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Toxic Curl
Published: 2009-07-28 04:46:12 +0000 UTC; Views: 54556; Favourites: 784; Downloads: 0
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Description
One of North America's giant millipedes...I found this gorgeous creature curled up under an old trashed bookbag in the woods.
Usually I won't bother them as they secrete a toxin that can cause major irritation to my skin...so I just took it's photo an left it there.
These things are fairly harmless unless provoked...they eat vegitation and are often found in gardens and forests.
This fellow stretched full out was about 3 inches.
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Comments: 148
Millipedes are so cute. 
Great shot, and congrats on the DD!
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They are harmless, it's the sinapeds that bite Millipeds just curl up and sink bad if eaten they tast disgusting I had an Affrica one as a pet. Never at him but did look them up and untill he was cool withme he stunk EWWW! Good for you for seeing one of this sweet gints of the bugs.
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I had a Milliped, he wa so cool I loved him. Ten I moved and he s=wasn't cool with that, may he RIP with roting food and good dirt LOL.
This looks one of my photos of my own but mine was from Affrica. Millipeds are s fun.
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"like a little tube shaped cow", cracked me up and made the little fella likable. I guess you're right. As long as they are slowly going their way they really are quite fascinating to watch, but if they do any sudden movements I am thrown backwards by fear. Despite that, this is a great picture.
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Haha! Well the cool thing about millipedes (or at least the ones I had, the giant African variety) is that they essentially never move fast... they're actually pretty lazy little things. 
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Great shot 
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Hate millipedes, but with it curled looks like a hypnotizing spin
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Really nice shot, I love how it's so clear and detailed! Definite
That's a very pretty millipede too
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beautiful!!! very nice contrast, detail and colors... well done.
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Beautiful creature and wonderfully captured. It makes for an organic abstract shot, fantastic!
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Millipedes, yay! 
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My god. Gorgeous. I love the way this could be mistaken for a fern frond, as well. The tiny legs as trichomes. Breathtaking.
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He/she is prettier then the African ones that people often keep as pets, though I guess you would not want a toxin exuding millipede as a pet.
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i normally hate these things (other bugs are cool) but this photo is beautiful!
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That toxin you speak of contains cyanide.
Which makes millipedes even cooler!
I love the title that you gave the deviation
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I used to play with them all the time... I had no idea about the toxin. I thought them harmless.
I love the shot though!
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beautiful! almost like a painting! ...i LOVE it....this is reeeeally an awesome shot. congrats on the dd...sad i didn't find and suggest this one...very special
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I don't see the watermark everyone is mentioning at all, did you mean to remove it? I was shocked the first time I found a millipede this size in Maryland - I'd grown up there, was in my teens, and obsessed with invertebrates all my life but had no idea North America had BIG millipedes at all. I've still only ever found two, and I don't think they were this species.
Looks like a female! Males have a special pair of legs near the head, don't see them here
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It's not scary, it's a slow-moving armored plant eater, like a little tube shaped cow. I think ALL "bugs" are the most beautiful animals that can possibly exist, and there's only a little handful that can hurt you in any way!
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But they give me the heebeejeebeeeeeeees!!!
I'm just a total girl.
I used to LOVE bugs, then I grew up and developed an unhealthy, stupid fear of them. Especially spiders.
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But spiders are like kitties! Or like two tiny inside-out kitties glued together!
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Nooooooooooo! 
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Bad kitties get the water spritzer!!! : p
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It's not like they're slimy or anything, they're covered in clean nice armor plates
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i know but its all crawlie and stuff!
look at the legs on it!
*wets self*
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It has to walk somehow! It has a looooong body to carry c:
[link] and they ripple hypnotically!
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Dude, thank you so much for sharing that as I seriously fell in love with that video... 
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Hee, no problem 
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Oh man I know right?! Yeah I've had both a male and female (at different times--I bought one after the other had died), and both were purchased as adults that lived only a couple years in my care, too. I've since tried to find another because I really do enjoy keeping them as pets, but they seem to have become scarce for some reason!
I wonder why, really. 
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Yes, and it's a terrible reason; the vast majority that were sold as pets were imported from overseas. Few people bred them, and breeding took many MANY years anyway (young can take up to a decade to mature!)....but a couple years ago, the USDA banned absolutely all overseas importation of plant-eating invertebrates, filing them under "potential pests" even if they never caused trouble before :/
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Aw, man, that definitely does make me sad to hear. 
Well, thanks for the info, anyway... at least I know the reason now!
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I was JUST reading more about it by chance; turns out, the millipedes were proven to carry a mite that really is a severe plant pest, but that applies only to wild-caught millipedes. Captive bred are still legal...but sadly, yeah, those are rare!
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Oh wow, you mean their little cleaner-mites?? That really is interesting! I thought those were supposed to be beneficial to the millipede too, but I've heard so many conflicting things about them that who knows what's true anymore. But, at least there's a legit reason which makes me feel a bit better, I guess.
Haha, I would totally breed those things for the pet trade if I had the space, too...
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I think they carry both the harmless cleaner mites and a harmful plant-eating mite, PLUS a parasitic mite that sucks their blood! They're like...mite trains.
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LOL aw man the poor little buggers! Well yeah when you hang out around decaying vegetation all day though... I guess that's what happens!
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yesyes, thank you very much
because of you and your linking i went off on a gross youtube creepy crawly video spree
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