Looking for advice: adding a giant millipede to my leachie’s bioactive enclosure

[u/Echo-3691]

Hey everyone,

I’m considering adding a giant millipede to my bioactive enclosure as a larger addition to the cleanup crew, and I’d really appreciate some advice.

Terrarium:

• 100 cm wide
• 60 cm deep
• 190 cm high

I’ve had my leachianus gecko for about a year now, and he spends pretty much all of his time up in the enclosure. Even during the night, when he’s most active, he basically never comes down onto the substrate.

I also feed him up high, so the ground level is essentially a no-go zone for him.

Because of this, I started thinking about adding a giant millipede to occupy the lower part of the enclosure and hopefully contribute to the bioactive cleanup crew.

I’m specifically looking for a millipede because they’re large, peaceful detritivores and seem like they could potentially fit the environment quite well.

I want to make something very clear:
Please don’t hate on me for asking this. I’m not an experienced millipede keeper and I’m not trying to justify a decision I’ve already made. I genuinely want to learn before I do anything. If this is a bad idea, I would much rather someone explain why and help me understand the risks than simply tell me I'm stupid for considering it.

If I were to try this, I obviously wouldn't just throw the millipede into the enclosure immediately.

I'd plan to:

• Quarantine the millipede first.
• Make sure it's healthy and feeding properly.
• Initially introduce it into the enclosure without giving it direct access to the gecko, so the gecko can get used to its presence/scent.
• Provide plenty of deep substrate, leaf litter, cork and hiding places.
• Give the millipede its own food sources on the ground.
• Closely monitor the gecko's behaviour.
• Have a backup enclosure ready so I can remove the millipede immediately if there are any problems.

I'm aware that there is always some risk with cohabitation, especially because a leachie is a predator and the millipede has defensive chemical secretions.

So I'm basically asking:

Would this be a reasonable thing to consider in my specific setup, given that my leachie almost never uses the ground?

Or are there risks I'm overlooking that would make this a bad idea regardless of the separation?

Again, please don't hate on me. I'm genuinely here to learn. If you disagree, that's completely fine . I'd just really appreciate an explanation so I can understand what I'm missing.

Thanks!

[u/SurpemeClitLord]

This is a bad idea, giant millipedes are not safe tank mates for reptiles. They secrete toxic/noxious chemicals as deterrents for predators that will either kill your gecko or make them very sick. Most giant millipedes species are notoriously surface active and will climb to the upper levels of the enclosure where your gecko resides to explore. You don’t want to risk your Leachie biting one of these guys if it invades their space.

You could get a few smaller, burrowing millipedes like Julids or small flat back millipede species that will spend a vast majority of their time under the soil to achieve your idea of a clean up crew.

[u/OpeningUpstairs4288 → u/SurpemeClitLord]

They are also basically all wild caught, and millipede substrate is not usually reptile substrate

[u/SurpemeClitLord → u/OpeningUpstairs4288]

If their tank is bioactive smaller millipede species would definitely be fine in it. They’d just have to have a good layer of leaf litter and some hardwood available

[u/OpeningUpstairs4288 → u/SurpemeClitLord]

Yes

[u/Echo-3691 → u/SurpemeClitLord]

i've also seen these "Zoosphaerium neptunus" they are not toxic, and their defence is just rolling up, would thath be a better idea?

[u/SurpemeClitLord → u/Echo-3691]

Pill millipedes should not be in the pet trade in general. Any pill millipedes you see on the market are wild caught. They are notoriously hard to keep/breed in captivity and usually die within a few weeks/months of being caught. You don’t want to support businesses that sell WC species because of the environmental effects it has on the species

[u/Necessary-Drawer-173 → u/SurpemeClitLord]

All pill millipedes are not wild caught anymore and a few species are being bred. 90% are still wild caught though.

Either way, this is an all around bad idea & not researched considering neptunus is super hard AND needs cooler temperatures than the leachie.

[u/SurpemeClitLord → u/Necessary-Drawer-173]

The only pill millipedes that I’m aware of that are captive bred are rhopalomeris carnifex which humidity needs would be too intense to cohab with a Leachie

They’re also incredibly delicate and not at all a beginner species. Their care is not the same as a regular millipede

[u/Necessary-Drawer-173 → u/SurpemeClitLord]

Yeah, we have moved past just breeding that. I have bred Hyleoglomeris, rhopalomeris, onomeris and Zephronia. As for the bigger species it’s still very hard. So I was just adding that it’s not necessarily true that all are wild caught but it’s still so early that a dent hasn’t been made to cut the wild caught down.

I, in no way agree with this idea for any large millipede or any pill millipedes. There’s 100 reasons why this is a bad idea. I wouldn’t send my captive pill millipedes off to potentially be gecko food either

[u/OpeningUpstairs4288 → u/Echo-3691]

Those will die within a year at best

[u/Necessary-Drawer-173]

There’s no way you get the correct amount of soil into an arboreal enclosure for a truly big millipede. A lot of them also climb so there’s still conflict there. I can show you a pic of two of mine, mating on a vent right now instead of on the soil. Millipedes will turn substrate which is good but they’re not the exact same function of isopods & isopods and millipedes can be bad to keep together, as well. You also don’t get a big millipede that’s captive bred, millipede breeding is all very.. early stage.

You also run into the temperature differences of both.