In stock Pink Dragon Millipede for sale All millipedes for sale
Desmoxytes planata
Pink Dragon Millipede: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A pink dragon millipede that needs a moist, food-rich home: humus, decomposed leaves and crumbly rotten hardwood throughout, open ventilation, and fresh material as it gets eaten.
Group: MillipedesDifficulty: Spice 1: Kid FriendlySetup: Ventilated, food-rich humus with rotten woodHandling: Not recommended, transfers over a soft surface
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 | 72-82°F, skip heat if already warm |
|---|---|
| Humidity | 70-85%: damp lower layer, never dripping |
| Setup Type | Ventilated, food-rich humus with rotten wood |
| Substrate | Deep leafy humus and soft rotten wood, damp below |
| Feeding | Decomposed leaves, soft rotten wood always, small veg portions |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 1: Kid Friendly |
| Handling | Not recommended, transfers over a soft surface |
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
- Small animals: Baby Buddy or Burrow Buddy while it holds enough edible depth, floor space and moisture
- Larger animals: deep custom enclosure once a Buddy cannot give body-length substrate depth and floor space
- Mixed-size groups: food and cover the smallest can reach, space for the largest. No set count fits every box
Warnings First
- Keep millipedes and their defensive fluids away from eyes and mouth. Wash hands after contact or enclosure work.
- Never dig up a buried millipede just to check if it is alive.
- Do not let the edible substrate run out. Fresh veggies cannot replace decomposed leaves and wood.
- No pesticides, treated wood or contaminated soil.
- Keep handling to a minimum. Move it over a soft surface, and never pull it from cover or force it to uncoil.
- Do not seal the enclosure to chase humidity. Very small animals need escape-resistant vents.
Simple Care
- Set up the edible substrate before the animals come home. A plain display floor is not enough.
- Make the substrate at least as deep as your longest animal is long.
- Keep damp shelter available without soaking the whole enclosure.
- Check the food layer often and replace eaten leaves and wood.
- Use a secure ventilated lid, with escape-resistant openings for very small animals.
- Leave buried animals and possible molt chambers alone.
- Remove spoiled extra food, but leave healthy occupied substrate in place.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Every animal should move under cover and reach food without crowding. For bigger millipedes, plan a floor at least two body lengths long and one wide, more for groups.
- Use light cork or leaf cover that will not collapse on a burrowing animal. Keep a damp sheltered area with air exchange above the food layer.
- Moisture belongs below the surface, not pooled. Add water slowly to an empty section and recheck instead of soaking the whole bed.
- Refresh substrate in sections and add fresh food material as needed. Leave occupied areas, eggs and tiny young in place.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Use well-decomposed hardwood leaves and wood soft enough to crumble. A fresh decorative branch is not feeding wood.
- Watch for real feeding and fine droppings building up. Top up food before the substrate is mostly droppings.
- Offer only small extra portions and remove any that spoil. A dish of fresh fruit is not a complete diet.
- Keep buried areas stable during molts. Do not dig to feed or to move an animal that has stopped surfacing.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Probably native to Thailand or Myanmar, spread by people to other tropical areas. Found in humid, often human-influenced places.
- Habitat translation: Humid, often human-influenced places become moist edible litter and sheltered cover with ventilation, not a sealed wet box.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Note which leaves and woods get eaten and keep a steady supply.
- The Pink Dragon name also gets used for D. purpurosea, a separate species. Care here is for D. planata.