Rotten wood is not decor. In a millipede or isopod enclosure it is the food supply, and it is the single ingredient most bioactive builds are short of.
What it does
Detritivores digest lignin and cellulose that has already been broken down by fungi. A millipede grazing on well-rotted hardwood is eating something a fresh branch cannot provide, and colonies fed only on vegetables and fish flake grow slowly and moult badly. Isopods and springtails work the same material from underneath, which is what keeps a closed enclosure from souring.
How to use it
Break pieces down and mix roughly a third of them through the substrate, then leave the rest sitting on the surface as cover. Keep it damp — dry rotten wood is inert and nothing will touch it. It should crumble under a thumbnail; if it snaps cleanly it has not decayed far enough to be useful yet.
Expect it to disappear. A healthy millipede colony consumes wood, so plan to top up every few months rather than treating it as permanent hardscape. That consumption is the clearest sign the enclosure is working.
What it is
Hardwood collected at the stage where fungal decay has softened the structure but the piece still holds together. No softwoods, no resinous species, nothing treated. It is not sterilised — the fungal and microbial activity is the point — so quarantine it if you are adding it to an established enclosure.
Who it is for
Anything detritivorous. Our millipedes are the obvious case, and the reasoning is set out in the millipede care guide and the enclosure guide. Isopod and springtail clean-up crews use it the same way — see types of isopods for which species do what.
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