Posted by robtszymanski on February 22, 2003 at 03:22:06:
In Reply to: mating posted by arpeet1 on February 18, 2003 at 14:43:22:
Yes, it looks like they're mating. Ever see a male prepare himself before he mates with a female? I have. I'm been raising and attempting to breed them for over 10 years. My males always half curled up. He lifts his head up and "rears himself" (kinda like a "question mark shape") and from the 7th segment down, he protrudes his gonopods out of his body as f-a-r as they'll go and emit his semen. It amazingly resembles the same color and consistency of human male semen! Really. I seen all my males do this. Sometimes my males climb on the back of the females withOUT falling off. Sometimes they'll mate in a position like you shown in the picture, going under her head and trying to position his gonopods with her 7th segment leg area where the semen actually goes to and down the length of her to the anal area where it gets "suck up" into in order for the eggs to get fertilized. I know this for a fact cause I stayed up late at nite on weekends till sunrise and watch their mating rituals. It's so interesting, it's almost X-rated and wouldn't allow under age children to witness such a sexual thing! Sometimes I see the male trying to get the females to raise themselves "up" so he can deliver it to the female "rearing up" on their legs in a position that makes it easier for the male to mate, covering the female's 7th segment area with his very generous amount of semen, try'n to get her pregnant. I seen this ritual with African Blacks, African Browns, Pumpkin Coloured Millipedes (which only grow to 6 1/2 long at the most) and Psychedelic Rainbow Millipedes which I recently bought... signed Robt Szymanski
