SPECIES CARE GUIDE
Giant Gold / Desert Millipedes
Orthroporus ornatus
ENVIRONMENT
Core care conditions
Use these ranges as a starting point and adjust for life stage, enclosure ventilation and observed behaviour.
HUSBANDRY OVERVIEW
At a glance
- Taxonomic group
- Diplopoda
- Origin
- Southwestern United States
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Adult size (body / total length)
- 10–15 cm
- Temperament
- Docile
- Experience level
- Beginner
- Visibility
- Mostly hidden
- Burrowing
- Heavy burrower
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Keeping mode
- Communal-capable
CARE NOTES
Keeping considerations
Provide a wide horizontal enclosure with a deep substrate mix (4–6 inches of organic topsoil, sand, and decayed hardwood/leaf litter). Unlike tropical millipedes, they require a drier setup; keep the bulk of the substrate dry, but provide a small damp corner or a moist sphagnum moss hide so they can regulate their hydration. Feed a diet of decaying hardwood, dry leaves, fresh vegetables (such as squash, courgette, and sweet potato), and a calcium source (like cuttlebone) for exoskeleton health. Excellent candidates for communal display enclosures.
KEEP EXPLORING
More millipedes
Related completed care guides from the millipedes library.
