Staehilomyces
Arachnoprince
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2016
- Messages
- 1,514
This is something I wanted to talk about on here for quite a while. It seems to be common knowledge that centipedes require very deep substrate in captivity. However, I feel as though this may not be completely necessary. Now, before I get flagged with dislike and disagree ratings, let me first say that I am merely voicing an idea, not encouraging any radical change in husbandry.
When I had my old Scolopendra morsitans, I kept him in shallow substrate owing to a lack of research. It was still deep enough for him to burrow in, and indeed he did, but eventually, he stopped burrowing completely. Initially, I thought this was out of stress, but he continued to feed and drink normally. In fact, I recall him coming out more after he was fed several times on the surface. Initially, I still felt as though I was raising him in an unhealthy setting, but as the years passed, I began to feel more and more that he was doing well in the conditions I had provided. When he died, it was after he had been in my ownership for over six years, bearing in mind he was already adult when I bought him. This was the first experience that made me wonder if centipedes needed as much substrate as it is said.
In addition, on the recent Cape York trip, on which I daresay many of you would know I found several large tiger Ethmostigmus rubripes, four out of five of the centipedes were found under hides on hard surfaces where they could not have burrowed. Three of them were on concrete floor, and the other was on hard-packed ground. Not to mention, every centipede I have ever found in the wild was under a log/rock as opposed to burrowed in the earth. This leads me to the conclusion that, as long as you provide ample hiding space, a deep substrate is not as important as it is often stressed in care guides, unless you are dealing with fossorial species such as E. trigonopodus and S. angulata.
Feel free to add to the discussion below.
When I had my old Scolopendra morsitans, I kept him in shallow substrate owing to a lack of research. It was still deep enough for him to burrow in, and indeed he did, but eventually, he stopped burrowing completely. Initially, I thought this was out of stress, but he continued to feed and drink normally. In fact, I recall him coming out more after he was fed several times on the surface. Initially, I still felt as though I was raising him in an unhealthy setting, but as the years passed, I began to feel more and more that he was doing well in the conditions I had provided. When he died, it was after he had been in my ownership for over six years, bearing in mind he was already adult when I bought him. This was the first experience that made me wonder if centipedes needed as much substrate as it is said.
In addition, on the recent Cape York trip, on which I daresay many of you would know I found several large tiger Ethmostigmus rubripes, four out of five of the centipedes were found under hides on hard surfaces where they could not have burrowed. Three of them were on concrete floor, and the other was on hard-packed ground. Not to mention, every centipede I have ever found in the wild was under a log/rock as opposed to burrowed in the earth. This leads me to the conclusion that, as long as you provide ample hiding space, a deep substrate is not as important as it is often stressed in care guides, unless you are dealing with fossorial species such as E. trigonopodus and S. angulata.
Feel free to add to the discussion below.
