat insects, so they will probably chow down on your good fauna such ass wood lice and springtails.


 
I think you are confusing millipedes with centipedes... 

Ed


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

Ed said:


> I know people that have had them in thier enclosures for years with little or no problem, to some extent it depends on the type of milipede that you have in the tank.
> Some people just wait them out and let the population boom and bust.
> 
> Ed


Yep, some types are worst than others....this is the really bad one:
http://wildparty.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efefac88833013486bb2e21970c-500wi

and a forwarning, I've had some populations sustain themselves for well over 4-5 years before I wiped them out. The worst effect was the chewing on decorative wood and leaf litter....


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## bobzarry (Mar 2, 2005)

Ed said:


> I think you are confusing millipedes with centipedes...
> 
> Ed



Most millipedes are herbivorous, and feed on decomposing vegetation or organic matter mixed with soil. A few species are omnivorous or carnivorous, and may prey on small arthropods, such as insects and centipedes, or on earthworms. Some species have piercing mouthparts that allow them to feed on plant juices.
The digestive tract is a simple tube with two pairs of salivary glands to help digest the food. Many millipedes moisten their food with saliva before eating it.[4]
Millipede - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

bobzarry said:


> Most millipedes are herbivorous, and feed on decomposing vegetation or organic matter mixed with soil. A few species are omnivorous or carnivorous, and may prey on small arthropods, such as insects and centipedes, or on earthworms. Some species have piercing mouthparts that allow them to feed on plant juices.
> The digestive tract is a simple tube with two pairs of salivary glands to help digest the food. Many millipedes moisten their food with saliva before eating it.[4]
> Millipede - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Where is the reference that states they predate on insects? There is a reference to Invertebrate Zoology but that is cited for wetting thier food with saliva and not on the diet... 
Using google scholar, I can find references to snails but not to insects, or centipedes...
While Wikipedia can supply decent information on occasion, it can also be severely lacking in others... 

Other than vague statements to the effect that very few millipedes out of the whole group of millipedes act as carnivores at all (and all of those that I could find references for would feed on snails.. but they did not indicate that this was thier whole diet) so how many species are even predatory? 

Ed


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## bobzarry (Mar 2, 2005)

On a few occasions while doing a search, I found mention of them eating small insects, I must admit I did not search any scientific papers for this info nor am I inclined to do so. If you find that I am mistaken then my appologies. I will always bow to your greater intellect ED.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

JoshH said:


> Yep, some types are worst than others....this is the really bad one:
> http://wildparty.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54efefac88833013486bb2e21970c-500wi
> 
> and a forwarning, I've had some populations sustain themselves for well over 4-5 years before I wiped them out. The worst effect was the chewing on decorative wood and leaf litter....



Those are the ones, I've seen most people have trouble with. Keep in mind that if you limit calcium, you can limit how well the millipedes do in the tank so controlling surplus dust from the supplements becomes important. 

Ed


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