Maui Skunk-Striped Millipede (Spirobollelus immigrans)

Hit it with a blacklight and the whole colony lights up

Spirobollelus immigrans, the Maui Skunk-Striped Millipede, is a peaceful, fast-growing tropical species with a striped “skunk” pattern down its back and one genuinely magical party trick: it glows. There is a blue-green fluorescence in its cuticle, so a UV flashlight at night turns a whole group into a glow-in-the-dark display. (At a Big Z booth, that is an instant crowd.)

It ships as a single millipede, but they are communal and genuinely happier with a few buddies; building a little colony over a couple of orders is the move. Care is millipede-easy: a humid, leaf-littered enclosure with rotting hardwood (the food and the bedding), some misting, and that is about it. Hardy, slow-paced, forgiving: a great “first millipede” with a built-in light show.

The numbers live in the care guide. Enclosure size, temps, humidity, feeding schedule, premolt signs, handling boundaries: it's all in the care guide for this exact fella. Start with the full Advanced guide, or click for the quick Open the Simple version →