Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My friend is set upon buying some flying geckos. She also would like to keep a giant millipede along with it. My initial thoughts were that they should be compatible. I had flying geckos in the early 80s.

Does anyone with more experience have an opinion on how likely a flying gecko is to attack an 8 inch millipede?

Thanks!

Here's a gratuitous shot of a wild captured and released Anaconda

Sorry, but it makes no sense. Why would you want to house a millipede with a gecko? I mean, you probably could, but I doubt it would work. I just don't see the point.

She's got a terrarium set up for a rainforest environment, which should meet the environmental needs of both, and she wants to have both. Sure, she could put the millipede in a 2.5 gallon aquarium, but that would be substandard compared to the 45 gallon.

Assuming that the flying geckos don't attack the huge millipede because they somehow think they can eat it, I'm thinking it would probably work out well.

Thanks,

ETChipotle

One thing I'm thinking is about that stuff that the millipedes ooze in defense. Could that hurt the gecko?
Also, maybe the gecko's crickets might try and eat the millipede. They chew up lizards sometimes, and a big slow bug would be an easy target.
If flying geckos sleep on the ground (some of my arboreal geckos do sometimes) then the millipede's movements might stress them out.
But I don't think they'd try to eat each other.

Even if you have a big set-up with lots of room for them, it still escapes why one would do this. Neither are display animals and giving them an unecessarily large cage makes no sense. Its much easier for both if you just give them thier own cage. And don't think a small gecko won't try to eat something MUCH bigger. Back in the day, I had a house gecko and I kept it with a few anoles. One day the litle gecko decided to take a bite out of th largest anoles tail. Mixing species is not a good idea and will never have a justifiable reason IMO.

You Should have no problem putting the millipede in your vivarium, just as long as their is dead matter for it to eat, don't worry about the ooze, they only do that when extremely stressed. I use millipedes in many of my vivariums, they are great additions to my collection. I've had no problem with the crickets trying to eat them, their outer layer is hard so the crickets probably have a rough time getting through it.

In a roomy, rainforest display setup, it might work. One risk is that the millipede's toxins could poison the geckos. While doubtful that the geckos would ever try to attack the millipede, crickets might pick up toxin by crawling on the millipede, then be eaten by the geckos. I'm not sure how long millipede toxins hang around after they are released, nor whether they are cumulative, and chances are the millipede has been stressed at some point, and has toxin traces on it.

It would be impossible to guage how great this risk is. Your friend can try it, but should be aware of that risk.