Chicobolus spinigerus
Ivory Millipede / Purple Rainbow Ivory: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A beautiful US-native communal millipede with the same care across standard and purple morphs: adults reach about 3-4 inches.
Group: MillipedesDifficulty: Spice 1: Kid FriendlySetup: Moist terrestrial communal millipedeHandling: Brief contact tolerated. Handling is optional and never required for good care, and a fall can injure the animal.
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 | 72-78°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Moderate-High ambient (70-80%) with cross ventilation; damp lower layers, drier surface |
| Setup Type | Moist terrestrial communal millipede |
| Substrate | Deep hardwood leaf/wood substrate |
| Feeding | Leaves, veggies, calcium |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 1: Kid Friendly |
| Handling | Brief contact tolerated. Handling is optional and never required for good care, and a fall can injure the animal. |
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
- terrestrial burrow setup for display groups
Warnings First
- Morph does not change care
- Avoid dry substrate
- Needs leaf litter
- Cross ventilation across the substrate surface keeps a damp bin composting earthy rather than sour. Same for both morphs.
Simple Care
- Same care for ivory and purple morph.
- Keep substrate moist and edible.
- Cross ventilation low on two opposite walls so the substrate surface keeps exchanging air.
- Shallow water dish packed with pebbles so juveniles cannot drown.
- Peaceful groups work well with adequate depth, leaf litter, and room.
- Good beginner display millipede.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Chicobolus care is classic millipede care: deep edible substrate, leaf litter, moisture, and calcium.
- The purple morph should not be kept differently from normal ivory millipedes. Color is not a separate husbandry need.
- This is a good group/display millipede when the enclosure has enough edible substrate and surface cover for everyone.
- Classic millipede care includes one part keepers routinely skip: the airflow. Because the substrate doubles as food, a deep damp bin with no air movement composts anaerobically rather than aerobically, which sours the food supply and triggers mite blooms. Put vents low on two opposite walls so air crosses the substrate surface while the lower layers stay damp.
- Ventilation and ambient humidity trade against each other, and the answer is to hold moisture in the substrate rather than the air. Keep the deep layer damp, let the vents flow, and do not seal a display bin to chase a humidity number.
- Judge by squeeze and smell rather than by a gauge. Lower substrate clumps like a wrung-out sponge, releases no free water, and smells like forest floor. Sour or ammonia is your signal to add airflow and refresh the substrate.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles so the waterline sits below the rim. Millipedes are poor climbers on smooth surfaces and drown in open dishes, and in a group display a missing juvenile goes unnoticed.
- Mist under the leaf litter rather than over the surface. That keeps the grazing layer damp while the exposed surface breathes, which is what a display bin needs to stay clean-looking as well as healthy.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Do not rely on vegetables alone. Decayed hardwood leaf litter and wood are the staple diet.
- Ventilation should prevent stagnant mold but not dry the enclosure rapidly.
- Molting: millipedes molt underground, sealing into a chamber and going still for days or weeks. Never dig up or disturb a buried animal, keep that part of the substrate from drying out, and keep cuttlebone available, since they eat the shed exoskeleton to reclaim calcium.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Southeastern United States, especially Florida and Georgia coastal plain habitats.
- Habitat translation: Warm humid burrowing leaf-litter setup with good airflow.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Deep substrate allows natural burrowing and molt security.
- Group housing is normally fine, but crowding raises food competition and makes buried molts easier to disturb. Add depth before adding more millipedes.
- Do not let the top layer crust dry completely; maintain a damp lower layer and leaf cover.
- Adult size ~3-4 in; a Florida / Gulf-coast native, so it tolerates slightly cooler room temps as well as warm.