Red Ring Millipede (Centrobolus annulatus)

Most people come to millipedes chasing size, drawn to the length and heft of the big African species. The Red Ring Millipede (Centrobolus annulatus) makes the opposite case. It is a small millipede, usually 70 to 100mm, that earns its place on colour and behaviour rather than bulk. The body is a warm red-orange broken by dark bands, the rings behind all of its names, and instead of disappearing into the substrate it spends much of its time climbing bark and branches.

It comes from the forests of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, one of around three dozen red millipedes in the genus Centrobolus. In the hobby it turns up as the Red Ring or Red Fire Millipede, sometimes Red Coral or Mozambique Fire Millipede, and under the southern African name shongololo. Unusually, females grow larger and broader than males. Being arboreal and often active by day, it wants vertical cork bark and angled branches, and it will use them.

Temperature is where it parts company with the tropical millipedes it gets lumped in with. Its forest floor stays cooler than you might think, so ordinary UK room temperature of 18 to 24°C suits it, with the lower half, around 18 to 22°C, safer again. It asks for no added warmth, and heat from below is the surest way to lose one, so no heat mats and nothing warming the base. Hold humidity near 70 to 80%, but carry it in damp substrate rather than a sealed box: cross-ventilation through opposing vents keeps mould down, and a light mist once or twice a week refreshes the surface.

The substrate is the main meal here, not just flooring. Lay a deep bed of at least 8 to 10cm, mixing coconut fibre and pesticide-free compost with plenty of rotting hardwood: beech, oak and magnolia all work, while softwood and pine must stay out, as their resins are toxic. Cap it with hardwood leaf litter, add springtails to manage excess moisture and mould, and keep calcium available at all times, whether cuttlebone, crushed eggshell or limestone, since moulting depends on it. When startled this one coils into a flat spiral rather than rolling into a ball, so do not look for the neat sphere a pill woodlouse makes.

Away from the bedding it prefers soft, slightly decomposed produce to fresh-cut. Cucumber is a favourite, with melon, banana, cooked sweetcorn and courgette also welcome, plus the odd pinch of fish flake for protein. Leave out citrus, onion and garlic, and lift anything uneaten within a day or two. Handling is fine in moderation: these are docile animals that trundle slowly across the hand, though like all millipedes they can release a defensive fluid, benzoquinones, that leaves an orange stain and irritates skin if it is left on. In an eye it causes a chemical burn that needs treating, so wash your hands with soap afterwards and before you touch your face, watch that children do the same, and stay low over a soft surface so a fall cannot damage the shell.

In a settled communal group they will breed, if less freely than the African giants. Eggs go into the moist substrate and hatch in roughly six weeks, and the young start pale, colouring up only over later moults, so patience helps; leave them in with the adults to pick up the gut bacteria that comes from adult droppings. Ours are imported, wild-collected animals, sent out double-boxed with a live-arrival guarantee, and they sit within the wider millipede collection if you would like to line them up against the larger species.

Common questions

Do Red Ring Millipedes need a heat mat? No. They prefer cool, stable conditions, and 18 to 22°C is ideal. Heat from below is the main cause of losses, so leave the base of the enclosure unheated.

Are they a good first millipede? They are a step up from the bombproof African giants, needing steadier moisture and cooler temperatures, so they suit a keeper with a little experience rather than a complete beginner.

Get the temperature and moisture right, and the rest is watching a small, bright climber go about its day.