Pink Dragon Millipede (Desmoxytes planata): Pros, Cons, and Care Guide

[@ObeyTheSnarf]

Thank you for the care guide! I just won an auction for 40 of them, and I can't find a good written guide. 💀

[@juicesarthropods]

You are so welcome!!!

[@swayback7375]

I’ve been finding these guys under logs my whole life, I had a little culture of them going about 25 years ago… I was ahead of my time… I seen for sale online for big bucks! 15 year old me would have cashed in!

[@juicesarthropods]

😂 well this particular species isnt in the states, but the banded millipedes are EVERYWHERE here. Theyre just a tiny bit harder to breed.

[@kriswTmom]

Love this! I've wondered about these little beauties, now I know! Thanks for making this video, very cool!

[@juicesarthropods]

Welcome!

[@random_commenter-xix]

Thank you for clarifying that I shouldn't eat these. I was going to use them to garnish my salads as they looked kind of appitizing l. I guess if I end up getting them I'll just try to keep them in a container and possibly sell off some of the excess and perhaps just freeze what I'm unable to get rid off in an economically beneficial way.

[@juicesarthropods]

You're welcome. I think after the first bite when all you tasted was dirt, and awful you'd quickly change your salad toppings. And yeah, you can also just reduce the food and theyll breed less or yes you could sell them as well. They're like The Ring as an animal; you just have to keep cursing someone else with them but theyre cool to watch haha

[@themantisgarden]

Argh! I mould argument. Same useless argument as fungus gnats 😆I wish I could culture fungus gnats for my mantis nymphs. Great video Juice :)

[@juicesarthropods]

Haha thank you. Yeah mold thats naturally occurring is not harmful but my god I know people who waste so much money trying to save their habitat from mold

[@Nicky-gv9mm]

Covid taught us how to wash our hands..... So funny & yet so true for some 🤣🤣

[@juicesarthropods]

🤣

[@rockylooner]

Where can I get the rotting wood substrate?

[@juicesarthropods]

facebook.com/plantsandpods?mibextid=ZbWKwL Pods and Plants has some rotten wood you can buy and add it to regular soil, you can also buy wooden pellets, add hot water to them and add them to soil as a thin "sawdust" and then over time it breaks down as well. There are myriad of other ways to do it but just buy it and experiment later, its the cheaper and less maddening way to do it for sure.

[@RatTime24]

Hey, I'm pretty new to the hobby and got into it cause of isopods, and my dream set up would involve Isopods, Springtails, and some other bugs that work well with them and I've heard that Bess Beetles and Millipedes can work well with isopods. I wanted to ask if these guys would be like, a horrible idea for that or if that's potentially something that could work out because it introduces competition, and my apologies if you already answered this in the video and it went completely over my head.

[@juicesarthropods]

So the rule of thumb is competition is fine as LONG as youre supplying enough resources, but that being said - on a long enough scale, something always loses. The pink dragons can breed prolifically, and so can isopods, so the ultimate issue becomes who wins the arm race. I typically avoid mixing things in with my millipedes that are also detritivores because they can get stressed during molting, but the pink dragons breed fast enough to make up for the mistakes you make haha. So my recommendation; if you want to do it? Establish the pink dragons FIRST then add in everything else.

[@RatTime24]

@juicesarthropods Alright, thank you for the advice! I'll probably set something up for each individually just in case it goes to hell, even if I can't have them in the same environment or it doesn't work out I'd love to keep these guys!

[@juicesarthropods]

@@RatTime24 Thats an amazing idea, and absolutely send pics when youve got it all finalized, I LOVE to see peoples terrariums! (juicesarthropods on instagram and fb)

[@RatTime24]

@juicesarthropods I absolutely will! I'm still working on my isopod terrarium cause in all honesty I rushed into it, damn you adhd, but hopefully I can get things better established there before I move on to anything else. Thank you again for the advice! It's really appreciated, and I will be frequenting your videos for care advice from here on out as both me and my partner love stuff like this

[@juicesarthropods]

@@RatTime24 I am ALWAYS willing to help, and I am so glad you enjoyed it, and hope it helps you and your partner! Also if you ever have any suggestions on what youd like to see care guides for, always drop a comment ;) (It can be tedious trying to be creative when Im a non creative nerd haha)

[@itssassysarah]

“Do you trust yourself with hydrofluoric cyanide before you eat your sandwich?” SENT me😂😂

[@juicesarthropods]

🤣

[@henrydavis229]

Do you recommend re soiling the vivarium once the population booms and it becomes nutrient low? I have around 20 millipedes now and I'm worried I will witness a massive population drop soon

[@juicesarthropods]

Yeah, there are also ways to add beneficial nutrients TO the soil as well, or adding leave litter/rotting wood etc but also consider adding in vegetables high in nutrients and letting them rot in there is also beneficial. I add soil in occassionally but for the most part I just am very specific on what I add in TO the soil.

[@henrydavis229]

@@juicesarthropods amazing thanks for the help dude. Letting the vegetables rot and upcycle nutrients into the soil makes a lot of sense. I've heard a lot of conflicting info out there stating to take the vegetables out after a couple of days before they rot but I didn't think that sounded right. I have white rotting wood and sphagnum moss. I also occasionally add some calcium carbonate / limestone as they come from calcium caves in Thailand. However I'm not sure what this will do for the pH of the soil in the long run...

[@juicesarthropods]

@@henrydavis229 So, what I do is just leave broken pieces of cuttlebone in there, but also butternut squash has some calcium as well, so no matter what they have options, and yeah lots of people about rot because they worry about mold because they don't understand molds 🤣

[@henrydavis229]

@@juicesarthropods Ahh cool didn't know that about the butternut squash, noted 👍

[@grumpylilmoose]

What do they run now, about 20 bucks each?

[@juicesarthropods]

People keep trying to sell them for that much, but like for instance ours we sell a 5 pack for $35 but we are just currently out.

[@Swordfeather]

I'm a huge millipede fan and dislike centipedes, however these I can get behind because OMG PINK SPIKES they're metal as hell!

[@juicesarthropods]

Sooooo metal! They are in my opinion the best of both worlds as I lean more towards Centipedes are bastards and terrible pets 🤣

[@Frostfire40]

What is I purchased just 1? They can't self produce babies, right?

[@juicesarthropods]

Nope!

[@PureAndShrimple]

Thank you so much! I was just about to buy 3 of these 😂 Definitely not for me

[@juicesarthropods]

Haha youre so welcome!