This page is devoted to reports and recipes of substrate mixes that have been proven to be successful with millipedes, as well as to list brands of soil that are safe for use with millipedes, arranged by region.
Golfgreen® Organic Triple Mix with Kelp. Eaten by round millipedes enthusiastically.
All Treat Farms® Premium Tropical Soil.
BellaTerra Garden Soil.
Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil.
Premier® Peat Moss Tourbe de Sphaigne.
GardenTime Mushroom Compost.
All collected materials are pasteurized by placing them on pans in the sun for up to 1-2 days and rotating the materials several times over that period. All ingredients are then thoroughly mixed together and moistened to the appropriate level.
30% potting soil OR peat moss (or coco fiber if it is the only option). This serves as the base.
30% rotting leaves. Leaves are best crushed or shredded instead of used whole.
30% crushed or shredded rotting wood OR 30% flake soil (if not used in lieu of the base). White rotting wood that flakes and crumbles easily is the best for this application.
10% aspen bedding OR 10% sphagnum moss. This helps absorb excess moisture and creates a more airy substrate.
A few handfuls of millipede frass if available (this will help offspring and buffer mold outbreaks) is also mixed in. Topped off with a layer of rotting leaves and perhaps a few larger pieces/logs of rotting wood half-buried; sticks covered in lichen are added to the surface if available. This substrate is fairly easy to make, and good for neophytes looking for a standard, simple recipe.
Base substrate: I use organic Black Earth soil (bought from a store), it consists of humus, compost, and peat moss. Always make sure that the substrate does not contain any pesticides, fertilizer, or herbicides! This is critically important.
Baked decayed wood and leaves that can be collected from any of the following: oak, alder, beech, maple, or apple wood that has never been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides.
Sphagnum moss (millipedes enjoy eating it and it helps retain humidity).
Boiled green forest moss and lichen; I collect this from a forest in an area with no pesticides or herbicides.
Asian forest moss (the kind that is sold in the reptile section in pets stores in a block sealed in plastic).
1% Shaved cuttlefish bone reduced to a fine powder.
Springtails. Absolutely necessary to ensure a healthy bioactive substrate as they help eat waste and mold, preventing large mold outbreaks.
Stratiolaelaps scimitus (formerly Hypoapsis miles) mites. Not a requirement but I highly recommend them. They are a predatory mite that eat grain mites and other pests. They do not harm millipedes at any life stage in any way. They are an absolutely invaluable addition to your bioactive substrate. I keep them in every bin!
Oak, maple, and/or beech branches to provide specimens opportunities to climb.
Cork bark tubes as hides.
Maple or oak bark tubes for hiding or climbing millipedes.
Pillow moss for decoration or to retain humidity.
I also provide Exo Terra reptile caves for hiding (they retain humidity and the millies love them), Exo Terra water bowls that are filled with fresh filtered water at all times, an Exoterra rock dish that is filled with fresh fresh organic fruits and vegetables only (of course you don’t have to use an Exo Terra rock dish, it can be any dish, I just find they look the best visually), and artificial, non-toxic plastic plants as decoration.
Substrate Preparation Instructions:
For preparing leaves, after I collect them (hardwood leaves) from the forest I wash them all in hot water. Do not use soap. Then I allow them to dry out on large plastic bin lids. Once they have fully dried then I wrap the leaves in tinfoil in a tray and bake the leaves at 175°F/79.4°C for 3-5 minutes tops in a toaster oven, otherwise they start to catch on fire after that. Make sure you have a spray bottle on hand and stand in front of the stove to watch for smoke so you can quickly take the leaves out if you see smoke and spray the leaf edges if they catch on fire. Never leave the oven unattended!
With regards to the wood, I collect only decaying wood from hardwood trees that is soft and crumbly to touch. A good indicator that it is good wood is if you see wild millipedes and isopods in it. I try to remove as many of them as I can while I collect the wood. When I get home I break up all the wood into smaller pieces and remove any wild millipedes or isopods and put them in a small container to release back into the wild later (they shouldn’t have to die to feed my specimens!). Once I have gone through all the wood, if it is damp, then I dry the wood out for several days first as it bakes better when dry. You can rinse the wood too, but then it takes even longer to dry, and since I bake it at a high temperature I don’t bother rinsing the wood. Once I am ready to bake the wood I get out a big metal tray and cover it in tinfoil and fill the whole tray. I bake for 30-40 minutes at 350°F/176.6°C, and make sure to sit there with a spray bottle ready by the stove Incase it catches fire! If it does, pull the wood out and quickly spray the burning part down. You can still use it as charcoal is fine for millipedes just break it up and scatter it evenly. Once your wood is all baked it is ready to be used when cool!
Once have all your ingredients, mix your substrate up and add only as much water as you need so that the substrate is damp but not soaking wet! You should not be able to squeeze a bunch of water out of the substrate. If you can, you have added too much water and you will need to add a bunch of dry soil or leaves to mix in so that you cannot squeeze water out. Substrate that is too wet can kill your millipedes by water logging them and can also cause mold or fungal outbreaks. It is very important to never have the substrate too wet or too dry. It should just be thoroughly damp but not muddy. Once your substrate is completely mixed with wood and leaves evenly blended into every inch of the soil, add extra decayed wood and leaves on the top layer for the adults and those that like to roam the surface, even if your millipedes spend most of their time hiding. A leaf layer is important not only to feed the millipedes, but it also acts as a barrier and keeps the substrate from drying out too quickly. I recommend a 1-2”/2.5-5 cm thick leaf layer on the top. This leaf layer triggers many species to breed and lay eggs, especially African species that need this seasonal trigger.
The more diverse the substrate, the healthier it is for your millipedes. If your substrate is not nutritious enough, your millipedes will not lay eggs for you. A female will gladly retain sperm and hold onto it for a long time while she waits to find the perfect location where all her needs are met to lay her eggs.
This is not intended by any means to be taken as the only way or the best way to make flake soil. This is simply the method I currently use and have had great success with. You should use this as a guide to help you get started and adjust whatever you need to suit whatever species you keep.
What is flake soil?
Flake soil (FS) is a type of substrate used by both millipede and beetle keepers. To put it most simply, it is a fermented mixture of wood dust and either flour, wheat bran, chitosin, or soy flour. The use of a quality mycorrhizae inoculant aids in the fermentation process.
The purpose of allowing the wood dust to ferment is to break down the lignin structures and allow the animals to be able to consume the cellulose within. Without doing this, the animals will starve to death. Unfortunately this is a long process. It takes roughly 6-8 months for FS to be ready. For this recipe I have adjusted it slightly in order to focus on making a high quality millipede substrate.
*It is important that the FS ferments and doesn't rot. This is ensured by daily turning for the first month. Weekly turning is sufficient for the rest of the process.*
To get started making FS you'll need the following items:
1) Wood dust (saw dust): Most readily found near BBQ supplies. Wood pellets sold for smoking food with no additives in them can be used as the wood dust required to make FS. You simply put the pellets in a bucket and cover the pellets with hot water. The water will expand the pellets and leave you with a fine dust.
2) Wheat bran: As I said earlier, some use flour or other protein sources. I prefer wheat bran since, for me at least, it seems easier to get fermenting instead of rotting. I've spoken with others who have told me the opposite. Best advice I can give is to try experimenting with both and see which works better for you.
3) Mycorrhizae Inoculant: Technically mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi. For our use, a quality mycorrhizae inoculant (inoculum) puts beneficial fungi into our lignan and nutrient rich mixture and breaks it all down into something ready to be eaten by our hungry myriapods.
4) Yeast: I have used active yeast and brewers yeast. In my opinion, there is no discernable difference between either so use whichever you prefer. You do not need much.
5) Water: Without moisture fermentation cannot occur.
You want to follow a 4:1 ratio of wood dust to wheat bran. For example: 8kg wood dust : 2kg wheat bran. If you use too much wheat bran (or whatever additive you chose) the FS may be too "hot" and end up harming or even killing your millipede.
Now that you have all your ingredients, lets get mixing. To keep things a little easier for those starting out, I'll continue explaining the process using my example from above.
Measure your 8kg of wood dust and 2kg of wheat bran. Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly. Now take a tablespoon of your mycorrhizae inoculant and mix it in with 20L of water. Add about 1/3 packet of yeast to the water, mix it all thoroughly, then pour it into your wood dust/wheat bran mix. Mix this all together THOROUGHLY. I cannot stress the mixing part enough. If it isn't all mixed together well enough, you can develop spots that rot instead of ferment and it will ruin your hole batch.
After you mix everything together well, cover it up and write down the date this batch was started. This will help you keep track of when it was started and allow you to make adjustments later on with your next batches.
Now it is absolutely crucial you turn the FS daily the first month. You do not want any area to become anaerobic (oxygen deprived) or else it will stagnate and rot which will ruin the whole batch. When you first start this you will notice the top layer of the FS will turn from a bright golden color to a dull light brown. That is exactly what you want to see. As you mix you'll see the lower layers will still have the brighter color. Eventually it'll all become uniform.
Another thing that you'll notice while mixing, the smell. The first and second month are the most intense. It is similar to "skunky" beer or sour wine. That is perfectly normal. By the third month the smell will mostly have faded away. This is how you know your FS is doing well.
During the fermentation process the FS will generate its own heat. As long as wherever you're doing this doesn't get below 55F (12.7C) no supplemental heat is needed.
After the first month you only need to do weekly turnings (although doing more is always better). When you do weekly turnings, you'll notice white cotton looking growths on the surface of the FS. That's mycelium and it's normal. It is a sign of healthy FS in the making. After 5 months this will no longer happen since the majority of the nutrients have been broken down.
By the 3rd month, I mix in dry dead leaf litter from various hardwood species as well as wood chunks that I can crumble easily in my hands. This will add more beneficial material that the millipedes will greatly benefit from as well as ensuring your substrate has lots of various trace elements that are required for healthy growth.
At the 6th month mark, your FS should look and smell like dirt. The color should have lost all its bright goldeness and now resembles dark chocolate. If it doesn't quite have a rich earthy smell to it yet or it still looks a little light, don't fret. just give it some more time.
This can be used as a complete substrate on its own, but before using for millipedes I like to add more leaf litter, wood chunks, and a small amount of play sand (to help hold burrows better). Some others also add sphagnum moss, but I see that as just a filler.
Things to Note:
Too much water is a much bigger problem than too little water. If you are unsure of your measurements when starting this, lean on the side of caution and go with less water. You can always add more later on. If you start off with too much water you're much more likely to cause your FS to rot.
If at any point the FS starts to smell like vinegar, ammonia, sulfur, or like a dead animal, it has started to rot and should be disposed of.
The FS will continue fermenting long after the 8th month. You can dry it out to halt this and store for long term, or you can always use whatever is left over to start up new batches. Since the fungi and bacteria will already be accustomed to digesting the raw materials from the first batch, it should cut down some time of the subsequent batches made.