Dolph C. Volker | Playing With A GIANT African Millipede On My Face | Rescued From A Leopard Enclosure & Released @CheetahWhisperer | Uploaded April 2017 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
Please like this video if you like it ;)
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Firstly, I call it a "him" out of habit, which it is not. Male millipedes have modified legs between the third or seventh segments called gonopods. This giant millipede was a female and had normal legs on all segments.
The GIANT African Millipede (A. gigas) is the largest in the world. They can grow up to 17 inches. This one was about 12. It's an arthropod which means they are invertebrates that have an exoskeleton.
I'm fascinated by life in general and when this millipede was discovered in a leopard cage at Cheetah Experience, I had to play with it and show how cool it was before releasing it in the garden.
It had been raining hard for three days straight at Cheetah Experience and anything living underground had to surface for air or suffocate. Millipedes breath through special pores on their segments instead of breathing with lungs. In order to 'breath' this millipede had to surface for air.
Pet stores sell these for about $30-$50. They are quite placid but do have a nasty secretion of a poisonous chemical called hydrocyanic acid or HCL from their sides... a foul smelling and caustic agent. They secrete this if threatened or agitated. It repels potential predators and even can melt the exoskeleton of ants. If it gets on your skin, it stains it but does not hurt.... unless your allergic to it or get it in your eyes or mouth. It's poison.
The Giant African millipede does not actively attack, but more of a defensive organism. It can't see well and uses touch and feel with it's two antennae and feet. A millipedes other defense is their hard exoskeleton. They roll up in a coiled ball when physically agitated... burying their head inside their coiled body to protect itself.
They eat dead plant matter in the wild, but are fed a variety of fruits and vegetables in captivity.
After admiring it for the day, I fed it some melon and sent it to the garden out back of the volunteer house I was staying.
Thanks for watching and letting me indulge myself in my fascination with bugs... :)
My YouTube Channel:
youtube.com/channel/UC25bqOksVyD-SfdAToam-Bg
Twitter: twitter.com/Cheetah_Petter
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011235884507
Google+: plus.google.com/+DolphCVolker/posts
PayPal: To help me finance my volunteering & making these great videos :=) paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=UGXLLG5QK6RRC
Check Out My Book I Wrote: amazon.com/DIRE-ENCOUNTERS-Man-Meets-Wolf-ebook/dp/B00UEHUB2G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459509880&sr=8-2&keywords=dire+encounters
Please like this video if you like it ;)
Subscribe: youtube.com/channel/UC25bqOksVyD-SfdAToam-Bg?sub_confirmation=1
Firstly, I call it a "him" out of habit, which it is not. Male millipedes have modified legs between the third or seventh segments called gonopods. This giant millipede was a female and had normal legs on all segments.
The GIANT African Millipede (A. gigas) is the largest in the world. They can grow up to 17 inches. This one was about 12. It's an arthropod which means they are invertebrates that have an exoskeleton.
I'm fascinated by life in general and when this millipede was discovered in a leopard cage at Cheetah Experience, I had to play with it and show how cool it was before releasing it in the garden.
It had been raining hard for three days straight at Cheetah Experience and anything living underground had to surface for air or suffocate. Millipedes breath through special pores on their segments instead of breathing with lungs. In order to 'breath' this millipede had to surface for air.
Pet stores sell these for about $30-$50. They are quite placid but do have a nasty secretion of a poisonous chemical called hydrocyanic acid or HCL from their sides... a foul smelling and caustic agent. They secrete this if threatened or agitated. It repels potential predators and even can melt the exoskeleton of ants. If it gets on your skin, it stains it but does not hurt.... unless your allergic to it or get it in your eyes or mouth. It's poison.
The Giant African millipede does not actively attack, but more of a defensive organism. It can't see well and uses touch and feel with it's two antennae and feet. A millipedes other defense is their hard exoskeleton. They roll up in a coiled ball when physically agitated... burying their head inside their coiled body to protect itself.
They eat dead plant matter in the wild, but are fed a variety of fruits and vegetables in captivity.
After admiring it for the day, I fed it some melon and sent it to the garden out back of the volunteer house I was staying.
Thanks for watching and letting me indulge myself in my fascination with bugs... :)
My YouTube Channel:
youtube.com/channel/UC25bqOksVyD-SfdAToam-Bg
Twitter: twitter.com/Cheetah_Petter
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011235884507
Google+: plus.google.com/+DolphCVolker/posts
PayPal: To help me finance my volunteering & making these great videos :=) paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=UGXLLG5QK6RRC
Check Out My Book I Wrote: amazon.com/DIRE-ENCOUNTERS-Man-Meets-Wolf-ebook/dp/B00UEHUB2G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459509880&sr=8-2&keywords=dire+encounters
