A pet millipede needs a deep bed of rotting hardwood and leaf litter it can eat, warmth in the low to mid twenties, steady moisture with some airflow, and to be left alone when it buries itself. Give a giant African millipede those and it lives seven to ten years and asks for a few minutes of your week.
Which millipede
Two African species share the giant label, and the care below suits both. The African Giant Black Millipede, Archispirostreptus gigas, is the largest millipede on Earth: up to around 33 cm full-grown, some 67 mm in circumference, with something near 256 legs, and the record specimen measured 38.7 cm. It comes from the lowland forests of East Africa, from Kenya through Tanzania to Mozambique, and it is nocturnal.
The African Giant Chocolate Millipede, Ophistreptus guineensis, is a warm brown animal of 25 to 26 cm from the West African savannah, where it lives through a real dry season, so it forgives a tank that dries out for a few days. Our guide to African giant millipedes compares the two, and the beginner millipedes guide covers smaller species. Either giant is a sound first millipede.
The enclosure
Floor space matters more than height. The published rule, from the Czech laboratory that keeps this species for research, is a tank at least as wide as the longest millipede and twice as long: for an adult gigas that means at least 60 by 30 cm, about 30 cm tall and a little over 50 litres, which keepers use for one or two adults. Glass or a vented storage box both work. The lid must fasten, because a big millipede levers at a loose one, and vents must be finer than the smallest animal inside. Add cork bark for the Chocolate to climb, and keep the tank out of direct sun.
Substrate
This is the part that decides whether the animal lives. The substrate is the food, not the bedding: a millipede lives inside it and eats it. Ours live on a base of flake soil and crumbled white-rotted hardwood under a thick layer of magnolia leaves, which stand up longer than most under an animal this size; organic, chemical-free topsoil can go into the base too. Or start from our invertebrate substrate, built on hardwood and leaf litter.
Give an adult gigas 15 to 20 cm at the least, and more if the tank allows; the rule of thumb is a bed as deep as the animal is long, since it must vanish into it to moult. Never use coir or peat as the base; they feed nothing, and a millipede on them slowly starves. Never use pine or other softwood, whose resins are toxic to millipedes, nor anything that has met a fertiliser or pesticide. Top up rather than strip out: add leaves and wood as they are eaten, and leave the deep layers alone, because full changes crush moulting animals. The millipede substrate guide has the full mix.
Temperature
Keep the giant African species at 22 to 26°C; the Czech research colony mentioned above was kept at a constant 25°C. A British room gets close to that range only in summer. When the government measured 823 English homes for its Energy Follow-Up Survey, the heating-season average was 19°C and December sat at 18.1°C, while July and August averaged about 21.5°C, so plan on a heat mat through the colder months. In summer most homes come close enough that it has little to do, and the Czech laboratory notes that gigas can also be kept at a room temperature of around 22°C. Fix the mat to the side wall above the substrate line, on a thermostat, never underneath: a millipede that gets too warm digs down, so a mat under the floor cooks it in its refuge. In our experience heat from below kills more millipedes than anything else.
Humidity and ventilation
Forget the hygrometer target and manage the substrate. A deep bed kept damp like a wrung-out sponge, wetter at the bottom and drying a little at the surface, holds all the humidity the animal needs. Squeeze a handful: it should hold together without dripping. Waterlogged, it breeds mould and the bacterial leg condition keepers call foot rot; bone dry, the millipede cannot chew its food. Misting has one everyday job, freshening the surface litter when it dries; it is not the way to keep the bed damp. Give the tank cross-ventilation, vents on opposite sides. A hygrometer over it usually reads 60 to 80 per cent, which is fine.
Food and calcium
The substrate is the meal, so feeding is mostly keeping the leaves and wood topped up. Beyond that, offer a little fresh food two or three times a week: cucumber, courgette, squash, carrot, sweet potato, apple or pear, with banana and melon as occasional treats. Put it on a leaf, and remove leftovers within a day or two. Keepers disagree about citrus; the Chocolate is known to take a little orange now and then. Leave out onion, garlic and anything salted or pickled. Our guide to what millipedes eat goes further.
Calcium is not optional for an animal rebuilding 30 cm of calcified exoskeleton at every moult. Keep cuttlebone in the enclosure permanently, or a lump of limestone, and mix ground cuttlebone or crushed oyster shell through the bed. Offer protein once or twice a week: a pinch of tropical fish flakes, a few dried shrimp or a spirulina wafer, cleared before it moulds. A millipede on a damp bed needs no water dish; a very shallow one does no harm, but never a sponge, which is a mould trap.
Moulting
Every so often your millipede will vanish. It has burrowed down, hollowed out a chamber, sealed itself in and shed its skin, and lies there soft while the new exoskeleton hardens. A big animal can stay hidden for a week or two, sometimes longer. This is the most dangerous moment in its life. Leave it alone. Do not dig down to check: a millipede disturbed mid-moult comes out with twisted or malformed segments, or not at all, and a freshly moulted one can be killed just by being picked up.
What it needs is the husbandry above: depth, calcium already in the tank, and a damp bed. A failed moult is an animal stuck half in its old skin, or one that surfaces soft, pitted or deformed; a calcium shortfall or a shallow bed is nearly always behind it. Millipede moulting explained covers the signs.
Handling and safety
A settled gigas is the millipede you can hold. Let it walk onto you: rest an open hand in front of it, and when it climbs on, support the whole body and keep it low over something soft, because a fall can crack the shell. Never pull one off a surface it is gripping; wait for it to let go. Keep sessions short and occasional, put it back the moment it coils, and never handle around a moult.
Millipedes cannot bite and do not sting. Their defence beyond coiling is a fluid from pores along the body; in the giants it is benzoquinone-based: Wood analysed A. gigas in 1974 and found toluquinone and 2-methoxy-3-methylbenzoquinone. On skin it stains yellow-brown and irritates if left on. In an eye it is a chemical burn that needs treating: Hudson and Parsons published eight ocular cases in 1997, all needing treatment, and seven of the eight were children of seven and under. So wash your hands with soap after handling, before you touch your face, and supervise children doing the same. Our article on whether millipedes are dangerous has the detail.
Mites and other problems
A giant African millipede often arrives carrying small mites that run over its body and dive between the legs when it is disturbed. Most are Julolaelaps mites; the Czech laboratory records at least four species on gigas and leaves open what they feed on, zoos call them harmless cleaners, and keepers see no harm from them. Leave them.
Problem mites look different: slow, white, in clusters around the head or leg bases, or teeming in a bed that smells sour. Those are usually grain mites, and they bloom when too much fruit is left in a wet, stale enclosure. Fix the enclosure, not the animal: cut the fresh food right back, remove leftovers within a day, let the surface dry a little, get air moving. A culture of springtails occupies the same niche and keeps a bloom from returning. Replace the substrate only if it has gone sour. Do not dunk the millipede, which breathes through openings beside the leg bases that it cannot close; if mites clog its face or legs, use a soft dry paintbrush, and a brief trickle of tepid water at most.
Groups, sexing and how long they live
Millipedes are not territorial and do well in groups of their own species. Sexing the big Spirostreptids is straightforward once they are adult: a male has the legs on the seventh body segment replaced by gonopods, which make that ring look different from its neighbours; a female has ordinary legs all the way along. Maturity takes years and the giants breed slowly; our guide to why millipedes will not breed covers the rest.
Seven to ten years is the normal span for a well-kept giant, and the adult you buy may already have some of that behind it, so ask. They are fine with springtails and calm isopods, but not fast-breeding ones that swarm a moulting animal; keeping millipedes and isopods together explains which, and how long millipedes live compares the giants with the rest.
Where to buy, and the law
In the UK there is no licence to keep a giant millipede. Nothing in the class Diplopoda appears on the Schedule to the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976, which names only certain spiders and scorpions among the invertebrates, so keeping one asks for no permit, no registration and no council inspection. Buy from a UK seller and there is no paperwork at your end at all.
Most adult gigas in the hobby, ours included, are wild-caught, because the species breeds slowly and takes years to reach size, so home-bred adults are scarce everywhere. They settle well into a stable enclosure and live for years. Buy from a UK keeper who has had the animals settled for some weeks and says where they came from. Our millipedes for sale collection lists what we have, and the gigas listing says plainly that its adults are wild-caught.
The short version
- A 60 by 30 cm tank for one or two adults, lid fastened, vents on opposite sides.
- At least 15 to 20 cm of flake soil, rotted hardwood and topsoil under thick leaf litter; never coir or peat as the base, never softwood.
- 22 to 26°C, heat mat on the side wall on a thermostat, never underneath.
- Substrate damp like a wrung-out sponge, cross-ventilation, misting only for the surface litter.
- Cuttlebone in at all times; fresh food two or three times a week; protein once or twice a week.
- A millipede that has vanished is moulting. Leave it alone.
- Let it walk onto your hand, keep it low, wash with soap before touching your face.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are giant millipedes good pets for beginners?
Yes. The African giant is one of the most forgiving large invertebrates you can keep: it cannot bite or sting, it is calm in the hand, and it wants a deep edible substrate, gentle warmth and to be left alone. The commitment is the seven to ten years it lives.
What size tank does a giant African millipede need?
A footprint of at least 60 by 30 cm, about 30 cm tall and a little over 50 litres, suits one or two adults, and floor space matters far more than height. Use a fastened lid with fine vents and fill the bottom 15 to 20 cm with substrate.
Do pet millipedes need a heat mat in the UK?
Through the colder months, yes. The giants want 22 to 26°C, and the average English home sits at about 19°C in the heating season, too cool for them, and around 21.5°C in high summer, close enough that the mat has little to do. Fix a mat to the side wall on a thermostat, never under the tank.
How often should I feed a pet millipede?
The substrate is the main meal, so keep the leaf litter and rotting wood topped up and offer fresh food two or three times a week, not daily. Remove leftovers within a day or two, keep cuttlebone in permanently, and give protein such as fish flakes once or twice a week.
My millipede has disappeared. Is it dead?
Almost certainly not. It has buried itself to moult, which can keep a large millipede hidden for a week or two, sometimes longer. Digging it up is what turns a normal moult into a fatal one, so leave the substrate alone until it resurfaces, paler and hungry.
Can a giant millipede hurt me?
It cannot bite or sting. Its defensive fluid stains skin and irritates if left on, and in an eye it is a chemical burn that needs treating, so the whole of millipede safety is washing your hands with soap after handling, before you touch your face, and making sure children do the same.
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