Accidentally bought wild caught
Last weekend I went to an expo and got 3 millipedes (1 African giant and 2 female chocolate millipedes - Ophistreptus guineensis) after researching their needs and care guides. I saw a few posts mentioning wild caught pedes but I didn’t do more research into this issue (like the specific size of CB vs WC, breeding difficulty which effects what species are more likely WC, etc.), as I was also naive that the possibility of it happening within EU is low (yes, stupid). After getting them I came across more posts here that were more specific about this and I feel horrible. They all are pretty big (around the 18-20 cm), 100% not juveniles. I am against getting wild caught/imported pets as I am also a vet student, so I feel horrible and stupid for not doing better research about the vendors and asking the right questions. I thought I did proper research about them - mainly care (they have 104 liter tank, length around 75 cm, width around 30 cm, over 23 cm layer of substrate from leaf matter, decaying wood, moss and humus, hiding spots, etc.), but this is the one information I didn’t research properly. I contacted the vendor on Instagram to be sure, but they still haven’t answered (and it is possible that they won’t). But deep down I know they are WC.
So I guess this is mostly a rant about how stupid I feel and also a warning for people who are thinking about keeping them. Think about from who you are buying them, the millipedes can be WC and most of the times they are!
As for the ones I got, I will try to give them the best life possible and hope, that they won’t die after few weeks. And I will also educate people around me, if they ever decide to get millipedes to check their seller and their origin as I will in the future if I decide to get more of them.