Atopochetus dollfusii (trade name: Tonkinbolus dollfusi)
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.
Red Dragon Millipede: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A red-banded tropical millipede that does well in groups. Give it a deep, edible bed of rotted hardwood leaves and wood, moist below with air moving across the top, plus calcium.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 1: Kid FriendlySetup: Humid tropical burrower, deep 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 | 72-80°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | 70-85%: moist lower layer, drier surface |
| Setup Type | Humid tropical burrower, deep edible substrate |
| Substrate | Deep rotted hardwood leaves, rotted wood, soil, moist below |
| Feeding | Rotted leaves and wood, cuttlebone, light veggies, no citrus |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 1: Kid Friendly |
| 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
- Juveniles: Baby Buddy with deep edible substrate, moist below
- Adults and groups: Burrow Buddy, substrate depth and food scaled to the group
Warnings First
- Do not let the substrate dry out. It is their food as well as their home, so keep the lower layer moist.
- Pack the water dish with pebbles so juveniles cannot drown.
- Millipedes molt buried and go still for days or weeks. Never dig one up, and keep that spot damp.
- No citrus, treated wood or pesticides.
- A still, damp bin sours and they stop grazing. Vent low on two opposite walls so air crosses the substrate.
- Handling is optional, and a fall can injure it.
Simple Care
- Build a deep, edible substrate of decayed hardwood leaves, rotted wood and organic soil.
- Vent low on two opposite walls so air keeps crossing the substrate surface.
- Keep the lower layer moist with airflow above. A moss patch helps.
- Keep a shallow water dish packed with pebbles.
- Keep groups in a roomy, deep, well-fed bin.
- Keep cuttlebone in for calcium. Veggies are treats, never citrus.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Vent at or just above the substrate on two opposite walls. The substrate is food, so a still damp bin does not just mold, it sours and they stop grazing.
- Carry the moisture in the deep layer, not in still air, then ventilate freely.
- Check by squeeze and smell. Lower substrate clumps like a wrung-out sponge with no free water and smells like forest floor. Sour or ammonia means more air and fresh substrate.
- Mist under the leaf litter and moss, not over the surface. The visible surface stays clean instead of sodden.
- Groups do fine when substrate depth, leaf litter and rotting wood are scaled to the group, not the display cup.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Decayed hardwood leaves and rotted wood are the staple diet. Cuttlebone for calcium, veggies only as occasional extras. No citrus, treated wood or pesticides.
- Keep fruit and veg light and pull it before it spoils, or you get flies and mold.
- Molting: they seal into an underground chamber and go still for days or weeks. Never dig one up, keep that spot damp, and keep cuttlebone in. They eat the shed for calcium.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Vietnam, in tropical forest leaf litter.
- Habitat translation: Forest leaf litter becomes a deep, edible bed of hardwood leaves and rotted wood, moist below with air moving across it, plus cuttlebone and detritus to graze.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Adults reach about 4-5 in. A long-lived detritivore.
- Beginner-friendly once you get the deep edible substrate idea.
- Name note: sold as Tonkinbolus dollfusi, but the accepted name is Atopochetus dollfusii, family Pachybolidae.