Ginger the Millipede My Pet and Me

-Hello, welcome to My Pet And Me. I'm Rory.

-And I'm Ferne.

We hoped you'd join us cos we're catching up with

some cuddles with little Biscuit here.

Yes, we are. She's so cute!

Oh, I know.

Lots of animals make brilliant pets

-and we love meeting you and yours.

-We do. What are your plans today?

I'm off to meet some new friends and you can come with me, too.

-Come on, let's go.

-Have fun!

-Bye!

Say bye-bye. "Bye!"

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Down every street

# Are pets to meet

# Some big, some small Some scaly, some furry

# Some keep very still Some are always in a hurry

# Some have four paws

# Some have sharp claws

-# Some quack

-Some bark

-# Some purr

-Some moo

-# Some grunt

-Some squawk

# Some cock-a-doodle-doo!

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Have you met my pet and me? #

Today I'm in Chorley to meet Sophie

and her very wriggly pet, a millipede.

This is exciting. Come on, let's go and say hello.

-Hi, Sophie.

-Hello, Rory.

-And you must be Mum. Hello.

-Hi, Rory.

-Would you like to come in?

-Definitely!

Who is this?

-Ginger.

-Wow.

Shall we get a good look at her?

-Yes.

-Are you going to take her out?

Wow, what sort of creature is Ginger?

A Giant African millipede.

She is absolutely beautiful.

Look at her wriggling around.

-How does it feel when she walks on your hand?

-Tickly.

How come you're not laughing, then?

How quickly does she move?

-It's quite fast.

-Really fast.

What does she feel like on the back?

-Hard.

-Yeah.

-It's got rings.

Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Lots of little segments.

And her feet, do they feel soft and gentle?

-Yeah.

-She's very gentle indeed.

-Can I hold on to her, please?

-Yeah.

Now, I know we're having a good look at Ginger just now, but it's

important not to hold a millipede for too long.

What an impressive creature.

She looks a bit like an earthworm on top, with all those segments.

But then you see these amazing legs wandering along.

-Yeah.

-There are so many.

Millipede actually means 1,000 feet,

but Ginger doesn't have quite as many as that.

-It'd be expensive for shoes, wouldn't it?

-Yeah.

Look at all these feet.

Imagine how much you'd have to spend!

I'd like to get a closer look at Ginger underneath so we can see

those feet moving, so let's pop her back into this viewing pot, yeah?

That's it.

All the way, Ginger.

This'll let us get a good look.

-Yeah.

-Let's hold it nice and high.

Wow. What does that look like?

-The sea.

-Yeah, all those legs moving like a wave.

Show me a wave with your arm.

A wave of legs going from the back to the front.

That is very cool.

What do you love most about her?

-She's helpful and she can play with me.

-Why is she helpful?

Because she digs around the soil.

Like millipedes in this country. We don't have African millipedes,

-but we've got our own.

-Yeah.

-They eat all the old food

and recycle it back into the soil. Nature's recyclers.

You guys are great. Well, I think she is absolutely magnificent.

Ferne, can you give us some fun facts

-about our multi-footed millipede friends here?

-Of course, Rory.

One, millipedes breathe through special holes in their tummies.

Two, millipedes have very bad eyesight

and some types can't see at all.

Three, the giant African millipede is so big that it has the nickname

jungle train. Choo-choo!

-CHILDREN:

-Care time.

There are lots of different kinds of millipede all over the world

and they all need warm, damp places to live.

So, if you have them as pets,

you need to keep them in a special tank.

Do you know what it's called? It's a vivarium.

That's a special home for animals

that need to live in warmer temperatures.

That's perfect, because it keeps Ginger

nice and cosy while we play hide and seek.

-Yeah.

-Did you know where she's hiding?

-Under the bark,

where she ALWAYS hides!

-Always? Which one? This one?

-The biggest one.

-That one?

-Yeah.

Let's have a look and see if you're right.

You were. There she is!

There we go, well done. Now, we have got lots of food here.

-What have we got?

-Strawberries,

mushrooms, cucumber and apple core.

Now, this apple core looks a bit brown.

Is this what we should be feeding your pet? Why?

Because a millipede likes rotten food and normal food.

That's pretty cool, isn't it?

Millipede are detritivores,

which means they eat dead or dying plants,

but they still need new food from time to time.

Let's start chopping some of this stuff. What you going for?

-Strawberry.

-OK, I'm going to do some mushrooms.

OK. I'm going to do one of these apple cores.

Good. Some cucumber now.

Right, you do one more mushroom and then we'll pop all this in.

-We don't want her having too much, do we?

-She'll get fat!

Shall we hide the food in there, then Ginger comes and finds it?

That is a brilliant idea.

Let's see where we can hide it. Where shall we put them, here?

In the soil. One can go on top...

of a piece of bark.

One under.

Then one in a corner.

What should I do with these mushrooms? Treat it like a pizza

and sprinkle them on top?

-Yeah.

-Sprinkle, sprinkle.

-What is this here?

-Cuttlefish.

Why do you have that in the tank?

-So it can give the millipede calcium.

-Yes, excellent.

Millipedes have a hard outside shell, called an exoskeleton,

a bit like the bones of our body, but on the outside, and the calcium

from cuttlefish bones help keep that strong. How often do you feed her?

-Once a week.

-OK.

Right, that looks good. Anything else we need to do?

Go outside and get some moss and bark and stuff to play on.

Oh, great, let's go and get it.

Some bark. These are good, aren't they?

Right, let's take them back.

Oh, look. Some nice damp moss.

That's ideal. Right, come on, let's go this way.

Dead leaves - perfect.

Right. Let's pop all this stuff in.

-Where will I put it?

-Put the bark over this corner, because we're

making a playground for the floor.

OK, now...leaves or moss?

Leaves. So the leaves go over this area.

Then you put the moss around that.

-On top of this one?

-Yeah.

-Well, I think that looks fantastic. What do you think?

-It's good.

-Will Ginger like it?

-Yeah.

-Shall we let her have a look?

-Yes.

Let's lift this up and see if she wants to come and have a look see?

I think Ginger loves her new play park.

Good job!

-CHILDREN:

-Wash your hands!

-I think Ginger will enjoy those apple cores, don't you?

-Yes.

If you had as many legs as Ginger, what would you do?

-I'd play football.

-That sounds like fun!

If Ginger could do anything, what do you think she would do?

DRUMROLL

If my pet could do anything,

she would play basketball,

with a giant ball.

And pass it along all her legs...

..keeping it up in the air.

Then she'd do a handstand,

with all her legs waving in the air.

Sophie, I love your idea of playing football if you had as many legs as

-Ginger but I still don't know what I'D do.

-I've got an idea.

-Oh, what is it?

-Follow me.

-Look at all these people! Hi, everyone. ALL:

-Hi, Rory!

-What are they all doing here?

-We're playing millipede football

-on the football pitch.

-Oh, that sounds like fun.

Let's get started!

Sophie and her school friends need to get their team bibs on first.

OK, guys, it's millipede time.

We need the head up here - that's you, Sophie.

We've got to pop the antennae on.

Looks marvellous. There's one ball and you all have to act as one

millipede. You need to try and get this ball in that goal.

-Are you ready? ALL:

-Yeah!

Let's do this!

Go! Go, millipede, go on!

Go.

Goal!

Next one, I'm going to header it out. Go, millipede!

Another goal!

Let's go, the goal is up here.

The millipede's running down the pitch. That's it, stay together,

stay together, millipede.

Oh, goal!

Yes!

Right, guys, everybody line up.

That's good. What we'll try now is to make a big spiral.

When a millipede is frightened, it curls up into a tight spiral.

-Think you can do that? ALL:

-Yeah!

Team leader, go - let's make a spiral!

Slowly, slowly, slowly.

Well done, perfect - just like a millipede

when it's curled up into a tight spiral,

with its head in the middle and its hard shell on the outside.

Nice and safe. Well done.

-Have you had fun being a millipede today? ALL:

-Yeah!

I've had great fun being a millipede today.

-I can't wait to tell Ginger all about it. ALL:

-Yeah!

Oh, Ginger,

you should have seen how much fun we had this afternoon.

Sophie, thank you for introducing me

to your millipede, Ginger. She's brilliant.

Thank you for coming, Rory.

You are welcome.

-Hi, Ferne. Hi, Bagel.

-Hi, Rory. Looks like you've had a great day.

-What have you been up to?

-It was awesome. I had so much fun

-with my new friends.

-Fantastic. I've been giving Bagel a brush.

-She looks great.

-Thanks!

-Pets are brilliant, but remember,

don't touch an animal unless the owner says it's OK.

But two pets you CAN play with are ours.

Go on the CBeebies website and play the My Pet And Me game.

Thanks for joining us. We hope you've had fun, too.

# Today we met

# A lovely pet

# We seen how much you care for them

# Thank you so much for sharing them

# Time for us to

# Just remind you

# After you've played with your pet

# Wash your hands, don't forget!

# It doesn't matter what pet you've got

# You might have one, you might not

# It's still fun finding out

# What having a pet is all about

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Come back and see My Pet And Me! #

-ALL:

-Bye!