# Info on Zoosphaerium neptunus : Giant green pill millipedes



## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

My partner has picked up some Zoosphaerium Neptunus (Giant Green Pill Mill's) on a whim, and I'm looking for some info on them.

Thing's like set-up details, temperature, feeding and sexing.

We have them set-up with coir, and sphagnum moss, getting some live plants in with them later today.

Wondering the rest.

Thanks. xx


----------



## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

polaris2582 said:


> My partner has picked up some Zoosphaerium Neptunus (Giant Green Pill Mill's) on a whim, and I'm looking for some info on them.
> 
> Thing's like set-up details, temperature, feeding and sexing.
> 
> ...


there isnt very much out there about them, I have a couple of them myself,
you need to go to the woods and collect a load of really really rotten wood, rotting leaves and wild moss (they dont like sphagnum)

as for temperature they like it cool, if they get over 20c they will slowly loose weight and die, mine are kept around 17c 
make sure the substrate is relatively deep as one of mine has taken to burying 
himself a little

oh and good luck they have a really high mortality rate from what I can make out alot of the time they are kept really really incorrectly by sellers and then its too late by the time someone gets them.


----------



## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

Thanks, that's what we've been doing, I'll tell him to remove and replace the sphagnum.

They've got quite a deep substrate, and one of them has half buried itself happily, while the other one is trotting around.

How long do these guys live do you know?



lycanlord20 said:


> there isnt very much out there about them, I have a couple of them myself,
> you need to go to the woods and collect a load of really really rotten wood, rotting leaves and wild moss (they dont like sphagnum)
> 
> as for temperature they like it cool, if they get over 20c they will slowly loose weight and die, mine are kept around 17c
> ...


----------



## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

polaris2582 said:


> Thanks, that's what we've been doing, I'll tell him to remove and replace the sphagnum.
> 
> They've got quite a deep substrate, and one of them has half buried itself happily, while the other one is trotting around.
> 
> How long do these guys live do you know?


no idea on the true lifespan of them, but most people report them dying within months of keeping them, the main issue being they starve themselves to death. 
So far mine do seem to be eating and I keep finding fresh poo pellets so all seems good so far.
What I did was, I went to the woods, looked for woodlice and collected the wood they were living in along with lots of nearby mosses and leaves


----------



## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

lycanlord20 said:


> no idea on the true lifespan of them, but most people report them dying within months of keeping them, the main issue being they starve themselves to death.
> So far mine do seem to be eating and I keep finding fresh poo pellets so all seems good so far.
> What I did was, I went to the woods, looked for woodlice and collected the wood they were living in along with lots of nearby mosses and leaves


Sounds like a plan I shall tell him to go hunt down wild woodlice, and bring back some of their home. I swear if they die in a couple of months i'm going to kill him..... :bash:
xxx


----------



## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

lycanlord20 said:


> there isnt very much out there about them, I have a couple of them myself,
> you need to go to the woods and collect a load of really really rotten wood, rotting leaves and wild moss (they dont like sphagnum)
> 
> as for temperature they like it cool, if they get over 20c they will slowly loose weight and die, mine are kept around 17c
> ...





lycanlord20 said:


> no idea on the true lifespan of them, but most people report them dying within months of keeping them, the main issue being they starve themselves to death.
> So far mine do seem to be eating and I keep finding fresh poo pellets so all seems good so far.
> What I did was, I went to the woods, looked for woodlice and collected the wood they were living in along with lots of nearby mosses and leaves


everything you've said there, is everything i've heard too. there's a book on milli's & centi's published by TFH, & it says the same. virginia cheeseman had them once, about 12 years back- she said she probably won't get them again, cos she couldn't find out enough to to keep them properly.


----------



## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

yeah Im hoping I have some success as so far they are eating perfectly fine and seem more than happy plodding around the RUB


----------



## polaris2582 (Jan 19, 2011)

lycanlord20 said:


> yeah Im hoping I have some success as so far they are eating perfectly fine and seem more than happy plodding around the RUB


Well he caught one of our new arrivals eating today ( a piece of well on its way to being rotted cherry foliage) so all seems well in their world for the moment, hopefully we have gotten them early and the seller has had a good knowledge of care to keep them health enough, and we can keep it that way, we have got them in the spare room which rarely leaves an ambient of 16degrees so hopefully that should keep them happy, and I'm in the process of trying to find out as much about their natural habits as possible. Seen a really cool video of them swarming earlier, which apparently they do every now and then in the wild for no apparent reason. (or I haven't found it yet)..... beatuiful animals though.

Are yours a good level of green, or black? We have one very green, and one more black but still green sheen. Not sure why this may be, hoping its not a health thing.... though it probably is.


----------



## lycanlord20 (Jul 11, 2008)

polaris2582 said:


> Well he caught one of our new arrivals eating today ( a piece of well on its way to being rotted cherry foliage) so all seems well in their world for the moment, hopefully we have gotten them early and the seller has had a good knowledge of care to keep them health enough, and we can keep it that way, we have got them in the spare room which rarely leaves an ambient of 16degrees so hopefully that should keep them happy, and I'm in the process of trying to find out as much about their natural habits as possible. Seen a really cool video of them swarming earlier, which apparently they do every now and then in the wild for no apparent reason. (or I haven't found it yet)..... beatuiful animals though.
> 
> Are yours a good level of green, or black? We have one very green, and one more black but still green sheen. Not sure why this may be, hoping its not a health thing.... though it probably is.



It depends on the light to be honest, but yeah they both have a green hue to them


----------

