Giant African Millipede Care Sheet

Giant African Millipedes make for an interesting pet, especially if you are looking to get into keeping invertebrates. Growing up to around 33cm in length, they are one of, if not the largest, invertebrates that are kept in captivity. These millipedes have two distinct modes of defence: they will curl up into a tight ball or secrete an irritating liquid. This should be taken into account when keeping them.

Giant African millipedes do well with a glass terrarium as their enclosure. This is because glass is great at allowing heat to escape ensuring that the enclosure stays cool enough. Other enclosures such as wooden vivariums are far too efficient at retaining heat.

This millipedes terrarium should be at least 300mm in length and 300mm in height but the more space you can provide the better. The millipede is going to grow to up to 14'' in length so they need a space large enough for them to move around in.

African millipede require a near constant air temperature of 70-75°F. This is best achieved by sticking a heatmat on one side of the glass enclosure. This heatmat is regulated using a thermostat to make sure the temperature stays constant.

As the glass is only being heated on one side this also creates a small temperature gradient within the enclosure allowing the millipede to warm itself up or move away to cool down.

Giant African Millipedes are Nocturnal and will hide from the sun so this species do not need any UVB.

African millipede should always be allowed at least 2'' of substrate. We find the best substrate for this millipede is a soil mix called Spider Life.

The millipede's terrarium can be decorated with artificial plants for a more natural look. Small natural wood ornaments look very effective and also provide further perches for the millipede. Trailing plants are very good at disguising electrical wires and equipment, as well as providing cover for young millipedes.

Giant African millipedes eat vegetation. The core of the diet should be a mix of kale, cabbage, and leafy greens. We also always include small chunks of cuttlefish bone for added calcium. We would feed the salad daily to make sure they never run out of food.

Millipedes don't require extra supplementation as they get the vast majority of their needed nutrients from their diet. However, you should still gutload your live food to make sure you are giving the best food you can to your animal.

If you keep a male and female together, they may breed. You do not need to do anything to encourage this. As long as they are healthy and the conditions are good, it will happen naturally. You need to consider whether you want this to happen before introducing the pair.

Giant African Millipedes, as with most pets, require a clean environment to thrive. We recommend a spot clean as often as possible (every day) and a full clean every 4 weeks or so. If you are keeping the snake in a bioactive enclosure, you can spot clean and monitor the enclosure. It may still be a good item to change out the bedding a few times per year.

When cleaning the enclosure, you should remove your animal, all decorations and all of the bedding. Once the enclosure is clear you can spray it all over with a reptile-friendly disinfectant. These usually work very quickly and only need to be left for around 30 seconds. Instructions can normally be found on the disinfectant's packaging. Once the disinfectant has done its work it can be wiped away from the surfaces with a paper towel.In some cases, you might want to repeat this process a second time to ensure that the enclosure is thoroughly cleaned.

Your decorations can be cleaned in a similar method, simply spray them down with the disinfectant and rinse thoroughly with water before drying them off and putting them back into the enclosure. We recommend this process is done during the daytime to make sure that the scorpion will be going back to a warm vivarium for at least an hour before the basking lamps are turned off for the night.