This weekend when digging up some of the last potatoes we found these and wondered what they were. Research on the Internet revealed that they are spotted snake millipedes. Apparently they move in on slug damage and were indeed emerging from a slug hole. They are really tiny - only about 15mm long and very thin. They can cause quite a bit of damage so I hope we haven't too many of them! There's more about them on this website
We have many black milipede here but not sure whether they are good to have around or not. I will be on alert for those snake one too. I hope your last potatoes were not seriously affected with those snakes.
ReplyDeleteI think they had only taken over a slug hole and we haven't found any more yet. Fingers crossed. They are really tiny - difficult to see in detail with a naked eye. The width is only about a millimetre the photos are very much larger than the real thing!
ReplyDeleteThere's always something lurking waiting to make the most of the produce before you get to it yourself. I didn't appreciate how small they are by the photo, the video shows it though.
ReplyDeleteHi Jo, It was only when we looked at the photos that we appreciated the detail - when we first found them we thought they were immature centipedes which would have been good!
ReplyDeleteWow, i had never seen centipedes like those.
ReplyDeleteHope your potatoes are ok
Neither had we ~fer so far they were only in one potato although some of the others had slug damage. As these potatoes are quite large we should be able to cut any damage away and still have lots to use and we also have lots more dug earlier.
ReplyDeleteI had these on my potatoes last year and tried to photograph them to get some help identifying them...my photos were really bad though and I had no idea what to look for on google so i am glad the mystery has been solved. haven't had much of a problem with them this year though so hope you don't next year either!!
ReplyDeleteIs there any hope that they might do damage to the slugs??
ReplyDeleteHi Tanya - so do I! Fortunately they kept fairly still when I took the photos and then started wriggling away for the video - I think the first instinct was to hide and then to get out of the light!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid not Barbara as they are vegetarians. Apparently they usually eat decaying material. They are supposed to be attracted to crops when it is dry but it is hardly that at the moment!