Spirobolus spp.
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.
Spirobolus Millipedes: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Smaller temperate communal millipedes: mostly US Spirobolus types: straightforward leaf-litter detritivores, happy at house temperatures, not after tropical heat. Adults reach about 3-4 inches.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 2: BeginnerSetup: Temperate communal millipede (moist leaf litter)Handling: 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 | 65-80°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Moderate-High with cross ventilation; moist lower layer, drier surface, cool temps (70-85%) |
| Setup Type | Temperate communal millipede (moist leaf litter) |
| Substrate | Deep hardwood-leaf/rotted-wood substrate; moist lower layer, drier surface ok |
| Feeding | Decaying hardwood leaves, rotted wood, calcium, veggie supplements; no citrus |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 2: Beginner |
| 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 groups
Warnings First
- Substrate is food: deep, edible, hardwood-leaf based
- Temperate. House temps are fine; avoid tropical heat
- Don't let it fully dry; keep a moist lower layer
- Cool and damp condenses sooner than warm and damp. Vents low on two opposite walls keep a temperate bin from stalling.
Simple Care
- Deep edible substrate: hardwood leaves, rotted wood, organic soil.
- Cross ventilation low on two opposite walls so the substrate surface keeps exchanging air.
- Cooler room temps are fine; moist lower layer with a drier surface ok.
- Shallow water dish packed with pebbles so juveniles cannot drown.
- Communal-tolerant with adequate substrate depth, leaf litter, and space.
- Cuttlebone for calcium; veggies as treats; no citrus.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- A catch-all hobby label for various small temperate Spirobolus, mostly North American. A deep hardwood-leaf-and-rotted-wood substrate; they'll spend much of their time buried.
- Like Narceus, these are temperate: they tolerate (and prefer) house temperatures and stress under excessive heat.
- Being temperate changes the ventilation maths slightly. Cooler air holds less moisture, so a cool damp bin condenses on the walls and stalls sooner than a warm tropical one at the same relative humidity. Put vents low on two opposite walls, at or just above the substrate, so air crosses the surface and the moist lower layer stays aerobic.
- Ventilation and ambient humidity trade against each other. Hold the moisture in the deep layer rather than in still air, and let the vents flow rather than closing a cool bin up.
- Judge by squeeze and smell rather than by gauge. Lower substrate clumps like a wrung-out sponge with no free water and smells like forest floor. Persistent condensation on a cool bin's walls is an early warning.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles so the waterline sits below the rim, and mist under the leaf litter rather than over the surface. Small juveniles drown in water depths the adults walk through.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Decayed hardwood leaves and rotted wood are the diet; cuttlebone for calcium; veggies as occasional supplements. No citrus, no treated wood or pesticides.
- Supplemental veg is a treat, not the meal; remove it before it molds.
- 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: Temperate North America: deciduous forest leaf litter.
- Habitat translation: A deep hardwood-leaf-and-rotted-wood substrate with a moist lower layer, a cuttlebone, and cool-to-moderate temperatures.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Adult size ~3-4 in; a long-lived little detritivore.
- About as easy as millipedes get; a good native/temperate option alongside Narceus and Chicobolus.
- Communal-tolerant with adequate substrate depth and space.