Pleading Pede Ignorance

[FrDoc]

Hey pede guys and gals, let’s start by saying I do not own, have on order, or am really considering a centipede. I have not so much as researched the little (some not so) critters, save for watching several YouTube vids of them gruesomely dominating their prey. So, if you could just answer one basic question I have about these specimens as I fill my office with various and sundry arachnids. Are all centipedes fossorial, or are there any that one would consider a “display pede”? Just curious.

P.S. I said that awhile back on the scorpion forum and now I have 10. Gotta love being impulsive.

 

[Staehilomyces]

All of my ten centipedes spend the majority of their time on the surface. I honestly don't think they're fossorial animals (with possible exceptions such as S. angulata); most keepers just give them massive amounts of substrate and no hides, which gives them little options aside from burrowing. I give mine less substrate, albeit still enough for them to burrow in if they wish, but put in lots of bark/leaf litter. They hide a fair bit for the first week or two, but once they've settled, they often rest out in the open from my experience.

 

[NYAN]

I think it also depends on the individual pede a bit. I have 2 heros, nearly the same enclosure design for both, but one I will see every day and the other is burrowed 99% of the time. Could be coincidence that it’s in premolt I suppose. I also hear the South American giants tend to be on the surface more often as well. In my experience scolopendra dehanni burrows a lot and can only be seen at night or early morning.

 

[Arthroverts]

S. subsinipes subsinipes is a large "display" specimen that usually stays on the surface from my experience, and my S. polymorpha is sometimes buried, sometimes on the surface, so it really depends. You could also just trade specimens that bury themselves for others that are less fossorial-minded.

Arthroverts

 

[Staehilomyces]

Apparently S. heros is also a very surface-oriented pede.

People say Ethmostigmus tend to hide a lot, but all but one of my centipedes are Ethmostigmus, so maybe it's just the setups.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

My expert diagnosis is that you're critically deficient in vitamin centipede. I recommend you quickly get some large Scolopendra sp as treatment

 

[Lithobius]

Well, by definition all pedes are fossorial, meaning they're evolutionarily adapted for burrowing.

Whether any given pede chooses to seems pretty individual. I have two polymorphas that rarely burrow and instead curl up along the side of the cage, my dehanni only burrowed as much as it needed to clear out a hide under its water dish, and when I gave it a little cave decoration it chose to stay in the cave instead of burrow.
My Alipes tend to vary a lot, two stay in its cave / under water dish all the time and has only burrowed a tunnel in and out, and the other two vary between hiding under their bark in the open and making a burrow, usually along the edge. The Alipes are kind of silly about it though, they'll make a burrow for the first 1/3 of their body and call the job done.

 

[dragonfire1577]

I haven't seen my Scolopendra polymorpha in months because it burrows while my Scolopendra heros is out like 50% of the time and is in a hide the other 50%. My Scolopendra gigantea 'white leg' on the other hand is on the surface 99.9% of the time just sits out in plain sight despite having the option to burrow or hide.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Well, by definition all pedes are fossorial, meaning they're evolutionarily adapted for burrowing.

House centipedes and their relatives aren't fossorial at all. Their body form probably makes them physically incapable of burrowing.

 

[Lithobius]

House centipedes and their relatives aren't fossorial at all. Their body form probably makes them physically incapable of burrowing.

Good point, I always forget about them haha. Does anyone know if they live in burrows or just in cracks/crevices?

 

[Exoskelos]

Good point, I always forget about them haha. Does anyone know if they live in burrows or just in cracks/crevices?

I've only seen four house centipedes in my entire life, one in a root cellar, one in a campground shower room, one in an old mammal burrow and one in a hollow space under tree roots. Don't know if that answers your question, and 4 is not a good sample size, but they seem to be equally split between indoor and sheltered outdoor environments.

 

[TreebeardGoddess]

I've only seen four house centipedes in my entire life, one in a root cellar, one in a campground shower room, one in an old mammal burrow and one in a hollow space under tree roots. Don't know if that answers your question, and 4 is not a good sample size, but they seem to be equally split between indoor and sheltered outdoor environments.

My two like to hang out under hides until feeding time. My previous girl would hide until I put in a small pothos ivy and then she would hide under the leaves. I don't know whether they can burrow but I haven't seen them do it. They can squeeze in between the tiniest cracks so it's just as well.

 

[Scoly]

Scolopendra are excellent climbers. Some are truly fossorial, such as dehaani, and if you watch videos of them being caught in the wild you'll see them being dug out of burrows. Others like hardwickii almost never burronw once they're past a certain size. Others can't seem to decide such as Ethomstigmus trigonopdus which alternate between always being hidden and ambush hunting & dragging prey under their hide, to sitting out in the open.

Some like mutilans are often more comfortable clinging on vertical rocks than lying on the substrate, and then you have Scolopendra subcrustalis which is said to be truly arboreal!

 

[dragonfire1577]

Coming back to this post I'll add that my Scolopendra sp. mint legs hides maybe 80% of the time but doesn't really burrow so is decently viewable and my gigantea is still my easiest pede to view with the exception of when it needs to molt.

 

[StampFan]

I'm going to postulate that the amount of time a 'pede spends visible is dependent on 1) species, 2) moisture, 3) bright vs no light, 4) type of substrate, 5) depth of substrate, 6) hunger and searching for food, 7) general environment -- I'm gonna guess that folks who have their 'pedes in a quiet basement have more visible animals than those who keep them in the busiest area of the house.