# Velvet Worms



## pied pythons (Jan 18, 2008)

Sorry guys...another question!

Velvet Worms...something else that has fascinated me for years...but they're so hard to come by...

I've just found a UK breeder that according to the website, has them in stock (have just emailed to confirm)...

Now...all the care sheets I've read suggest keeping them at room temperature (appx 20C) and feeding them on all variety of small insects/bugs including crickets etc...

Does anyone know if there is a specific diet you should feed them? i.e Would feeding them on mealworms alone cause problems...or would they need a mixture of crickets, mealworms, beetles etc...? 

I gather a mixed/varied diet is far preferable...but just trying to work out the possibilities...

Does anyone keep these...and are they easy to breed?

Best wishes & thanks for the help in advance : victory:


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## PaperWasp (Jul 29, 2009)

Feed them a variety of bugs for successful keeping, Mealworms are quiet fatty but a variety is benificial, dusting with calcium is also a good idea.


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## corpselight (Jan 10, 2008)

if they are the ones from New Zealand (which they probably are, am friends with someone who imported them, only been able to get New Zealand ones so far), room temperature is considerably too hot for them.
i think 12 degrees celsius is about right, but apparently they do fine if kept in a fridge around 6 degrees.
might be worth getting a little beer fridge, and setting it to between 6 and 12.
i kept mine in a cellar and it was evidently too warm still!


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## corpselight (Jan 10, 2008)

just to add, the person who got the NZ ones in is Martin Goss. he is trying to get some from South America that are larger and need higher temps, so are easier to look after. i will be getting some when he does, i'd recommend keeping a bit of an eye on his site just in case, but i don't think it's going to be all that soon.


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## pied pythons (Jan 18, 2008)

Hmm...seemingly much colder than I anticipated!

Our house can be pretty chilly downstairs...especially in the little room under the stairs which I use for book storage etc...but perhaps still not enough.

I will have to look into it more. Will check out your friends website and keep checking back.

Thanks all!


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## corpselight (Jan 10, 2008)

cool! i think he even has a care sheet for those specific Velvet worms on his site...

edit: though i have just checked it and it says 10-20...i think that might need updating as last he said when i spoke to him was definitely closer to 10 lol, and he was saying keeping them in the fridge is fine lol


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

I had 5 of these for several months. 

I'd go for keeping them in the fridge, they really quickly deteriorate if kept too hot and 20c is waaaay to hot. 

They will eat most small invertebrates - I used to keep mine in a natural tank with a large colony of springtails and small woodlice which formed their staple diet. 

They are nice animals, but really quite dull to keep and the most photophobic animals I have ever come across.


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## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

Would keeping them outside be feasable? (In a fish tank or similar)


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## mikemike118 (Aug 15, 2009)

*velvet worm help!*

Velvet Worms

Peripatus species
Velvet Worms are strange but fascinating little creatures. Feeding on live insects, they suck out the soft tissue while their victim is still alive. Rarely seen or owned, these are a must for any collector!


What a Velvet Worm look like?

The velvet worm has to be the strangest, but attractive little creature I have come across. They are named Velvet Worms as they have a velvet texture, but are not worms. This species grows to an average adult size of 40mm (1.5 inches). The colour ranges from almost black to dark brown with light speckles. They have 14 or more little stumpy legs and two antennae protrude from the head. From these antennae a fluid is squirted which is sticky to the touch, this is how they catch their prey. The food becomes tangled within the sticky threads, the velvet worm then bites one hole and sucks the soft tissue out!
There are two species in New Zealand that are very hard to tell apart, one will lay small white eggs, while the other gives birth to live young.


Where are Velvet Worms from?

Found in New Zealand.
This species of velvet worm doesn't like to be kept to hot, a room temperature of 18-22C (64-74F) should be provided. Keep their habitat damp by using soil, moss and rotting wood. It will help if you spray lightly with treated water every day.
A voracious, nocturnal predator.


Are Velvet Worms easy to keep?

Yes, as long as you have the correct set-up.
As mentioned above, velvet worms like to be kept cool and damp. Place soil in the bottom of your container covered with damp moss. Use rotting wood and small pieces of stones to provide hides during the day as velvet worms are nocturnal and hunt at night.
Feeding velvet worms is easy, purchase small crickets from our Live Foods section or catch your own in your back garden. The live foods need to be quite small and nothing to big and over powering for the velvet worm. Place a few small crickets in the container every 2/3 days.


source: Velvet Worms - Peripatus species


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Those temperatures are TOO HIGH. 

Both myself and Steve had some and they die at temps above 12C,full stop. 

Keep them in the fridge...and DONT BUY S African sp! They are extremely rare and to buy them is plain reckless. At least the N.Zealand species have some sort of population estimates...many species from Africa are only known from tiny locales and collection could threaten them severely.


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

Also "voracious, nocturnal predator" makes them sound like squishy centipedes and quite far from the facts.


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

GRB said:


> Those temperatures are TOO HIGH.
> 
> Both myself and Steve had some and they die at temps above 12C,full stop.
> 
> Keep them in the fridge...and DONT BUY S African sp! They are extremely rare and to buy them is plain reckless. At least the N.Zealand species have some sort of population estimates...many species from Africa are only known from tiny locales and collection could threaten them severely.


Aye, I totally fecked up with these, AND that was after leaving my bedroom window open ALL DAY in the winter, and ice packs behind them!



Like the fella says, unless you have a cellar, or maybe a fridge, then I would not bother.

I actually thought they were a bit boring as well, tbh.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Oderus said:


> Also "voracious, nocturnal predator" makes them sound like squishy centipedes and quite far from the facts.


Yes, and they don't suck the fluids from prey whilst they are alive. I hate when people sex up caresheets for animals - these things have low vagility, limited dispersal and form small populations which are at massive risk from over collection...

Unless you have lots of hours to spend with a red light, and a spare fridge, I would not buy these animals. They are not big eaters nor do they move on a timescale that to us looks like they are doing much.


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## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

I dont think I ever mentioned south african ones. So would it be possible to keep the NZ species outside?


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Mujician said:


> I dont think I ever mentioned south african ones. So would it be possible to keep the NZ species outside?


Yeah I was looking at the other thread as well 

You might, but the temp gets above 12C in summer, so they would still die off. Seriously, just buy a small fridge if you want these.


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Mujician said:


> I dont think I ever mentioned south african ones. So would it be possible to keep the NZ species outside?


Probably, but it would be hard to regulate temps, you get warmer days in the winter, etc.

You on Freecycle?

You will get a minifridge from there, after which, I would imagine that might be the best way to go.

_*Personally I would rather keep beers in the fridge*_


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## LFG (Apr 2, 2007)

Unfortunately the only sensible way forward with captive peripatus would seem to be to obtain some tropical (most likely S. American) species suited to room temperature or above (after all, heating is a hell of a lot easier than cooling) and get a captive colony established in Europe.

I have spent years trying to track down a supply of tropical peripatus to that end, and so far failed.My hope is to set up a breeding colony if I ever track any down. Martin Goss has also had no luck with his aforementioned endeavours to obtain some.

There are a few individual live specimens in the odd collection in Europe, but as yet there have been none offered for sale or trade.

_Just to preempt, some of the S. American species are relatively common, and depending on the species, could be collected in small numbers at no detriment to natural populations (annoyingly, I've been there and seen them, but was not able to collect at the time)._


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

LFG said:


> _Just to preempt, some of the S. American species are relatively common, and depending on the species, could be collected in small numbers at no detriment to natural populations (annoyingly, I've been there and seen them, but was not able to collect at the time)._


Not that I doubt you, but do you have reference to this?

I'm interested in management and assessing biodiversity, population size etc. It was my understanding that these animals tended to behave like Mesothelae spiders, in that they form small relatively isolated populations. 

Obviously if you have been out there you'll have seen it first hand, but there are of course dangers in assuming that seeing lots in one small area means that there are lots of individuals in the vicinity.


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## LFG (Apr 2, 2007)

In the absence of much in the way of research into the sizes of peripatus populations, my best information is from having seen them in Costa Rica, but the following provides some confirmation of my own observations - a study of a 330 square meter area of Costa Rican rainforest (not a large area when you consider that's equivelant of 1/30th of a football pitch) contained 33 individuals.

http://www.leaflitter.org/documents/1999McGlynnOnychophora.pdf

obviously this is a small study, but I think it fair to assume certain species of peripatus would not be endangered by the collection of a few specimens.

Of course if someone decded to approach this in the same way as the New Zealand species, relying on regular imports of dozens of wild caught specimens at a time, then questions of sustainability would need raising - which is why I am personally looking to obtain enough species to establish an initial colony, and distribute CB individuals when the culture is established.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Thanks for the link  I'll get round to reading it this afternoon, I like Onychophorans but as you said there is very little work on them. 

Good luck with any breeding attempts, it would be great to see some of the more brightly coloured, heat tolerant species make it into capable hands. 




LFG said:


> In the absence of much in the way of research into the sizes of peripatus populations, my best information is from having seen them in Costa Rica, but the following provides some confirmation of my own observations - a study of a 330 square meter area of Costa Rican rainforest (not a large area when you consider that's equivelant of 1/30th of a football pitch) contained 33 individuals.
> 
> http://www.leaflitter.org/documents/1999McGlynnOnychophora.pdf
> 
> ...


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

I seem to recall at one time the used to be a Onychophoran yahoo group that had some good info but membership was restricted to researchers, that or it was a wider group that carried velvet worm discussions, it maybe worth checking out yahoo group listings for it incase it's stil active or at least not yet deleted.


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## LFG (Apr 2, 2007)

Oderus said:


> I seem to recall at one time the used to be a Onychophoran yahoo group that had some good info but membership was restricted to researchers, that or it was a wider group that carried velvet worm discussions, it maybe worth checking out yahoo group listings for it incase it's stil active or at least not yet deleted.


 
It wasn't restricted, I joined it at one point, though was quite some time ago now. Not sure if it's still going, but I haven't had anything off it for years.

EDIT - just checked it out - seems to be full of spam so guessing its fallen out of use... http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/onychophora/


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

Ah good to id not imagined it, id not seen the group itself only a few posts copied to other yahoo groups (one on the main myriapod group iirc) sadly a lot of the older yahoo groups seem to have been abandoned even were there seems to be little or no web forum replacements for some of the subjects


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Have you seen Onychophora Online: velvet worms, peripatus, living fossils, by Julian Monge Najera ?

I did try to join the mailing list but nothing has come of it yet


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## LFG (Apr 2, 2007)

Ever hear anything from that mailing list?

I'm still on the hunt for some captive peripatus of a non-novaezealandiae persuasion, no luck as yet.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

LFG said:


> Ever hear anything from that mailing list?
> 
> I'm still on the hunt for some captive peripatus of a non-novaezealandiae persuasion, no luck as yet.


Alas not, I think it may have fallen inactive...


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