I finally caught a scrutigera!

[scorpio]

well, he measures about 1" in body length with a voracious appetite. Ive seen literally hundreds of these in my house and this is one of a few I havent lost or killed. I have him living in a plastic shoebox with no top for now, but im gonna move him elsewhere tomorrow. I put in a cricket about 3/4 his size and it tackled it and began munching right away. I took pics, but I need to resize them.

So any special care tips??? What should I use as hides, substrates etc. (im almost tempted to use carpet since thats where I found him)
I assume like all pedes he will need humidity, which will be provided tonight, and he seems to like crickets as food. His bite killed one almost instantly. It just sat there twitching its antennae. I know Mr. I has kept these, and ive been looking at past threads, and you guys say you think 1.5 inches is big for these guys? Once I find one of the 2 inchers that ive seen around here, you might possibly find it amazing;P

I have a few humid areas around here that would be prime areas for them to lay eggs. Anybody know if its possible for them to breed in captivity??

 

[scorpio]

Here is the first one

 

[scorpio]

Last one. They all look the same. This one has a good cricket shot.

 

[Steven]

wow

nice pictures,....
nice pede (or don't you cal that a pede?)

i'm very intrested in sseing a 2 incher of those,....
somowhere i've seen a pict of an azian species that was about 4inches i gues

 

[scorpio]

Id like to have a four incher of one of these

Im not sure if they are a true centipede. They make cheap nice little pets if you can find one. I havent seen anybody selling them.

As for the 2 inchers, and other large ones, they are typically difficult to catch because they are really fast and can slip into a paper thin crack in no time.

anyway, this morning I saw the remains of its meal. It pretty much ate up everything and left less leftovers than my mortisans. He doesnt look much fatter though.

 

[Code Monkey]

The Scutigera centipedes are as true as whatever a true centipede is (i.e. they're a chilopod and that's about the long and short of what defines a centipede).

They're pretty short lived, small, and creepier looking versus badass looking like the Scolopendridae and similar families in Chilopoda which is probably why no one ever sells them.

 

[Valael]

I think Code got it right...About that whole Creepier thing, I mean.


I might be a little nervous about holding one if I saw it running around..

 

[Mister Internet]

Originally posted by scorpio
well, he measures about 1" in body length with a voracious appetite. Ive seen literally hundreds of these in my house and this is one of a few I havent lost or killed. I have him living in a plastic shoebox with no top for now, but im gonna move him elsewhere tomorrow. I put in a cricket about 3/4 his size and it tackled it and began munching right away. I took pics, but I need to resize them.

So any special care tips??? What should I use as hides, substrates etc. (im almost tempted to use carpet since thats where I found him)
I assume like all pedes he will need humidity, which will be provided tonight, and he seems to like crickets as food. His bite killed one almost instantly. It just sat there twitching its antennae. I know Mr. I has kept these, and ive been looking at past threads, and you guys say you think 1.5 inches is big for these guys? Once I find one of the 2 inchers that ive seen around here, you might possibly find it amazing;P

I have a few humid areas around here that would be prime areas for them to lay eggs. Anybody know if its possible for them to breed in captivity??

Scorpio,

Since they are perfectly happy to live in whatever your current indoor house conditions are, special humidity and/or substrate simply aren't necessary. They are an imported pest species anyway, so it does no good to try to re-create a "natural" environment for them. Carpet, 50/50, moss, or nothing at all will be perfectly acceptable. A little bottle cap with water should be all they ever need, as their mouth parts are really tiny.

PUT A LID ON THE ENCLOSURE IMMEDIATELY!!! Scutigera are consummate climbers, and have no trouble scaling all but the smoothest of surfaces. So, unless you are absolutely sure that your shoebox has no surface imperfections at all on its wall that the pede could climb, I recommend a lid. And they have been known to breed in captivity, and I believe they may even be sexable, but it would require a microscope and a dead pede probably. Your best shot at breeding it putting 3 or 4 together and seeing what happens... I ended up with ONE fat Scut that way, you may have better luck.

 

[greensleeves]

I wish I could find the pic again, but I once saw a photo of possibly a vietnamese version of Scutigera. It had red legs and looked as big (and broad) as a human hand!

Greensleeves

 

[oo6ilfs]

Originally posted by greensleeves
I wish I could find the pic again, but I once saw a photo of possibly a vietnamese version of Scutigera. It had red legs and looked as big (and broad) as a human hand!

Greensleeves

i know what pic your talking about i have it in my files, but im not sure if i should post it. i will send it to you personally greensleeves.

 

[scorpio]

Ok. then I will just cut out a chunk of carpet from the extra stuff I have around, and I will put in some concrete or a rock or something. I found a ton where I keep my animals one time under cork, because I had a box of 500 crickets escape:8o They were all there munching. Big ones too. Too fast to catch though. I could probably go hunting in the laundry room at night and Id probably see at least 10.

Also, do these things actually have the capability to penetrate human skin on a quick bite? They just seem so small.

I would never hold one. They are much faster than your average scolopendra. At least thats what I heard. The only way ive ever caught them was when they were climbing drywall. I just put a box under them, and knocked them into it.

 

[Tzatch]

oo6ilfs

Please post the pic, it sounds really cool.

 

[Steven]

yep,...; i've got the same picture,.... that one looks really big,... it's from a japanese site,.... right?

greetz

 

[aftershock]

I caúght a real BIG one in Greece. it was about 3,5". I had to release it though cause it killed 10 of my millipedes in just a minute and I only had one container.... it was really cool though

 

[oo6ilfs]

Originally posted by aftershock
I caúght a real BIG one in Greece. it was about 3,5".

what did it look like ?

 

[FelixA9]

Originally posted by oo6ilfs
i know what pic your talking about i have it in my files, but im not sure if i should post it. i will send it to you personally greensleeves.

Any chance you could send it to me too?

sferrin@xmission.com

Thanks!