Beginner Centipedes

[BugToxin]

They are WC from what the supplier's website says. How fast are their growth rates? Do they have to be fed pinkies/fuzzies when they get bigger or will crickets suffice?

I'm not sure about the growth rate, but Randolph and others who have kept a lot of these can probably give you some idea. As for the pinkies, you don't have to feed pinkies to any pede, even the real giants. I like to mix it up a bit with pinkies, hissing roaches, and standard crickets, but just crickets will do just fine. They can also eat mealworms, earthworms, isopods, and bannana, but I wouldn't use any of these as a primary food source (especially bannana).

 

[Wisdom16]

OK.....Let's make sure I have everything n order......

10 gallon tank with a large-ish water dish
1.5" of Eco-Earth substrate
A hide.
Room temp is fine for it
Crickets will sustain him with the occasional pinkie/fuzzie
Humidity around 50%-60%

Sound good?

 

[Black Hawk]

sounds about right to me, make sure you pile in the substrate for it to make a burrow. they'll spend sometime underground, hopefully not too long or you'll be looking at a pet hole

 

[Wisdom16]

Going to be getting the centipede today. I was hoping to get a larger kritter keeper to put my T in, but I didn't have enough money. So the centipede is going into a 1.5 gallon. Being it's only going to be 3 or 4 inches max it should be comfortable in there for a week or two.

 

[cacoseraph]

Going to be getting the centipede today. I was hoping to get a larger kritter keeper to put my T in, but I didn't have enough money. So the centipede is going into a 1.5 gallon. Being it's only going to be 3 or 4 inches max it should be comfortable in there for a week or two.

woohooo!!!

welcome to centipedes! (well, almost)

 

[Wisdom16]

I got it around 6PM and it has already ate a cricket. I just noticed though that the substrate it was shipped in has mites. Since some of the substrate fell out of the container into the tank when I was letting the pede go my substrate now has mites. What should I do about this? They are tiny white bugs and I am drying the tank out right now.

 

[Bigboy]

My first pede was a scolopendra suspinips. I'm still happy with the choice.

 

[BugToxin]

I got it around 6PM and it has already ate a cricket. I just noticed though that the substrate it was shipped in has mites. Since some of the substrate fell out of the container into the tank when I was letting the pede go my substrate now has mites. What should I do about this? They are tiny white bugs and I am drying the tank out right now.

I personally use peat moss for all my inverts. Peat moss is extremely cheap at the garden store or hardware store (you can get a HUGE bag for about $5.00). If it were me I would throw the old substrate away, scrub out the tank with warm soapy water, rinse really good and replace the eco-earth with straight peat moss. Some people love the eco-earth, and other packaged substrates, but I personally don't think it's any better than peat and the peat is so much cheaper you can throw it away if it gets any nasty's. I have never had any problems with peat, except for very small mould growths in extremely moist and poorly ventilated tanks (which I don't use anymore either). People get into debates all the time about substrate's, but what is important is that you change it if it gets nasty. If you perfer the eco-earth for some reason, go ahead and use it, but you definately want to get the pede out of any mite-infested substrate.

 

[Rounder]

I probably won't even think of handling any 'pede I was to get. I know I will be sure to know where the centipede is at ALL times before I stick my hand in the tank.

you might want to consider getting a very large pair of tweezers to work inside the enclosure. Most people with Ts and scorps have these for safety reasons.

 

[Wisdom16]

I switched him to the 10 that my T was in. I then moved my crickets tot he old 'pede tank. The T is in the old cricket container (60 QT Rubbermaid container). I microwaved all the substrate before it was added to the 10 and it's hide was microwaved as well. I also microwaved the peat moss that I added too. There shouldn't be any mites in there. I also threw out the old substrate the pede was in.

 

[Scorp guy]

sure does. i just got a scolopendra subspinipes he is 7 or 8 inches and is very agressive.watch your cage and be sure to have a secure lid, if there is a way to get out, they will find it.i use cocunut bark(the kind that expands) and reptile moss and he seems to like it.be very,very careful if you feed him with tongs. I did and he will eventually snap at your hand or bite the tongs.If he does this dont jerk away....youll only make him madder.definately DO NOT HANDLE. he will attack your hand at any oppurtunity he has. give him a large water dish and keep it filled to the top. try to use something to smooth out the silicone on the side of the cage.First thing my pede did when i put him into his 10 gallon tank was run up the side of the silicone.dont give him too much light or else he will burrow and hardly ever come out.

good luck with your pede

Spencer

 

[TarantuChimp]

Ha ha this is what I just found about

Scolopendra mutilans

These attractive and relatively mellow centipedes are highly recommended.

Ha ha ha ha

or is that a good description?

 

[Scolopendra55]

Bigboy said his first large scolopendrid was S.subspinipes and so was mine and I have no regrets either. As long as you are carefull it does'nt really matter what species you get.

 

[TarantuChimp]

Regrets?? eh

I am now looking into getting a pede BUT the one problem I have is I am student living in a not so big room, what are the smaller scolopendra species OR smaller centipede species??

 

[Scolopendra55]

Hey TarantuChimp you should look into getting an S.polymorpha or S.cingulata. They are fairly small and fairly well tempered They are also pretty active most of the time.

 

[cacoseraph]

Regrets?? eh

I am now looking into getting a pede BUT the one problem I have is I am student living in a not so big room, what are the smaller scolopendra species OR smaller centipede species??

i keep my lagest centipedes in 1 gallon jugs. room is not a huge consideration if you give the centipede ample opportunity to burrow... they will burrow down and not really move around a whole lot

if you use a smaller size jug then there is a pretty reasonable chance that the pede will burrow up against the side

also, jugs with only a few holes are much easier to keep humid. the largest threat (i think) to centipedes is dessication, that is, death by drying out