Hello and welcome to Invertecast. I am here with Simon from the Mantis Garden of, as
always, hello Simon. Hello. Hello. And I of course am Leah from Torrentia. And yeah,
today we're talking centipedes and millipedes. They are in a family known as Myriapoda, or
Myriapods, which means many feet, which is ancient Greek wording, meaning many feet.
Very, very cool. So yeah, so I figured we would break down centipedes first. And basically
what that means is that they are a sec, they have a very long and segmented body. And each
segment of their body has two legs, or actually what, you know, two legs, because either side,
whereas millipedes, they have kind of a round, robust body that's long. And each body segment has
two legs on either side, so four legs per body segment. And so that's kind of like some of the
differences between centipedes and millipedes. Also centipedes are venomous. Oh sure, what's up?
I've just got to say, it's a really easy way to tell the difference between the
centipede and millipede. It's just look from the top, the legs of the centipede come out the
side of the segments, the legs of a millipede come from underneath. Absolutely, no that's great.
So spotting it if you know you wasn't sure. Yeah, okay. And so obviously Simon has a really big,
beautiful centipede there on camera. What species is that? This is an atherostrectus
and gigus, which is an African, a giant African trained millipede. Very cool. She's not
an adult yet. She's gonna care, she's gonna go back and get bigger. She'll be amongst.
I love it. Even if you have a moustache, they live quite a long time, these large millipedes.
You can get a pet in 15 years out of one of these, which is a serious pet. I mean for me,
especially, who's used to axis, if you're lucky if you get 18 months out of them. So I think
it's a good thing. Well it takes me into retirement, put it that way. Heck yeah, I think that's amazing.
You get a lot of things when you buy stuff, don't you? You go and say, well I could get. Yeah,
right? Yeah. I'm a little bit tired, aren't I? Yeah. Well I love that about millipedes and
centipedes. They do have kind of a longer lifespan than some other atheropods and definitely mantises.
And they're also really fascinating. As we know, centipedes are predators, whereas millipedes are
part of cleanup crews. So they will eat dead leaf and foliage and dead carcasses of other animals,
things like that. And they also rejuvenate the soil. So once they eat all the dead stuff within
the soil, that soil becomes better for the environment, essentially, or for more growth
than seedlings and stuff. I'm chopping things like lichen as well, moths or grazer moths.
Absolutely. They prefer the rotting stuff if it's available. Like you'll be using it, you would.
I should say dead animals, dead insects, other insects and an atheropods. You know,
just about anything really. I mean, this one at the moment has got a bit of pitch that she's ignoring,
but she seems to be doing what I wanted her to, which is stay on the stick in focus so you could
see her. She's not running up and down it and trying to get off or anything. She's just staying
where a pudder. She's cooperating really well. It's unusual for an animal to do what you wanted
to do. But this one, I sort of knew she would. She is really good. She doesn't mind her life.
Do you handle her more than most people handle millipedes? Generally, you can put a box and just
go, oh, look, I've got a millipede or a tank. But this one actually gets handled. So she's
quite good. That's awesome. The best way to pick a millipede is offering your hands and let
quail on your hands. Well, any out of the properly, but especially. Otherwise, it can curl up. And as
you know, they can spray chemicals on you. And I do believe she's got a list of chemicals. I do.
Actually, well, I know that they have the hydrogen cyanide. That's the main chemical that I found
that they spray. So it can be really, really like irritating to your skin and very smelly. I know
that there are a couple of species that will spray hydrochloric, you know, the stomach acid.
Hydrochloric acid, essentially. Which you definitely don't want on your skin because that can be
very irritating. It'll cause some injury, some burning. And, you know, if it's not treated
properly, it will definitely cause, you know, a bit of necrosis on your skin and whatnot. And so
that that can be very, very painful. But centipedes also can cause some pretty severe damage on a
human being and on their skin. So they can cause like myocardial ischemia, which is just a lower
percentage of oxygen flow to the heart. We usually see these kind of things in or this medical. I'm
sorry. So it's like this condition, you usually see it if someone has like clogged arteries. So
obviously, like if that can cause heart attacks and that kind of thing, which obviously is incredibly
severe, like life-threatening. But they also can cause hemorrhaging and kidney failure. So some
kidney issues as well. So that's pretty, pretty intense. So they call it rabodomyliosis. Yeah,
which basically means the damaged muscle tissues. When they release the proteins and the
electrolytes into the blood, it ends up damaging your heart and your kidneys. And so that's kind
of where that comes from. And yeah, I mean, it's that's kind of scary business, but they are
absolutely fascinating creatures, they're beautiful. And of course, they don't like to, you know,
spray those toxins or bite unless they feel they absolutely have to. So it's a defensive
mechanism. So yeah, like, do you have any experience with that with your millipedes at all? Like,
have you been sprayed at all? To be honest with you, no. No, okay. Not with these guys, not with
my pet ones, but with whale ones, well, when garbying, I mean, our millipedes are tiny, nothing
like your millipedes for a start of day. Just like everything over in the UK is tiny, like,
you know, centerpiece, you're looking about an inch for a bigger centipede, say millipede,
I mean, inch and a half maybe. And when you pick one of those up, if you garb in, you see when
you pick one up, and you'll see the, it will secrete like a yellow, well secretion, isn't it?
And that can be itchy and annoying, but nothing too bad. This is pretty mild. The glue is not
clickbait, by the way. This one tends to defend itself by pooping on you. Okay. Take it out. If
you're surprised that she will just like release it. And it's just not a small animal. So it's
probably not a cute one. And I didn't want to sit here for an hour with my hands full of poop.
So that's why that's why I've got the glove. But the other reason I've got the glove is for the
sake of the millipede, because absolutely, it's off my hands. I don't want to irritate her, you see.
So that's, yeah, there's quite a few creatures.
Different species in here are more different. Yeah, I've got more species in here. There's four
or five different species that live together. They're quite happy to live together. And they also
live with sizeable. So amazing. And they will live with things like giant land snails as well.
So amazing. That's so cool. Really, really cool pet for that reason, especially when we're
grabbing a, let's say a multi species setup millipede is definitely a must. Because some of them are
they're not all just big like this one. I've got one here now I can see it.
Unfortunately, it's eating a peach and it's stuffing its face. And I don't want to disturb,
but as you see, there are different types. I mean, I've got a, this is like the bumble bee,
which is quite a popular one, which is really small. Yeah, they're beautiful.
The colors on it, with them being like a bee, yellow and black, which is very pretty. And then
you've got another small one, which is, I'll be down with it, I can remember its scientific name.
Somebody will know it, the pink dragon. Oh, yeah. The pink dragon, which is the flax version of
a millipede, but they're really, really outpriced, but they're very, very small. For me, anywhere,
I see anything. I've seen them. Yeah, they're really extraordinary. And they're such cool
little pets too. Like you can keep them with any like bioactive substrate or in terrariums and
stuff like that. And they pretty much self sustain. So long as you, you know, put in like a plant that,
you know, drops leaves every now and then or have an animal in that bioactive enclosure that poops,
they will clean all of that up. And it's, it's really fascinating. Centipedes are awesome.
There are actually 3000 species of centipedes throughout the entire world. I believe there are
57 species of centipede in the UK. And where did I have that? I think there are, there aren't a
whole lot in the States either. I think there's like less than 100 or so here. But they're divided
into four orders. So they basically are like soil centipedes, rock and garden centipedes, tropical
or giant centipedes, which are, that's the species, those are the species that you're going to see
more in the pet trade because they are just so large and a lot of them are really pretty.
And then you've got your house or feather species of centipedes. And those again are
are kind of the larger ones and those are the ones that you're going to see in the pet trade.
So the last two families, the scudigelmorpha and the scudigelmorpha are also the venomous types
where their venom can be medically significant to people. Obviously, like, you know, there's always
a risk of being bit by pretty much any animal that you keep. So, you know, I, it's funny because I
was just talking to Carrie, my partner about how I've taken more bites from snakes than I have cats.
But with snake bites, I have never had like an infection or any kind of issue like that. It's
really just kind of a surface, you know, little scrape, if you will. But with the cats, I had,
I took a bite from a cat that led to an infection that made my hands well, like,
so massively. And I ended up having to go to the hospital to get, you know, antibiotics and stuff
like that. So it's just kind of ironic that, you know, people are kind of afraid of snakes and
that kind of thing. But I, my experience has been very positive with snakes. And so,
I throw pods as well. Like, I've never been bitten by any of my tarantulas. So I really do
believe that it's just a matter of reading that body language and making sure that you're taking
those precautions. You probably are not going to be bit. So, centipedes, the front portion of their
body has the, the, or on their cranial portion, they have two pincher-like segments that are called
what did they call them? Sorry? Toxicocanth. Yes, exactly. You know, you know. Yeah, they're evil.
They can be, absolutely. But I thought that was really fascinating because they're similar to
spiders in that way, that their pinchers go kind of horizontally rather than, you know, like fangs,
you know, they have pinchers. So modified legs, aren't they? Uh-huh. They're actually modified
legs. Yeah, they're modified legs. Absolutely. They're, it's fascinating. And so, yeah. And then I,
I also found a few species of centipedes that are of some interest. So we've got the alipus
granditaria. And it's, this is a type of spether tail centipede that is native to Africa.
So in the region of like Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and these guys get about four to six
inches long, and they're black with orange legs. They will shake their tail that makes like a hissing
sound. So that's like their defense mechanism, but they do also have the pinchers and they can bite.
And for the most part, like centipede bites are pretty mild. Like they're not, they're not super
scary or medically significant. I mean, you're going to feel that irritation. And of course,
all of them have histamines. So it's going to be like an allergic reaction. So kind of like,
you know, mosquitoes, when the mosquito bites you, it's those histamines that create that itchy,
you know, irritated sensation. So same, same idea with centipedes. But the reason I thought this,
the feather tail from Africa was really interesting is that I think that this is the centipede that
most people think of when they think of pet centipedes, because it has that dark coloration
and those yellow legs. I've seen like quite a few streamers that like will show that exact
centipede. And they're very popular here in the States because they are large and they're colorful
and really cool and pretty. It's fun to watch them eat. They are carnivorous, which means they,
they prey on insects. So they're insectivores, but a lot of centipedes will eat spiders as well.
And tarantulas. So little known fact or maybe fun little factoid for you. Maybe that's why you like
them because you don't like tarantulas. Yeah. I do. I do like that. That's that's that's an
only redeeming feature. That terrifying actual animal. But you know, I've happened in the past,
how big this bugger is, it's got a bigger. I do like sense of things. I have this in our pet trade
is you just said you get a lot from Africa. Yeah, we have a lot of the Southeast Asian sort of
sense of things available. Oh, yeah. A lot of Thailand and Malaysia and places like that, you
know, I can't name any of them to be honest with you. A lot of the Scolopendoras and the, you know,
is it the Dali or is that the other one? The other one is the, let me read it again. Salted
Geronmorpha. So, scooted, yeah, scooted Geronmorpha. So, yeah, you got this,
you know, the Scoto Geronmorpha, so Scoto Pelma, and then you've got your Scutro Pelma.
And so those are the two that are usually pretty popular for keepers to have.
We haven't got any questions yet. So that's interesting. Maybe we're doing good at answering
questions. Scutes, I'm going to have to look right up, like, because there's Matis with the same
genus name. Yeah, so I've got to look right up and find out what it means now. It must be
something they have in common. Yeah, absolutely. I would assume so because,
I mean, a lot of insects are cousins to other insects. Yeah. Like crickets, crickets are known
to be a cousin to, or like kind of adjacently related to Mantis. And so it's pretty interesting.
I mean, they have, they're somehow in the taxonomy that they're kind of, you know,
and there's like a long list of them. Yeah, yeah, it's kind of like, yeah.
Yeah, it's the same way that like, orthoptera, crickets, crickets, grass,
obfuscatory, and orthoptera, and Mantis, Mantidea, and then you've got these guys,
which are Meridpoga, and then Ise, Poldori. There's so many, oh, taxonomy. We need to do
something called taxonomy because it's very, yeah, we do. I think taxonomy is
about 9% of people. And I think 10% of entomologists will just get confused with taxonomy because
it's such a confusing subject. It really is. And there's a lot to it. So, yeah, I agree.
It's all the time, which is, you know, another thing, they'll find something, right? They're
finding sense of peace now, and they'll repeat now, as you said earlier, they found one in the last
10 years, wasn't it? Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. The millipede from California, they actually come from
the Sierra Nevada region. So, it's a pretty big portion of California, or pretty big portion in
the southeast region of the United States. So, that encompasses like a portion of Arizona, Nevada,
California. But there's a millipede that was found there that was found to be
bioluminescent. And so, that's the ZistoCare Bistepede. So, they're cool. They glow in the dark,
and they believe that they glow in the dark or they're bioluminescent in an effort to
deal with the heat of the Sierra Nevada. So, that's fascinating. I mean, they're not completely sure
why it's bioluminescent, but so far, that's kind of a theory. And as far as I know, that's the only
species of millipede that is bioluminescent. So, that's, it's really fascinating that, uh,
that's, that's a thing. I think I'm,
I do what pasteates me the most about that. Yeah. It's in America. It's in a place that's populated.
And it's been, you know, it's not like, you know, it, they haven't found it in the Yucatan
Peninsula. They haven't found it in the depths of the Amazon. It's somewhere where people are all the
time. All the time. Yeah. It's like, it's like saying, we've found a new creature. Yeah. Where
humans are commonplace. So, I find that most fascinating. I always, I always find that,
like when they find a new species of something in the UK, I mean, it's something a tiny eye of them,
with 70 million numbers on it. And yet it's the first time we've seen this. And it is,
that always amazes me when you find something new in a populated area. You're thinking,
how have you missed that? Right. Right. I agree. Like it's, it's, it's really funny and just kind
of weird. Like, uh, it's right under your foot because most millipedes live, you know, underneath
leaf litter and kind of underground. So they're definitely not quite as visible as other creatures.
But definitely something that there's a lot of building and construction and whatnot in these
areas. Like how did you not find this before? It's so weird. It's even worse. They closed in the
dark. Right. I love that. It closed in the dark. But how ironic. Like, yeah, how did you not find,
yeah. So really funny when we, we find species of things that like just seem like it was,
it should be super obvious and much older in our taxonomic information. Absolutely.
All right. So, sorry. Well, one of the things I, I, I, I remember reading was, uh, like the biggest
millipede. Okay. The biggest myriad populated in the family was a millipede. And I was always amazed
when I hear of it here. And it was actually Scotland. The, the, the fossil was in Scotland.
But it was actually huge. I think it's two meter long. Wouldn't really be so, maybe a bit more
than that. Which is just over six foot. So that's some serious creature. Wow. Yeah. Definitely. It
was here. So it just proves how the climate must have been really weird at the time towards it is now.
Uh, I, I, I've just always amazed when something here is found that is like, oh, that's the biggest
of like nowhere. Right. Right. Right. But yeah, it's also, I think their names are kind of funny too,
because, you know, when you hear senti, you're thinking 100, right? Or a century. Yeah. That's
kind of, that's just where that the name comes from. And we think, okay, it has a hundred lakes.
No, actually, they don't have quite a hundred legs for a centipede. And same with a millipede,
you think milli, so million or a thousand, um, millions of thousands, sorry.
But it's thousands, isn't it? It's a Latin, uh, or a thousand. A thousand. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh,
it's funny because they don't have a thousand legs. They only have, like the largest one has
maybe a hundred or so. Yeah. So it's just kind of ironic. Even their name is very, uh, even their
names are kind of, uh, misleading, if you will. I suppose. Look at your girl. Go. She's just,
she's just chilling. I love it. Yeah. She's, she's really, really, really good. Pat, I mean, she's,
she's awesome. It's like a shoot in July and we just give her a stick and she performed and she
was a great post-graphs of it. Just doing a thing and, you know, she seems very comfortable.
Yeah. She's getting up to the moon, should this peach now? And then she'll just wander off again.
But yeah, I think I have a brilliant pet. So yeah, but like wondering about them,
whether you should get one. My answer to that is yes. They're so cool. Just the tiny ones,
the life expectancy isn't as, uh, isn't as long. And it, I don't know, they seem a little more
sensitive than these big things. Sure. You can just chuck within a box of substrate and it'll
be quite happy. This one's got a little leaf litter in there. They're good. There's a lot of wood and
branches and stuff and there's moss in there and you know, so it's got, you know, we should have some
of the camera down here that you could, I could have left on in the box. But then I can't leave
the lid off because this one can actually climb out of the box. Yeah. You were saying that. So
yeah, let's talk about that. There's strength. There's a story behind getting this millipede.
This, I didn't buy this. This was a friend who bought this millipede. His wife bought it when
it was about this big. Oh, wow. And they put it in a big box with some substrate. It borrowed,
of course. And then they never saw it for months and months and months. And then one day, they thought
of it again, and then one day, she looked up and it was on the curtain rail, wondering across the
curtain rail. This starts to die. Well, a little bit smaller than this. And a rustling rung me up and
said, do you want a bloody millipede? Because it's terrifying. So sorry. That's amazing.
So we put with the rest of them and it needs and they all get along quite well.
So that's amazing. That is so cool. Well, since we're on the subject of millipedes, we can talk
that there are 7000 species of millipedes throughout the entire world. 1400 of those
species occur right here in the US. And I believe I wrote down that there are 62 species that occur
in the UK. Some of them, obviously not all species of millipedes produce the hydrogen cyanide toxin
that they might spray. But they're pretty cool. Like, yeah, there are a couple of species that I
felt were noteworthy. One is called the chocolate millipede or office strafus ganensis.
Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, they're such good names. It's very difficult. Yeah, I'm so terrible
with the scientific names. But they're native. It's not a novel that I don't even see that. Oops,
she fell off. Oh, oh, that's a millipede, which is one of yours, I believe.
You have these in the wild. So. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Definitely. Nice to strike you know,
but this is an adult one. It's an adult. So I wish you'd stop doing that. Grab on.
This is not old. They never do what we want them to do. She keeps falling off. They're quite armored,
so it's not that bad with millipedes. I mean, I don't mean drop them out of your window,
but you're only dropping this. It's not such a big deal. They're a little heartier than like
spiders or another arthropod that like a drop would kill, you know. Yeah. Yeah, I can imagine.
These are quite soft. I mean, they'll often climb up something like this and fall off. So
they'll be doing that in the wild. That's cool. It's not a big deal. I mean, that's one of yours.
Yeah, the chocolate. Well, the chocolate millipedes, they get pretty large. They get about nine inches
in length. So they get they get pretty long for sure. That one doesn't actually that one's.
I think about four inches of the ivory. Okay. Yeah. But sort of like you say, yeah,
I got the massive. We also have desert millipedes or the Othroporis or Navas.
They're native to the Southwest United States and Northern Mexico, and they are also get to about
nine inches. And they're right. Yeah. Well, I thought that this was also a noteworthy
species of millipede because they are actually diurnal. So instead of nocturnal, they will spend
most of their time being active during the day, which is really uncommon for for a lot of like
arthropod species and anything like that. Well, it's definitely because of the eyes, isn't it?
I believe so. Yeah. Yeah. If you look at the diurnal ones, which is like the mantis
jumpy spider fish and the ones that they've got great. But yeah, absolutely.
This is a Thai rainbow, which you can't see, but trust me, beautiful.
Yeah.
It's just when I get new millipedes, it just goes in here with these and it just comes to you.
But these, as you notice, people kept falling off. This one's like blue.
How cool. This one's really hard to get off your hand. Oh, wow.
You've got to sort of encourage it to wander off.
I was hoping because I have another big millipede in here, but I can't find it.
We've got a couple of them, which is the spiked tail millipede, which is a big one,
like this. She's like, I take this chocolate rather than black. Okay.
Chocolate and yellow sort of stripes, which is a really, really pointy tail, which is a, you know,
really cool millipede to have. Absolutely.
Yeah. My eyes are terrible. I have to wait till we get bigger.
I love one batch, but they've been your ivory millipede.
So we'll have to see what else we get out of them. I believe it's the ivory millipede.
That one's native to Florida and kind of the Southeast region of the States,
with Carolinas and this kind of a swampy wetlands part of the Appalachias.
I find that they're always on the surface. They don't burrow us. I mean,
sometimes to do like in the molten shedding, of course,
burrow down and then pop back up again. But they do tend to, well, there's one here now,
there's one here on, as I was saying before, just on the stick, which is here.
And that's like that in the box. So as I was saying, just climb up the stick,
eat the lichen off the stick, fall off after time, but no big deal.
But yeah, they're always on the surface, the ivory millipedes.
They feast on that leaf litter and any of the dead, organic materials that are on the surface
of the ground and the forest and whatnot. So it makes total sense that that's where you would find them.
Definitely.
She's always out anyway because she's always just looking for something to eat.
That's so cool. I definitely have a more of an affinity for millipedes than I do centipedes.
Mainly because they're not quite, they're not venomous, they're not really scary.
And they're actually kind of cute. If you look really close at their faces, they're kind of cute.
They have like a real round, kind of a happy face looking thing.
And their legs are so short and tiny. It's really kind of surprising how fast they can move.
But I think they're a fascinating creature and just an awesome pet all around just for those factors.
Plus they come with, like you said, the bumblebee millipede and the ivory millipede.
They come in all kinds of beautiful colors, the rainbow, the Thai rainbow, millipede.
So I mean, they're a popular pet probably for that reason.
And I just, I'm always fascinated with creatures like this just because they're awesome.
I think the other thing with the millipedes is
centipede is really for somebody who knows what they're doing.
Yeah. Where as your millipede owner, it's like the next step up from being an ice support keeper
to put some millipedes. And it's nice and easy to sort of deal with, there's no life feeding.
And there's, you know, so millipedes are, you know, quite a lot more popular than centipedes in that regard.
Well, they're definitely a really good, like passive kind of pet. Like you don't really have
to feed them consistently. You don't have to, you know, be checking on them daily or anything like
that. Like it's really just a matter of, you know, you probably check on them weekly and you're good,
you know, as long as they've got some leaf litter or, you know, organic matter that's dead or
you just don't need or whatever, they're going to take care of that. And you just throw that in
the enclosure. It's good. Call it good, you know, or centipedes. Oh, hopefully, if it's crap, I just
throw it in the, you know, either the ice supports or the ventures. Yeah, like I've got devour it,
you know, and that includes, yeah, I've got a little red, red wiggler worm that, you know,
becomes the end of the life to die. Yeah. And I'm not going to bury them. Okay. So I just chuck them
in there and say bye bye. Yeah, I like that with the isopods, with my isopods every now and then
I'll have a mold or, you know, maybe a spider that has come to the end of its life or something like
that. Isopods take care of it. But I'm actually really thinking I want to get some millipedes because
they are just, they're probably a little bit better at that than than the isopods.
That's something I think, I think notice, I thought, I said I've got a friend, I got two over there,
in California, that have invert businesses, similar to my own and
the prices of the millipedes, like millipedes here, you probably talk about eight pounds,
ten pounds maybe to buy millipedes. I noticed in America, it was looking at $100.
Oh, easy. Yeah. But this girl was $100. And I was like, absolutely amazed at the different prices.
Yeah, I am too. I'm always amazed that, you know,
certain species just seem to be a little cheaper than others. But in the UK, you guys got a mage.
You're not spending a whole lot of money. Whereas it's a hobby. If you haven't gone
along with me, it is a good hobby to get into. If you want a pet, but you can't go to the dog,
for instance. But you still want a pet. If you've got a 10 pound milk and a plastic box from the
single pocket, and you've got a pet. Yeah, absolutely. And as I always advocate for my pets,
with my tarantulas, with isopods, with mantises, they're great creatures because they keep me
grounded. They keep me in the moment. And so for me, it's about mental health, but also because
I love them. And they're, these are creatures that, you know, most people are afraid of and they don't
really see them as like cute cuddly pets, which they're right. They're not cute cuddly, but they
are definitely creatures that deserve respect and love as much as dogs and cats. Because they
are cute. I know, right? I can sit with this one. I can put this one on my desk. Or I can leave it on the stick.
And I find that awesome. I think they're awesome. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they're just not the
traditional idea of what cute and cuddly is. But I think my tarantulas are cute too. I mean,
the big calytherae and the tiny little eyes, they look like cute little old men. How is that not cute?
Yeah, you can keep those. Cute little old men never attracted me. You can keep them.
You know. I think that, as you know, I don't mind true spiders. Right. True spiders.
Yeah, yeah. Just and tarantulas. So it's not the fear of being bitten. It's just that I don't know
it's the way they walk and their hairiness. And it just, it literally makes me feel uncomfortable.
It's still uncomfortable. I don't hear it. They're always out. Tarantulas are always freaking out.
I don't know why. Yeah. I've seen something as a child that bothered me. Yeah. I've not
copied them because like I'm surrounded by, I'm literally surrounded by bugs. On every side,
there is some kind of, I know what of them can fight. And it's like no problem. But that little
calytherae over there where those tarantulas are, others may, you know, like you. But yeah, fine.
All good. These guys, the first question I get when people talk about millipedes is always about
the old, they've got cyanide. Thanks, Google. So if anybody does one thing in their life when
they're going to get a pet, you always say do the research. Yes. But when we say do the research,
that doesn't mean type it's name in Google. And learn what you can about it. Yeah. Yeah.
That's it. Don't just trust the first thing that comes up in Google. Right. Article written by
somebody who's never had one or probably never even seen a life of one. So what you need to do
is find somebody who has one and willing to speak to you about them. That's how you learn. That's
your research. Forget research papers as well, Lera. Other than the world of rubbish anyway.
But yeah, they don't truly be art. Yeah. Yeah. Anything written by any village from a university,
I just don't trust it. Absolutely don't trust it. I need to see it myself.
It ties with what they're saying. I believe it. If it doesn't, which I have noticed quite a few
times, I've corrected quite a few of them, which is, yeah, it's quite blowing, right?
Yeah, it is for me. But if you're going to look for a new pet, please, please find someone who
has one, speak to them, chat with them, ask them all the questions. You'll find that 99.9% of the
time, that person will be willing to talk to you about it. You're not bothering them and
annoying them with your silly questions. No, not at all. Yeah. Have the books, which means they
love talking about them. So if you ask, they will, they will love it. They will actually enjoy it.
I like it. And I get so many people asking me every single game or through a bit of social media
asking questions about Matys. Okay. I still try to take the time to answer every single one of them.
Absolutely. Of course. So I'll say go away and do Google or stop annoying me. Yeah. That's all
those people you want to help those people because that brings them into the hobby. And they like
find something out that we don't know. Right. Absolutely. Yeah, no, we don't. And at the end
of the day, we all know a little bit more. I mean, that's what it's all about, isn't it?
Absolutely. And that's kind of the idea behind our podcast. In Verticast, we developed this idea
around the fact that when we talk to one another about creatures that we're keeping and we're
spreading information and it really helps the hobby kind of evolve and grow. And so the idea
behind this is just putting a bit of information out there and hopefully somebody sees it and
their fear of centipedes has reduced a little bit or their fear of millipedes has reduced or
something like that. And they feel more comfortable with the world that they live in because let's
face it, these arthropods are everywhere. They're a big part of the environment. They're a huge part
of the ecosystem. And so anywhere in the world that you go outside of Antarctica, you're going to
find arthropods. You're going to have bugs. There's going to be spiders. There's going to be millipedes
and centipedes. They're all throughout the world. So I think it's really good for people to be able
to be more informed and knowledgeable of these creatures and it helps them feel more comfortable
in the world they live in. So yeah, that's kind of my take on it.
So also a great conversation starter.
Yeah, absolutely. People are always in trees. Nobody ever said to anyone, oh you keep tarantulas.
They want to know more. They want to know if it's ever bitten you. They want to know all the details
about it. So don't go on too much. They're making board. But you know, always something.
Winstrect and interesting is a great way to be. And having bugs really is a way to be that person
because not everybody does it. So it's a real good way to do it.
For a definite uncommon breed of people. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry.
It's like a time delay. And you're like, oh, is it finished? Yeah.
It's so hard. Otherwise you get an awkward silence where you've both stopped talking.
Do you think, right, they're definitely finished now. So whatever.
I'll say, I did an interview this week for a newspaper. Oh, cool.
And he was asking me so many questions and I could hear in his voice how amazed he was.
And how interesting that I had in here and elsewhere in the house.
Yeah.
And I was blown away with the idea of having bugs as pets.
You know, right.
Even though he was doing the article, he was, you know, you think he would have researched a little bit and realised there's not only me doing it.
Yeah.
He was so blown away. It was the conversation that he said, oh, 10, 15 minutes. Just actually some questions.
Like over an hour, just chatting because he had that many extra questions.
You know, what was involved.
That's how it is for everybody. So it can help you with, you know, if you're one of the people who are uncomfortable around other people, let's say.
Absolutely.
Or you're anti-social.
If you start getting into books and things like this, you'll find you'll get knowledgeable about them.
And also find yourself in crowds telling a crowd of people all about your books.
Yeah.
So it really helps with, you know, your mental health. I don't have any issues with my mental health.
I've got to say that.
But I have seen other people with issues.
When they start keeping books, it's helped them so much.
There's something about it. You know, something about keeping Arthur Pods that really helps people be able to, like you said, be social with other people.
I am somewhat introverted. I mean, I'm really good about, you know, being like charismatic and personable when I meet people.
But at the end of the day, it definitely is something that I'm kind of like, okay, too much social activity, you know.
But when I can talk to other people about, you know, the tarantulas that I keep and the different species and when I go on and on about them, I mean, that really helps me to be able to say, hey, check this out.
Oh, I'm going to teach you this. Or I'm, you know, do you have questions? I'm happy to answer them.
So yeah, definitely there's a huge social, what is it, like a bridge, you know, to that communication.
For sure. And I, you know, millipedes and centipedes, this is something that I have never kept these creatures before.
And I still have, I don't have any at the moment.
But I will say that I really enjoyed learning what I did about them for this week's episode because, you know, now I'm kind of fascinated.
I'm like, okay, now I got to check out the ivory millipedes, you know what I want one. Yeah.
It's the giant African, you know, the chocolate millipede from Africa. They're, they're fascinating creatures. They're really cool.
It's a whole different side of keeping Arthur pods.
You know, I would love to share that with my friends and people who want to know.
So I think it's awesome.
It's just brilliant. I mean, we should, we should do something on mental health.
Yeah. Pick a read by, I know they have mental awareness, weeks and things like that.
I'm not well on it because I say I don't have those, any of those issues.
So I don't get to know these things unless I see someone puts my own fence book.
Yeah.
Rare, but we should do something like that.
We do actually speaking of because next week is pretty exciting for invertecast.
We were, we are going to have a special guest.
We're going to have Britain from the spider courage experience.
And so speaking of mental health, she actually helps people get through phobias of spiders, essentially.
I'm sure she probably does it for other Arthur pods.
If, you know, if that arise, I'm sure she could, but we're going to be talking with her about that.
And so, yeah, I'm really looking forward to interviewing her and hopefully it's going to be a really great episode.
And so I felt like that was a really great segue of the mental health.
So maybe the episode after that we can discuss why so many people with mental health concerns are drawn to Arthur pods and keeping them and what it does for them.
So great idea, Simon. Absolutely.
You're so smart.
Absolutely.
Hopefully.
I'm going to struggle with the spiders by each week we do this, hopefully I've got something back and so I can get around the.
Yeah, I love it.
So some of the creatures probably not the idea, but I'd like to do that.
So if you could, depending on what what we do in a lot, even try and set up a similar camera.
This is who's doing ice to pop, she's just looking in ice to pop in and something so you got something on the side.
And I was just hot, but yeah, I've tried.
I've got so many things in here.
I think we've got 17 different kinds of animals.
Yeah.
You know, from scorpions to spiders.
Yeah.
So it'd be nice to, you know, we've got plenty to go on with.
I reckon.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Thank you in the comments.
Yeah, plug it down below.
We're happy to answer questions and dive deep into the subject.
Like, subscribe and share.
Absolutely.
Please do.
Yes.
You know, we're doing this for you guys.
We're doing it for you.
So, okay, well, that leads me into, you know, kind of our goodbye session.
This is what we do.
I'll go ahead and go first with my shame with plugs.
I am still editing a video that I made this week.
I know I said that I was going to be doing like a rehousing of a bunch of spiders and I'm still doing that.
But change of plans this week.
I went to the butterfly pavilion and they, because it's October and Halloween is coming up.
They actually did a spooky spectacular spider thing and they had a whole bunch of tarantulas on display and whatnot.
And then also in the actual butterfly area, they cornered, they kind of sectioned off a small portion of their indoor jungle.
They allowed for, I believe, two different, three different species of orb weaving spiders.
They just kind of released them and let them do their thing.
And so I have a bunch of cool footage.
I just need to do a couple of things to release that video, but I'm going to be releasing it hopefully tonight.
If not tonight, it will be released tomorrow.
I just want to make sure it's nice and pretty and everybody likes it.
I'm also going to a reptile expo tomorrow and I'm going to be meeting a fam there.
So if you are in the Denver area and you want to meet me, I will be at the repticon or no, the reptile nation expo this weekend.
And then next weekend, as I plugged before, we are going to be interviewing Britain from the spider courage experience.
So I'm really looking forward to that.
So yeah, be looking out for the promotion stuff.
We'll have that all available.
And that's all I've got.
How about you, Simon?
What's up?
What's new?
I haven't made a video for quite a while.
I've been suffering with my neck.
I have neck problems.
So I've not been able to make any videos.
I hope I might get around to making one this week with a bit of luck.
My channel, of course, is Mantis Garden.
So if you want to go work, go work.
It's up to you.
Of course.
Like and subscribe to this channel.
Yeah.
Like some plug.
That is it.
That is my thing.
Oh, I got this from it.
Yeah, that's the other one.
Wonderful.
I love it.
As always, I love supporting Mantis Garden.
I love your channel, Simon, just so you know.
It's a lot of fun.
I like your most recent, you had a short that you made of the Mantis that was
kind of giving you a little chewing there on your finger.
I thought that was really interesting.
Yeah.
But yeah.
Check it out.
If I can't make a full video because of this, I was trying to just get a short
and now I'm again, just to let people know that I am like doing stuff.
You're still alive.
Yeah.
It's not like a debt channel or anything.
It's so just like to talk with you.
I can't remember.
It's something might turn up this week.
I might do an unboxing.
Okay.
Because they take 10 minutes to make.
I've got to do it anyway.
So it's not like I have to prepare anything.
I'm not sure.
I might have a box in this week.
I don't know.
I think I'm expecting some Mantis.
Not sure.
So just be a quick Mantis.
I do.
To do a video for the end of Halloween.
Because last year.
In October.
I made a terrarium.
A Halloween terrarium.
How fun.
It's a small thing.
It's on the kitchen window.
For a year.
Amazing.
I've got a look at it.
I want to see what it looks like now.
I'll do an update on it.
Do an update.
Yeah.
One year update.
For the Halloween thing.
That sounds wonderful.
Yeah.
I think that would be fantastic.
I'm looking forward to that.
I think so.
Thank you everyone for watching.
Thanks for tuning in.
I hope to see you next week.
Goodbye.
For invertecast.
We'll see you later.
See you later.