The Beginning

[Morthoseth]

This thread is for telling how you got into liking centipedes and all this stuff. Any stories, post them here!

 

[joseofsa]

I saw that video where the peruvian giant ate the mouse... It was over, I had always liked snakes but they didnt capture my eye they were not as good looking to me as that centipede looked. So after that I was hooked I only have 3 cetipedes now but hopefully after arachnocon that will change

 

[maxident213]

I saw a Discovery Channel show where a pede snagged a low-flying bird. I had no idea pedes got that big or were capable of such predatory feats. I was blown away.

 

[beetleman]

when i bursted out of my mothers womb i was playing with bugs from the beginning, i was always loveing the little centipedes running around in my backyard,then i saw in books how big some really get that was it,time went on and now i have about 20 of these awesome monsters and i won't stop there:drool: the bigger the better!

 

[Galapoheros]

I was born with bug blood. Bugs, and herps since I can remember 4, 5(?). This would be the late 60's. 10, 11, 12, my parents told me to stop looking for stuff, esp. snakes. They thought I was going to get bit. Both afraid of bug stuff. I just kept going. Around 1985 in college, I took a "field bio of animals" class that focused on herps. The beginnings of a herpetology class for the school. We went on a field trip and stayed on a professor's land in the desert. We had a couple of school vans and drove around looking for snakes. Someone said, "Wait, I think I saw something back there." The guy got out and came back with a Scolopendra heros heros that he caught with a snake stick! Was I on planet earth?! I couldn't believe my eyes! Most other people on the trip were pretty calm, "wow, that's a big centipede. I'm tired. We done yet?" Not me Man!, I was fired up! I saw my first Scolopendra heros castaneiceps on that trip too. What was going on! I've been buggin all my life and had never seen these monsters before! But I'd never looked in the desert before either. Also, it's a hobby that deals with things most people are scared of so there's not a whole lot of support and life can keep you busy doing other stuff. Anyway, so, from then on, I would go on my yearly snake hunts and try to catch centipedes too. But until recently, I couldn't keep them alive because I would always get a very, very frustrating mite problem and they would ALL die. So I wouldn't get too excited about finding a centipede because I just expected it to die of mites. Now, thanks to this site, I haven't had mites for a year and so I'm enjoying the hobby MUCH more. It's still just a hobby though. I usually focus on some favorites. But I'm slowly learning scientific names of more and more species. Just having fun with it. They are interesting to look at and interesting to watch what they do.

I'm not looking for the snakes anymore. Maybe a couple of favs, but my interest has gone from snakes to arthropods.

 

[dirtborder4life]

pedes

Well, I've always had an interest in creepy crawlies,got my first T(rosea),when i was 7-8(?),and my first snake(garter),at the same age.Ever since then I've gotten more and more herps and inverts,but for some reason always ignored centipedes.Probly because I didnt know anything about them.Anyway, last year I decided to actually look at the centipede section of gphx.I was very interested when i saw how big scolos got, and read about their diet . I did tons of reasearch and finally ordered a S.h.c. I loved him, and a few months later I ordered 2 S.subspinipes "De-Hanni".And love them too! Im now deciding which species to get next and loving the myriapod part of the invert hobby.
Josh

 

[LongDucDong]

It started slowly with me. My main thing is scorpions (I also keep some tarantulas) and I never gave 'pedes a second thought. I saw Randy May's photo of a Scolopendra spp (Tanzanian neon blue leg) and was immediately hooked. This was only about 2 months ago! Since then I have acquired almost ten 'pedes. I cant get enough of them.

 

[swatc1h]

I'd always loved true spiders (latrodectus) and after digging hard and asking around with 10% responding back (thank-you) and just limited my search just to try something different for awhile i've tagged just to my enjoyment of looking at these beautiful pictures from Myriapods* section members you know who : ) even since than i currently have 20 Centipedes all in a small time-frame lolz with 5-6 diff species and still expanding woOT.

 

[Morthoseth]

it also started for me slowly... there i was, 5 years old, in a petshop with the most feirce vicioys and cruel snakes, lizards, and tarantulas known to man. so i kept my cool and walked right over to a cage. then i turned around and there it was, a buglike thing staring straight at me. i looked at it and it looked at me, it looked closer, i back off. suddenly i broke into a cold sweat. then i went home and forgot about the whole thing until i looked in a book about 2 months ago.. it showed a picture of a centipede called something like scolopondra and said they got 6 inches long and i had no idea that it was possible for one to get that big. the biggest id ever seen was a 1/2 one in my backyard. until just now im learning their names. genus's dont help me and neither do latin names. i just stick with the main name. scolopondra or something so i dont know rlly what yall are talking about in the above things but still pretty kewl. now i wish i had that centipded i saw when i was little... oh well

 

[Alakdan]

I was basically a scorpion keeper. I thought pedes were somewhat boring. Then a friend gave me a S. polymorpha juvy which was blue-green. I didn't pay much attention, but I still took care of it properly.

One day I went scorpion hunting, and caught 5 pedes instead. I decided to keep them so I can trade them for some scorps. I eventually decided to keep all five since I discovered that they are also fascinating. I am slowly getting hooked the more I read and learn about pedes.

 

[Steven]

mmmm somewhere it went wrong when i was 5 year old orso and went on vacation to my family in Spain and my uncle took us on bug-hunt in the mountains where i saw my first Sc.cingulata, never lost intrest in the multi-legged demons

as in contrast to other hobbyist i started with pedes and the spiders and scorps came afterwards ;P

 

[juggernaut]

ill go next. they represent power and envoke fear

when i was 11 and linving in hawaii i came home one day after school to find that my dad had moved a wood pile in the garage. he told me that it was full of centipedes and i asked to see them. he said he smashed them and then pointed to a gooey mess on the cement near by. i remember seeing the mandibles of the centipede as they were the only things not destroyed by boot. "and that was it" from then on i was utterly facinated by the things
my father told me that they were the color purple and highly poisonous
while i was living there i never saw another one because at eleven i wasnt very good at bugging or taking care of bugs. my dad brought me home a huge cane spider in a jar one time. while he was gone i rolled the jar down a hill after wich i then open it released the spider only to smash it under my boot:wall:
i would force the crab spiders to bite eachother (picking them off webs is taking candy from babe with there crabby carapace) one time i got between to shrubs and swatted some type of large spider off of me-so fricken scary so...so..

 

[Randolph XX()]

mmmm somewhere it went wrong when i was 5 year old orso and went on vacation to my family in Spain and my uncle took us on bug-hunt in the mountains where i saw my first Sc.cingulata, never lost intrest in the multi-legged demons

as in contrast to other hobbyist i started with pedes and the spiders and scorps came afterwards ;P

same as u Steven
Scorpions and Ts are super rare back home , too.i started with S.morsitans and H.ver

 

[BugBoyX]

Pretty much was interested in all things creepy and crawly from day one. As a 4 year old I even jumped out of a moving vehicle once to try and capture some sort of critter (think it was a grasshopper, still on of my favs. ). Parents then made the mistake of saying I could have what ever I wanted as long as I took care of it. Centipedes were just a beautiful and amazing member of that group. 30 odd years later, still doing it and still as amazed and interested in all things as I was at 4 jumping out of my grandfather's truck.

 

[Okitasoshi]

I was always a Tarantula fan, and quite frankly was creeped out by Centipede's, but i came to this board and started looking at pictures and though "Hey those are pretty neat" So just a couple weeks ago i got one from Chris from Krazy 8's. ..I haven't seen him since lol. (He burrowed in his substrate and never comes out.

 

[Androctonus_bic]

I remember to see my first giant centipede in a review called BUGS; I was impresed because this giant centipede appears like one of the four dangerous bugs ( plus A. australis, L.rubescens and P. ferox). The description of the animal was impresive. Theres was called like S. gigantea, but now, I can say that that is a S.s. de hanni chinese stripped legs.

My firts real scolopendra was found in desertic area of coast here in spain. I killed it in less than 2 hours. I put in a glass in a infernal sun shine in the middle of august in a desert. Now I know that this buggs requiered a los of humidity.

10 Years later I get into scorps; and looking this subforum I get in love again of scolopendra, and now I have more messages write here than in scorps subforum.

Untill today I have never seen a sc. bigger than a cingulata...It is a pitty...

Sorry if that was so borring.

Cheers
Carles

 

[rm90]

Well I first signed up for this forum to read on Tarantulas, but then I seen there were topics on other animals like Scorpions, Centipedes, and other insects of that kind. I was always fascinated by stuff that was unique and out of the ordinary. I'm passed having hamsters as pets these are way cooler.

 

[Morthoseth]

Well I first signed up for this forum to read on Tarantulas, but then I seen there were topics on other animals like Scorpions, Centipedes, and other insects of that kind. I was always fascinated by stuff that was unique and out of the ordinary. I'm passed having hamsters as pets these are way cooler.

Being as *cruel* as i am i would have probably fed the hamsters to the centipede. yall may think im crazy and mean and stuff but seeing a giant peruvian centipede taking a full grown hamster down would have been pretty cool to me.

 

[Drake Dracoli]

I dreamt about centipedes for a month straight. I could see them with my eyes closed. (Without the use of hallucinogenic drugs.)