Thyropygus allevatus
Chocolate Spike Millipede: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A large, shy Southeast Asian millipede with a pointed tail spike (a telson, for digging, not a stinger): adults reach 9-11 inches in chocolate-brown, and it wants a quiet corner, not a busy display spot.
Group: MillipedesDifficulty: Spice 2: BeginnerSetup: Tropical, solitary-leaning millipedeHandling: Brief contact tolerated, curls up when stressed
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 | 80-86°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Method, not %: damp like a wrung-out sponge, never wet |
| Setup Type | Tropical, solitary-leaning millipede |
| Substrate | Peat moss/coco fiber/bark, hides, 10-gal minimum |
| Feeding | Decaying leaf litter, rotting hardwood, soft fruit/veg |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 2: Beginner |
| Handling | Brief contact tolerated, curls up when stressed |
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
- Juveniles: Baby Buddy.
- Single adult or same-species pair: Burrow Buddy.
Warnings First
- Single-species housing only; never mix with other millipede species.
- Overwet substrate molds faster than it helps; keep it damp, not soaked.
- Mold at the right dampness is usually an airflow problem, not a watering one; vent low on two opposite walls before cutting back water.
- Sensitive to disturbance and noise; keep the enclosure away from high-traffic spots.
Simple Care
- Keep the peat/coco/bark substrate damp, not wet.
- Vent low on two opposite walls; that's the fix for the mold this species gets.
- Provide bark or wood hides.
- Keep it in a quiet location.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles so it cannot drown.
- Offer decaying wood and leaf litter continuously.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- This species is shy and stress-sensitive; a quiet, low-traffic spot matters as much as the physical setup.
- Give full-cover rock, wood and bark hides so it can get completely out of sight.
- Mold here is an airflow problem, not a moisture one. Vent low on two opposite walls rather than drying the enclosure out.
- Judge by squeeze and smell: damp like a wrung-out sponge and earthy, not sour or moldy.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles, and mist under the bark hides, not the open surface.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Decaying greens, soft fruit or veg and rotting hardwood are the base diet; keep cuttlebone available for calcium.
- Molts happen underground over days to weeks. A still, buried animal is molting, not dead; leave it undisturbed and keep that spot from drying out.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Thailand, with populations into Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
- Habitat translation: Dark, wet leaf litter and mulch near the ground: a damp, well-hidden, quiet terrarium setup.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Keep moisture on the drier side of damp; this species molds more easily than most giant tropicals if overwatered.
- Not safe to mix with other millipede species; don't cross-stock it the way you might with Bumblebees.
- The tail spike is a telson for digging and anchoring, not a stinger.