Millipedes

Millipedes are another type of very popular invertebrate and are readily available in most pet shops. Easy to care for and friendly to handle, millipedes make great exotic pets for those who want to get hands on with their pets.

Millipedes are superficially similar to centipedes in the fact they have elongated bodies divided into segments. However, while centipedes only have 1 pair of legs per segment, millipedes have 2. The name millipede literally means 1000 legs, however the most common species of millipede have legs from as few as 32 to 400. One rare species of millipede has a whopping 750 legs but you will rarely find this in the exotic pet trade.

Due to their large number of short legs, millipedes are slow moving and unable to hunt live food. Instead, they are excellent burrowers and have adapted to a eating dead plant matter and decaying leaves. They are unable to bite, so when threatened will instinctively curl up into a tight ball until the threat has passed.

There are around 10000 species worldwide, but to find out more information about specific millipede species and how to care for them please carry on reading our millipede caresheets below.

Yellow-Spotted Millipede

Scientific name:

Harpaphe haydeniana

Yellow-Spotted Millipedes offer an amazing visual display of yellow and black warning colours along their entire body length. These help warn potential predators of their toxic cyanide defence system which is released when they are threatened.

Rusty Millipede

Trigoniulus corallinus