Spirostreptus 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.
African Olive Millipedes: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Large, hardy African millipedes that live communally in humid forest litter, with the same care as the African giant. Give a group a deep, moist, edible substrate with airflow above.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 2: BeginnerSetup: Tropical communal, deep moist edible substrateHandling: 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 | 72-82°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | 70-85%: moist throughout, surface dries back |
| Setup Type | Tropical communal, deep moist edible substrate |
| Substrate | Deep hardwood leaves/rotted wood/soil, moist throughout |
| Feeding | Rotted hardwood leaves/wood, cuttlebone, veg treats, no citrus |
| 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
- Babies: Baby Buddy, moist edible substrate, pebble-packed dish
- Juveniles: Burrow Buddy, deep moist substrate, low cross vents
- Adult groups (5-7 in): large custom enclosure, deep, roomy and well stocked with leaf litter
Warnings First
- Never dig up or disturb a buried millipede. They molt underground and stay still for days or weeks.
- Juveniles drown in open water. Pack the dish with pebbles.
- Stressed millipedes can ooze a defensive fluid. Wash your hands after any contact.
- A fall can injure them. Contact is optional and never needed for good care.
- A bin moist top to bottom sours fast without airflow. Vent low on two opposite walls.
- No citrus, treated wood or pesticides.
Simple Care
- Give deep, edible substrate: decayed hardwood leaves, rotted wood and organic soil.
- Keep it moist throughout, but let the surface dry back between waterings.
- Vent low on two opposite walls so air crosses the surface.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles.
- Keep groups in a roomy, deep, well-fed bin.
- Offer cuttlebone for calcium. Veggies are treats, never citrus.
- Mist under the leaf litter and moss, not over the surface.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- With the whole column moist there's no dry reserve, so airflow carries the load. Without low cross vents the bin composts anaerobically and the food turns sour.
- Let the surface dry back a little between waterings instead of topping up on a schedule, and let the vents flow instead of sealing in humidity.
- Judge by squeeze and smell. Substrate clumps like a wrung-out sponge at every depth, gives no free water, and smells like forest floor. Smell is your main early warning.
- Mist under the leaf litter and moss so the top dries between waterings while the grazing layer stays damp. A moss patch helps hold humidity.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Decayed hardwood leaves and rotted wood are the staple. Cuttlebone for calcium, veggies as extras. No citrus, treated wood or pesticides.
- Replace substrate gradually. It's their food, shelter and humidity buffer all at once.
- Molting: they seal into a buried chamber for days or weeks. Leave them buried, keep that area damp, and keep cuttlebone in. They eat the shed.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Sub-Saharan Africa, humid forest leaf litter.
- Habitat translation: Humid African forest litter becomes a deep, edible bed of rotted hardwood leaves and wood, moist throughout with airflow above, plus cuttlebone and detritus to graze on.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Long-lived and slow to mature, like the other big millipedes.
- About as beginner-friendly as millipedes get. If you can keep an Archispirostreptus gigas, you can keep these.
- Name note: most hobby Spirostreptus, including S. servatius, have moved to the genus Analocostreptus. S. servatius is now Analocostreptus servatius.
- Like big millipedes generally, they can ooze a benzoquinone defensive fluid when stressed. Wash hands after contact.