Pink Dragon Millipede - Desmoxytes planata

There is one thing that decides whether a Pink Dragon colony thrives or quietly collapses, and it is not temperature, humidity or feeding schedule. It is how much rotting wood you are prepared to keep putting in. These small millipedes work through decayed hardwood at a rate that catches people out, and the colonies that crash are almost always the ones that ran out of it while the keeper was watching everything else. Get that single thing right and the rest of the husbandry is undemanding.

Which is worth saying up front, because the animal itself is such a showpiece that the practicalities tend to get lost. Each body segment carries winged lateral extensions, the paranota, that flare outwards and sweep up into spines, so the whole animal reads as a miniature dragon rather than a millipede. Set against pink to pinkish-cream colouration, the effect is closer to ornamental metalwork than to anything you would expect to find under a log.

The species, and a widespread mix-up

Desmoxytes planata was described by Pocock back in 1895 and occurs across Southeast Asia. It has an unusual distinction within its genus: where almost every other dragon millipede is confined to one or two localities, planata has spread widely, and the accepted explanation is that people moved it about, most likely with plants and soil. It is the tramp species of the group.

It is worth clearing up a confusion you will meet everywhere in the trade. A number of sellers describe this animal as the "shocking pink dragon millipede" that made international news in 2008 as one of the top ten new species of the year. That was a different animal, Desmoxytes purpurosea, described from Thailand in 2007 and a considerably more vivid pink. Our stock is genuine D. planata, and I would rather sell it on what it actually is than borrow another species' headlines.

The genus has also been through a significant revision. In 2018 the dragon millipedes were split from one genus into five on morphological and molecular evidence, with Hylomus resurrected and new genera erected for several groups. D. planata stayed put, so the name on the label is still current.

Size and lifespan

This is a small species. Adults reach around 3 cm, which surprises people who have only seen macro photographs, so think of them as a colony animal to be watched in numbers rather than an individual specimen to be admired one at a time.

They are also short-lived by millipede standards, at roughly one to two years, and they grow fast to compensate. That combination has a practical consequence: keeping them long term means breeding them, not maintaining the animals you bought. Plan for a colony from the outset.

The chemical defence

Like all members of the order Polydesmida, D. planata produces hydrogen cyanide in paired defensive glands and releases it when harassed. That sounds more dramatic than it is in practice. The quantities involved are tiny, the usual sign is a faint almond smell if you disturb a group, and the species poses no meaningful risk to a keeper handling them sensibly.

What it does mean is straightforward: keep handling to a minimum, wash your hands afterwards, do not seal them in an unventilated container, and do not house them with animals that might try to eat them. The bright colouration is almost certainly advertising exactly this, and predators take the hint.

Setting them up

Deep substrate, high humidity, and more decaying wood than you think you need. Build the base from a nutritious forest-floor mix such as our invertebrate substrate, laid at 8 to 10 cm, and load it with white-rotted hardwood. Working in flake soil raises the nutritional value of the whole layer, which matters for a species that both grows and breeds quickly.

Top with a thick layer of hardwood leaf litter; magnolia leaves work well and last. Keep the substrate consistently damp throughout rather than wet on top and dry beneath, and hold humidity high without letting the enclosure go stagnant, which means ventilation as well as misting. Room temperature in a heated UK home is generally fine.

Keep cuttlebone in permanently. Fast-growing millipedes moult often, and every moult spends calcium.

Adding a springtail culture to the enclosure is worth doing here more than with most species, since the damp, wood-heavy conditions that suit Pink Dragons also suit mould.

Breeding and keeping a colony going

They breed readily when conditions are right, and the limiting factor is nearly always food supply rather than anything else. Top up the rotting wood before it is gone, not after. Many keepers split a productive colony across a second enclosure each generation, which insures against losing everything to one bad patch and is a habit I would recommend adopting early.

Start with a group rather than a pair. Sexing them is not practical for most keepers, so a decent-sized starting group is the reliable route to a self-sustaining colony.

Who this suits

Not a first millipede. The combination of a short lifespan, a heavy appetite for decaying wood and the need to breed them to keep them makes this a species for someone who has run a millipede or isopod colony before and understands what a well-fed substrate looks like. For a keeper at that stage, they are among the most striking animals in the millipede range.

If the flattened, keeled body shape appeals but you want something more forgiving, the Polydesmus is a close relative in the same order with a gentler learning curve.

Arriving with you

Captive-bred, and posted Monday to Thursday only by Royal Mail next day by 1pm to keep transit short. They travel in ventilated deli tubs with damp sphagnum moss inside a double-walled box, with a 20% overcount and our live arrival guarantee on every order. Because they are small and quick, unpack them over a tray or inside a closed room, and have the enclosure damp and ready before the box is opened.