Aphistogoniulus spp.
Sold under its hobby name. This guide covers the group or trade name this fella is sold as, so the ranges fit the whole group. Start in the middle and watch how your animal settles in.
Madagascar Fire Millipedes: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Bright red Madagascar millipedes needing deep edible leaf-litter substrate, calcium, and moisture with airflow. Communal in a roomy, well-fed bin. Adults reach about 4-6 in.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 2: BeginnerSetup: Tropical communal millipede (humid)Handling: Brief contact tolerated, fall risk
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | 72-80°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | 70-85%: moist lower layer, dry surface, cross vent |
| Setup Type | Tropical communal millipede (humid) |
| Substrate | Deep hardwood-leaf/wood substrate, moist lower layer |
| Feeding | Leaves, rotted wood, calcium, veggies, no citrus |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 2: Beginner |
| Handling | Brief contact tolerated, fall risk |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- Adults and groups: terrestrial burrow setup, deep edible substrate.
Warnings First
- Substrate is food: deep, edible, hardwood-leaf based. Let it dry out or go anaerobic and the food supply has soured.
- Needs calcium. No citrus, no treated wood or pesticides.
- Handling is optional and never required. A fall can injure it.
- Keep a shallow water dish with pebbles, juveniles can drown in open water.
- Moist lower layer, but ventilated. Cross vent low on two opposite walls keeps the bin aerobic.
Simple Care
- Deep edible substrate: decayed hardwood leaves, rotted wood, organic soil.
- Cross ventilation low on two opposite walls, surface airflow keeps the bin aerobic.
- Moist lower layer with surface airflow. A moss patch helps.
- Shallow water dish packed with pebbles so juveniles cannot drown.
- Cuttlebone for calcium, veggies as treats, no citrus.
- Communal-tolerant when the bin is roomy, deep, and well-fed.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Madagascar rainforest species. Standard humid-tropical setup: deep, edible, hardwood-leaf substrate, moist below with airflow above.
- Communal groups work when substrate depth and food volume match the numbers. Add leaf litter and rotting wood before adding more millipedes.
- Vent low on two opposite walls so air crosses the food layer. Going anaerobic means the food has soured, and the colony goes off its feed.
- Judge by squeeze and smell: lower substrate clumps with no free water and smells like forest floor. Sour or ammonia means airflow and a refresh.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles below the rim. In a communal bin a drowned juvenile goes unnoticed until numbers drop.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Decayed hardwood leaves and rotted wood are the staple, cuttlebone for calcium, veggies as occasional extras. No citrus, no treated wood or pesticides.
- Replace substrate gradually so the microfauna stay stable. Remove moldy supplemental food promptly.
- Millipedes molt underground, sealed in a chamber, still for days or weeks. Never dig up a buried animal, and keep that substrate from drying out.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Madagascar: rainforest leaf litter.
- Habitat translation: A deep, edible, hardwood-leaf-and-rotted-wood substrate, moist below with airflow above, plus cuttlebone and detritus to graze on.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Adult size about 4-6 in, a long-lived detritivore.
- Beginner-friendly care. The beginner-intermediate rating is mostly about availability, not difficulty.
- Communal-tolerant in a roomy, deep, well-fed bin, like most large millipedes.