Golden-Edged Banded Millipede
Coromus diaphorus
No venom, no sting
Millipedes don't bite or sting and have no venom. Many do secrete defensive chemicals when stressed, so wash your hands after handling and keep them away from your eyes and mouth.
Secretes hydrogen cyanide
Releases small amounts of hydrogen cyanide when stressed. Harmless in an open room and in the quantities involved, but handle in ventilated space, never in a closed container held to your face, and wash your hands afterwards.
About
A handsome, active West African flat-back — dark with golden-beige segment edges (juveniles start white and darken with age). Easy, prolific, and colony-forming, making it a good beginner polydesmid. Keep a deep, humus-rich substrate with shredded deciduous leaves, white rotten wood, a little grit, and cuttlebone for calcium at 72-82°F and 70-80% humidity in a cross-ventilated enclosure. Most of its diet is the substrate itself; fruit, veg, and millipede food are taken occasionally. Like other flat-backs it can release a mild defensive secretion — wash hands after handling.
Taxonomy
Size & growth
Millipedes molt underground in a small chamber and can stay buried for weeks. If yours has disappeared into the substrate, leave it be — digging it up mid-molt can kill it.
Climate
Enclosure
Feeding
Times kept: 0