Coromus diaphorus (cf.)
Identity confidence: provisional. This is a genus, group, or trade name rather than a confirmed species. Treat it as the closest match we can stand behind, and use the more conservative end of any range.
Flat Backed Millipede: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A small armored flat millipede that goes from pale white juveniles to black adults with bold yellow edges. Keep it cooler than most tropical millipedes, no heat mat, and it breeds readily.
Group: MillipedesDifficulty: Spice 2: BeginnerSetup: Cool-kept terrestrial colony, no heat matHandling: Brief contact tolerated, a fall can injure it
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 | 68-75°F, no heat mat |
|---|---|
| Humidity | 70-80%, cool damp lower layer, drier surface |
| Setup Type | Cool-kept terrestrial colony, no heat mat |
| Substrate | 4 in humus soil, shredded leaves, rotting wood, some grit |
| Feeding | Decayed wood/leaves, cuttlebone, occasional protein supplement |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 2: Beginner |
| Handling | Brief contact tolerated, a fall can injure it |
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
- Starter group: Baby Buddy with about 4 in of substrate and low cross ventilation
- Growing colony: Burrow Buddy with real substrate depth and cool temps
Warnings First
- No heat mats or substrate heating. It needs cooler temps than most tropical millipedes, and heat mats can harm it.
- Do not let it dry out. Keep the substrate moist to the touch, never waterlogged.
- Small juveniles drown in water adults walk through. Pack the water dish with pebbles.
- Cool damp bins condense and sour faster than warm ones. Vent low on two opposite walls.
- Leave a still, buried millipede alone and keep that patch damp until it comes back up.
- Handling is optional, and a fall can injure it.
Simple Care
- Keep it at cool room temp. No heat mat.
- Vent low on two opposite walls. A cool damp bin stalls and condenses faster than a warm one.
- Give about 4 in of humus-rich leaf-litter substrate.
- Keep cuttlebone in at all times.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles.
- Mist under the leaf litter, not over the surface.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Keep it at room temp or a bit below typical millipede warmth. Skip the heat mat, underside heating can harm this genus.
- A modest footprint works. Give real depth, around 4 in, and cross ventilation. It does not need a giant millipede's floor space.
- Vent low on two opposite walls. Cool air holds less moisture, so a cool damp bin condenses, sours and brings on mites sooner.
- Hold moisture in the substrate, not the air. Do not close up a cool bin to keep humidity in.
- Check by squeeze and smell. Lower substrate clumps like a wrung-out sponge with no free water. Constant condensation on the walls is an early warning.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Staple diet is shredded deciduous leaf litter and decaying wood. Keep cuttlebone or crushed oyster shell in at all times.
- Molting happens in a sealed underground chamber. Leave a still, buried animal alone and keep that patch damp until it comes back up.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: West Africa, in Nigeria and surrounding rainforest leaf litter.
- Habitat translation: Humid West African forest floor litter becomes a moist, cooler-than-tropical leaf-litter bed, with air moving low across it and no heat mat.
Advanced Keeper Details
- One of the easier millipedes to breed up to a self-sustaining colony.
- ID tip: flat backed millipede is a trade name used for several genera. This one starts pale white and matures black with yellow edges.
- Adults reach about 2-3 in and are armor-plated.