So I went to a show earlier tonight and I ran into a friend that’s really into plants. We started talking about composting (duh) and she mentioned having a bunch of pet millipedes. I wasn’t aware that they also act as composters, although not on the same level as the famous red wiggler.
Another item to add to the agenda…creating a millipede bin alongside the worm bin and see just how much slower they degrade stuff. I can’t say I’ve ever thought of having pet millipedes, but it sounds like a cool addition to the house if they like to compost. Why not?
Later today, I will be posting my review of the Envirocycle compost tumbler, as well as another update on the kitchen compost crock. I think it’s day 7 now. The contents are looking really degraded and the lid’s underside is covered in maggots…it’s pretty awesome. Stay tuned!
I just started composting with millipedes, I got the idea when I was trying to set up a natural terrarium with plants and had a millipede hitch-hike in with the dirt 😛 when I saw the fine pile of poop I couldn’t help but wonder if they would work as well as my red wigglers. I have two bins of worms. I decided just to find them outside here and there and put them in a small container I have for them. I found an interesting study on millipedes vs worms. Turns out the millipedes compost is better than worm castings. Here is the article. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=45d1a578-79b4-4c16-b5e2-e152e18a22b2%40sessionmgr104&hid=124
Not to mention during my research I found out that millipedes eat 5X their body weight in a day and it is all composting because they eat little non food items. We all know worms only do up to their body weight and most of the time it isnt only food, some is bedding or castings. I personally believe that soon people will realize this and start using millipedes for composting instead. Good luck if you decide to use millipedes 🙂
Just found what’s either a millipede or a snake in my compost bin. Didn’t kill it, so can’t be sure, but estimate its length at 8″ or so. Moved very quickly, like a snake, but never saw a head so think it’s a millipede.
Saw it when I was emptying the bin into a storage barrel.
I put my own experience with composting here: http://www.stevenkohn.net/compost/ Hope it helps someone.
Steve,
Movements like a snake sounds more like a centipede than a milipede. Milipedes move rather slowly having lots of little feet under their bodies, and they like to curl up too. But centipedes, with their many legs on the outer lateral edge of their bodies move with more of an S shaped slithering pattern, much like a snake, and it is much faster than a milipede. So you may have seen a ceneipede rather then a milipede. Centipedes can bit and be venemous. Some get rather large in some parts of the country.