New to pedes

[PA7R1CK]

I have never owned a centipede or a millapede before. I decided that I would like to give them a try. Can any of you suggest a good starter species for me? Also what do they require for living and eating? Thanks alot,
Patrick

 

[crashergs]

if you want... i caught my pede before I bought one, that was a promise I made to myself. After I caught one, i was immersed in excitement. When you see a pede in shape of an "S" laying beneath that boulder you just excavated from earth you get a good feeling, i dunno. I suggest catching one first, thats the best part about having a pede, a pede you caught in the wild. Happy hunting mate. cheers!

Mario

 

[cacoseraph]

FL has AWESOME centipedes!

you are a lucky person for sure!

check this out:
Florida "Giant" Centipedes

nine dang species.... i don't know which are specifically by orlando, but it should be too hard to tell from that

 

[PA7R1CK]

Thanks everyone I will start the search soon

 

[crashergs]

patrick forgot to mention it varies on species in terms of care/temperature/humidity. I dont think anyone can give you a definate answer, it depends on the species you obtain. If you catch a wild caught specimen in an area of high humidity, you might want to try to replicate its enviroment. do research, and search the forums on the top search bar. Id say typically, temperature ranges should be 75-80, maybe 85 if you can gradient the heat from one end of the enclosure to the other end. Because of the structure of the pedes anatomy, i guess i can say; they have little holes to my understanding breathe? but these holes on their segments are pretty much open all the time, and alot of moisture leaks from these holes, if you by chance forget humidity levels you can easily dehydrate your pede and will die. so keep that in mind too, unless otherwise stated by a more experienced pede enthusiast.

ive ready plentiful of times on here that all specimens should have a moderatley high humidity, if that is not plausible, a water dish must be supplied. I have noticed my water dish always being empty, but thats because my pede likes to move dirt around and throws it in the dish and drys it out. they dont drink everyday, but its a good practice to keep an eye on it.

For my subspinipes and I should say for all species of centipedes unless someone finds a friendly centipede that seems to be touched by an angel and not want to insert its sharp protruding fangs into your delicate skin no matter how much you poke at it; you need to buy the essential tools to handle the pede, remove fecal matter and other unwanted objects in the tank.

I have these tools:

Flexible Claw-Grip: Which a sample is provided below: readily available at a hardware shop, home depot, lowes.
http://www.findingking.com/storefro....aspx?sid=1&sfid=102022&c=10047404&i=53983453

Large Surgical Tweezers:
www.i really dont have a site for this.com
-- But you might be lucky like me and run into a reptile shop and see if they
have tweezers that large.

TIP: on the tweezers, i put silicon tubing at the tips so i dont hurt the pede when i grab him, and petroleum jelly above the silicon so he cannot run up my tweezers and teach me a lesson.

 

[PA7R1CK]

Thanks so much for the advice. I would guess being in FL the species I would find would require humidity. Keeping humidity up is no problem I have a few tarantulas that require high humidity, h.lividum, ect. Thanks again!

 

[crashergs]

ah by the way found a little rundown of a pedes anatomy check it out: very useful basic information:

http://www.geocities.com/lflank/centipedeanatomy.html