Orange and olive rings, a slim 12 to 15 cm body, and a habit of turning up on the surface when most large millipedes would be buried: that is the Burmese Beauty. It is one of the easiest millipedes to keep well, and a good first one. It also carries two names that are shakier than they look. There is no known link with Burma, and the Spirostreptus in its trade name has never been confirmed by anyone who has examined the animal. The keepers and breeders who give an origin for it say Tanzania.
Where the Name Comes From
Start with "Burmese". The family this animal is sold under, the Spirostreptidae, occurs in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, and GBIF, the main global occurrence database, holds no record of the family from Myanmar at all. A German keeper's account notes that the animal has sometimes been wrongly labelled as coming from Burma, or even Mexico, and a mislabelled batch may well be where the name started. It has been sold in Britain as the Burmese Beauty since at least 2008, and also as the Olive Banded Millipede; American breeders call it the Globular Millipede.
That second British name matters here. Our guide to telling the African olive millipedes apart described the Olive Banded as a third animal we did not stock. It is this animal, and we do.
Then the number. Across Europe it is sold as Spirostreptus sp. 1, and some keepers' lists file it as Spirostreptidae sp. 1: a number given to unnamed stock to keep it apart from other unnamed stock, not a scientific name. We can find no published identification of it. Spirostreptus as now defined is a small genus of giant savanna millipedes from Africa south of the Congo River, plus one outlying Tanzanian species described in 2023, and the same 2023 paper moved 32 other names out of the genus. It has been used loosely for a long time, by scientists and keepers alike.
How It Would Be Identified
Millipedes are identified to species by the gonopods, the modified legs an adult male uses to transfer sperm, and increasingly by DNA barcoding. Neither has been published for this animal. It has been done for other trade millipedes. In 2026, researchers examined two "giant African millipedes" from two American zoos and identified them from the male gonopods as Spiropoeus fischeri, a West and Central African forest species. They also published the first DNA barcodes for it, and noted that many zoo millipedes come from poorly documented sources.
Our Delta Banded millipede sits in the same position as the Burmese Beauty: sold as Spirostreptus sp., unidentified, and waiting for someone to put a male under a microscope. Until then, the fair description of the Burmese Beauty is a juliform millipede reported from Tanzania, placed in the Spirostreptidae by keepers rather than by anyone who has dissected one.
What It Looks Like
A medium millipede by the standards of the big African species. Breeders give adult lengths of about 12 to 15 cm. Ours are ringed in alternating orange and olive-grey bands along the whole body, with an orange head and tail tip and pale legs, which matches how keepers across Europe describe the animal. It is a slim, neat millipede rather than a heavy one.
Males are easy to pick out. The legs on the seventh body ring are modified into gonopods, which leaves an obvious gap in the row of legs just behind the head.
It Coils, It Does Not Roll
Disturbed, a Burmese Beauty winds itself up tight, and American breeders named it the Globular Millipede because its coil looks more three-dimensional than the flat spiral most large millipedes make. What it is not is a ball. True rolling into a sphere is known from only four of the sixteen millipede orders, the pill millipedes among them, and no spirostreptid is known to do it.
When You Will See It
Keepers find it most active from dusk into the night, and it burrows down to moult, but they also see it on the surface far more often than most large millipedes. That makes it a better display animal than the usual buried giant, and it is half the reason people keep one.
Setting Up
Use a wide enclosure with a secure lid. The substrate is food as well as bedding, because a millipede eats its way through it, so give 15 to 20 cm of forest humus mixed with aged hardwood leaf litter and crumbling white-rotted hardwood, damp all the way down but never waterlogged. Keep pine and other softwoods out. Keep cuttlebone or limestone in the enclosure permanently, because every moult needs calcium. Our pet millipede guide covers the general setup in more detail.
Breeders keep them at 22 to 26 degrees. A British house sits below that from autumn to spring, so warmth comes from a heat mat on a thermostat, fixed to the side of the enclosure and never underneath. A millipede escapes discomfort by digging, and heat from below meets it on the way down.
Heat and dryness together are the combination to avoid. In one laboratory study of a southern African spirostreptid kept in dry conditions, every animal died within 30 days at 30 degrees, while at least nine in ten survived at 20. Keep the substrate damp and the air humid, around 70 to 80 per cent. Of the two, the substrate is the one to watch.
Feeding
Most of its food is the rotting leaves and wood in its substrate, so a deep, rich bed that you keep topping up is the core of the diet. On top of that, offer cucumber and other soft vegetables, sweet fruit such as melon and banana now and then, and an occasional protein food such as fish flakes. In laboratory observations the African giant millipede Archispirostreptus gigas preferred fresh or decaying vegetables to oak and maple litter, so do not let the vegetables become the diet. Keep the leaves and rotten wood coming.
Breeding
Breeders report that the Burmese Beauty breeds readily in captivity without any seasonal cycling. In a wild Israeli spirostreptid, day length made no difference to when females began laying, dry soil held laying back or cut clutch size, and females did not lay at all without males. Keep a group that includes males, and keep the substrate damp.
African millipedes of this order mate belly to belly, the male lying over the female with the undersides of their front ends pressed together. The female lays her eggs down in the substrate. In A. gigas each egg is sealed in its own small capsule, built partly from the mother's own faecal material, and the newly hatched young are white, almost motionless and stay inside it through their first stages. They are down in the substrate and cannot be separated out without digging it apart, so leave them with the adults and leave the bed alone. Our guide to why millipedes will not breed covers what to check when nothing happens.
How Long They Live
Breeders report maturity at two to three years and a lifespan of around five years, with some quoting longer. Our piece on how long millipedes live sets those numbers beside the other species.
Handling and Safety
It is docile, but keepers note that it releases its defensive fluid more readily than many millipedes, so keep handling short, support the whole body, and stay low over a soft surface. Like other juliform millipedes it defends itself with benzoquinones, which stain and irritate skin: wash it off with soap and water. If the fluid gets in an eye, rinse the eye with plenty of clean water straight away and have it examined. Young children account for most of the published eye injuries from millipede fluid, so supervise any handling. Our guide to whether millipedes are dangerous goes into the chemistry.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Burmese Beauty millipede?
A medium-sized millipede reported from Tanzania, about 12 to 15 cm long and ringed in orange and olive, sold in Europe as Spirostreptus sp. 1. That is a hobby number rather than a scientific name, and no published identification of the animal exists.
Is the Burmese Beauty millipede from Burma?
No. The keepers who give an origin for it say Tanzania, and the family it is sold under has no known records from Myanmar. The name may come from animals that were once wrongly labelled as Burmese.
Is the Burmese Beauty a good beginner millipede?
Yes. It is tolerant, it breeds readily, and keepers see it on the surface more than most large millipedes. The two things to get right are a deep, damp hardwood substrate and warmth from the side of the enclosure through a British winter.
Does the Burmese Beauty roll into a ball?
No. It coils tightly, and its coil looks more three-dimensional than most, which is where the name Globular Millipede comes from, but no spirostreptid is known to roll into a true ball the way pill millipedes do.
What temperature does a Burmese Beauty need?
Breeders keep it at 22 to 26 degrees. In a British house that usually means a heat mat on a thermostat, fixed to the side of the enclosure from autumn to spring, with the substrate kept damp so the warmth never dries it out.
How long do Burmese Beauty millipedes live?
Breeders report around five years, with maturity at two to three.
Are Burmese Beauty millipedes safe to handle?
Yes, with care. They are docile but release their defensive fluid readily, and it stains and irritates skin and is harmful in the eyes. Handle briefly, keep hands away from faces, supervise children, and wash with soap and water afterwards.
Where to Start
A group with both sexes, a wide enclosure with 15 to 20 cm of damp, rotting hardwood substrate, calcium always available, and gentle side heat through the colder months. If you later want something bigger and darker, the Matt Black millipede is the natural step up. Our Burmese Beauty millipedes are captive-bred and travel in double-walled boxes under a live arrival guarantee, with any losses claimable within six hours of delivery.
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