Surprise Centipede Babies, What do I do???

[Rex740]

So about 5 months ago I captured a large florida blue centipede while camping and decided to keep it as a pet in a good sized deli container full of peat moss and moisture. At about 3 months in the centipede stopped coming to the top for food and was mainly sleeping underground for quite a while (over a month). A month later I am now back in school and brought it up with me, the car ride shook up the container so I couldn't see the centipede through the container. It's been two weeks since the car ride and assumed it was dead so I just took out the deli container, shook it, and now babies are emerging from all over the peat moss. I guess she was storing sperm for a couple months??? Quite a long time in my opinion. During the time she was underground I noticed she was in the state of being curled around the eggs, though I didn't think that was it so I assumed she was shedding. So now I have tons of tiny hungry florida blue centipedes, what do I do now? Thanks.

 

[zonbonzovi]

First of all, congrats! Pretty neat, eh? If they've already begun to color up(no longer off white), separate them into deli sauce cups or baby food jars(with substrate, of course) or something similar. Feed them something appropriately sized. They will scavenge(just don't leave rotting corpses in with them). Once they're separated, offer mom food and water. I've never kept Hemiscolopendra marginata so have no idea what the growth rate is like.

After that it's just a matter of deciding whether or not you want to keep them and make an attempt at a 2nd generation later or trade them or sale them.

Good luck and be sure to get some photos

 

[Rex740]

I've heard I can leave the juvies together for a bit and I can throw in some chopped up bugs for them to scavenge. Also, how often should they be fed and when do they stop scavenging? And where can I get deli cups?

Picture time!

You can see some of the mother toward the left of the mass of centipedes.

Some more.

A few are already exploring!

 

[zonbonzovi]

Since they've colored up already I personally woundn't wait too, too long. I've fed pedelings about 1/3 of their body mass per week and they were healthy. They are capable of scavenging throughout their entire life span(but then you never get to watch the hunt).

 

[Rex740]

What would be the way to go about transporting them to other containers? I have soft forceps if that helps.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Carefully empty the container into a larger, escape-proof container so that none of them can hide in the substrate. From there you can herd them individually via vial/sauce cup etc. into their new homes.

 

[catfishrod69]

I have also used straws to help corral pedes. Just get it to go in one end, then squeeze the end shut, and let it come out the other end into the new enclosure.

 

[Rex740]

Do you think cutting meal worms in half and giving each baby a half be fine?

 

[J Morningstar]

see if they munch it up!

 

[lizardminion]

I never thought I'd say this, but AREN'T THEY SO ADORABLE!?
No seriously though, congratz on the plings! Never thought I'd ever want a c'pede until now. I bet the worms will definitely work, as they are very nutritious. Just make sure that if you are collecting them, be aware if pesticides are sprayed in the area.

 

[cacoseraph]

Do you think cutting meal worms in half and giving each baby a half be fine?

really, you just kind of play it by ear... i don't feed on a regular schedule so i sort of go by these rules, real roughly.

feed it something around the size of the space between its eyes or across it's head, unless you prekill or you know your critter is a mad mofo. kind of keep track of how often you feed and how fat your bug looks and is there any residue from the previous feedings left. because temperature and air flow and other things affect how much a certain size of a certain species needs to eat per a certain time period you sort of need to learn how to dial it in yourself. the general rule is that tropical species eat more than temperate species and when something is fat it is getting enough/too much and when it is skinny it is not getting enough. for centipedes you should be pretty safe offering an amount of food equal to their head segment size once a day and seeing if they get fat or not. you can even group your babies into those who obviously ate and those who are still skinny and skip checking the fat ones sometimes to cut down work load. also, if you can get all the babies to eat once you can probably pretty easily trade/sell at least some of them if you do that sort of thing

 

[J Morningstar]

Listen to Cacoseraph, he's done this a lot.