Orange Titan Millipedes (Thyropygus sp.)

I cannot sell you a captive-bred Orange Titan, and nor can anyone else. Stock is wild-collected, and it will stay that way for a while yet. The reason is time. Thyropygus take something in the region of three to four years to reach maturity, long enough that captive breeding of the genus has barely got established, and nobody is holding a project through four years to supply a hobby that can import adults now. So that is what these are, imported animals, and I would rather say it at the top than bury it.

What you get in return is one of the more impressive millipedes in the hobby. The body is long, thick-set and robust, bright orange along its length with orange legs and antennae to match, and adults come in at around 15 to 18cm. 'Orange Titan' is a vendor trade name rather than a described species, so the animal is written correctly as Thyropygus sp., family Harpagophoridae, order Spirostreptida. The genus is South East Asian and this form comes out of Thailand.

Build upwards as well as down

Thyropygus is sometimes called the Giant Asian Climbing Millipede, and the name is earned. These animals use height, so thick branches and slabs of cork bark matter as much as floor space, and the lid needs to be secure and gap-free, because a millipede this size is stronger and more determined than it looks. Disturbed, it winds into a tight spiral. Rolling up into a sphere is something pill millipedes do, and they sit in a separate group entirely. Rough handling can bring out a defensive fluid, as in any millipede, staining and irritating to skin if it is left on, and a chemical burn in an eye, so wash up with soap afterwards and before you touch your face, and watch that children do the same, because they account for almost every eye injury on record.

Substrate depth is most of the husbandry

At least 10cm, more where the enclosure allows, and loose, not packed down, so the animal can burrow into it to moult. Leaf humus, well-rotted hardwood and hardwood leaf litter make the mix, moisture-retaining throughout but never waterlogged. This is not bedding. It is the diet, and the millipede eats its way down through it. Use hardwood and nothing else: pine and the other softwoods are toxic and must never go near the enclosure. Keep the enclosure at 22 to 26°C, with humidity between 75 and 85 per cent, ventilated enough to keep the air fresh without pulling the moisture back out. If a room runs cold, warm it with a mat on a thermostat attached to a side wall, never the floor, because a millipede digging down to get away from heat would simply dig itself into it. At this body size calcium cannot run short, and cuttlebone is the simple way to cover it. Top the litter up as it disappears, with a little soft vegetable and some fruit alongside.

Temperament is the rest of the appeal. They are docile, slow and among the easier large invertebrates to handle, as long as you support the whole body across both hands and stay low over a soft surface. They live communally, so a group in one enclosure is the normal arrangement, and given the substrate they want they last several years. New arrivals need a settling-in period. A millipede that has just come through a shipping box wants deep damp substrate, dark, and a fortnight of being left alone, and it will spend much of that underground.

If you are choosing within the genus, the Thai Ruby Banded is the same Thyropygus at around 10cm with red banding, so a noticeably smaller and differently coloured animal than this one. The African Giant Black is the largest species we keep if size is the point, the Burmese Beauty brings colour at a smaller scale, our millipede substrate guide sets out the mix in detail, and the wider millipede range holds the others.

An animal this size gets packed for the journey it is making: damp sphagnum underneath it, a ventilated tub around that, and a double-walled outer that will take a knock in transit. Posting runs Monday to Thursday and never later, sent next-day with Royal Mail, tracked, for delivery before 1pm, so nothing of ours is parked in a depot on a Saturday. Live arrival is guaranteed on every order.