# Tiny millipedes



## niputidea (11 mo ago)

I’ve been finding these tiny millipedes in my dwarf purple isopod culture. They’re about 0.5 cm long by my estimation - small enough that they’re hard to distinguish from small worms with the naked eye (except they crunch when you squish ‘em). Has anybody encountered these before? Would they be a problem for frogs or plants if they got into a viv?


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## Harpspiel (Jan 18, 2015)

If you search, there are many past threads about millipedes in tanks. The general consensus is that they may be benign, but their population can boom suddenly and at that point they may eat a few plants.


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## Okapi (Oct 12, 2007)

Harpspiel beat me to it. Basically at best they are like isopods, just without the benefit of providing a snack for the frogs, and at worst they eventually overpopulate and have to find a new food source, usually being your most expensive plants or frog eggs.


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## JasonE (Feb 7, 2011)

I've got some kind of milipede in my tanks. No idea how they got there but all they do is eat leaf litter and die en mass. I don't know what it is about them but they either have an incredibly short lifespan or the ghost wood or live oak leaves are toxic to them. Either way, this species has been completely benign to this point.


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## niputidea (11 mo ago)

Thanks everyone! Sounds like they’re not awful, but I’m glad they’re only in an isopod bin rather than in the vivariums.


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