Use Care Changing The Water Bowl

[Fierce Deity]

wow, this might merit calling in for some fact checking!

well, i emailed the webstaff at that news site. here is my message

"Greetings,

I would like to know where you got some of your informtion regarding the story found here:
http://www.local6.com/news/7001577/detail.html

The headline for the story is "Centipede Sting Nearly Kills Florida Man"

The reason i ask is that centipede venom is not accepted as deadly by ANY myriapodologist i have ever read about. Myriapodologists are scientists devoted to the study of centipedes, millipedes, and a few other many-legged invertebrates. Scorpions on the other hand, kill thousands yearly. So you can see your claim that centipede bites are "10 times worse" is laughable at best. I am a keeper and breeder of many such animals and thus it behooves me greatly to know intimately the toxicity of every animal i keep. Scolopendra subspinipes, or the Giant Vietnamese centipede to use the generally accepted common name has venom that *can* cause inordinate amounts of pain, but in a normal healthy man there is more risk driving to work in the morning than the bite of a S. subspinipes. There has NEVER been a medically validated and recorded death from centipede envenomation and only a single case of hearsay, reported and often quoted on the internet, regarding a small Filipino girl who was bitten directly on the head by a large centipede.

The invertebrate keeping community has a hard enough time fighting all the prejudice and hatred for our pets. Please do not allow misinformation to further sway the public.

Thanks for your time, and if you would like any further information about centipedes i would be happy to get back to you with citations or expert opinion from leading myriapodologists.

Thanks again,

Andrew Olson"

Did you get a reply?

 

[Jmadson13]

jeeze, gotta love rampant sensationalist media coverage. Do we see this kind of media when somebody is nearly killed by a dog? not usually, this kind of bad press is not good for the hobby.

 

[Jmadson13]

can they do that ?



wow man,... i need to get me some centipedes a.s.a.p.

Well Steven, you have to have a queen centipede for that

 

[cacoseraph]

Did you get a reply?

lol

i'll give you three guesses, but the first two don't count =P


(that is no, to our non-USA friends) ehhehehe

 

[Jimmy James]

It says that because of the centipede's long fangs it is about 10 times more deadly than a scorpion.

I don't think fangs ever play a role in the amount of venom pumped into something. And from what I know, they don't inject venom with their fangs... They use modified claws that have venom glands.

 

[Stylopidae]

It says that because of the centipede's long fangs it is about 10 times more deadly than a scorpion.

I don't think fangs ever play a role in the amount of venom pumped into something. And from what I know, they don't inject venom with their fangs... They use modified claws that have venom glands.

It's the size of the pump...not the size of the <erhm> claw.

No...every time they need an 'expert' for a story, they ask Jim at PetCo. Any responsible journalist knows that a high school dropout who works at a place notorious for staff that knows very little about animals is the perfect source for a story. Especially when there people who have college degrees who study this stuff.

 

[LongDucDong]

What scorpion? What species, subfamily or tribe? There's thousands of species, of which maybe only a few hundred are toxic.

Androconoctus, Parabuthus, Leirus, C. Exacullida, Babycurus (?), Hottenhotta, Tityus

Those are the genusus I am aware of that have medically signiffigant venom.

(yes...I am aware that it is an incomplete list)

Not too many

There are only 25 or so that are POTENTIALLY lethal to healthy humans. There are several AndrocTONUS, Parabuthus can be potentially deadly, but are less so than the Androctonus genus. LeiUrus quinquestriatus is very lethal, but doesnt kill as many as Androctonus australis. C. ExIliCAUDA is potentially lethal, but is probably one of the (if not THEE) least toxic of all Buthidae family members. Babycurus jacksoni are a Buthidae family member, and most rate their venom around a 2, but I rate them a solid 3. Hottentotta has a few species that are quite potent, but I also consider ALL Tityus species to be potentially fatal. I know this isnt 'pede related, but I thought Id clarify.

 

[Stylopidae]

(yes...I am aware that it is an incomplete list)

Not too many

LongDucDong:

I never claimed to be an expert (in fact, in many of my posts, I claim to be the exact opposite), so I added a disclaimer.

I'm not one of the idiots traipsing around here on the boards who only pretends to be knowledgable on the subjects. I am here to learn things on a class of animals I've loved all my life, not to start debates on semantics.

Not quite related to anything else on the thread, I just thought I'd clarify.

I would appreciate it if in the future if you'd take my posts in context. I was using medically signiffigant as a term to explain in a sentence in what took you a whole paragraph. We said the same thing (although I admit butchering the spelling of certian words on occasion).

My point was made, and was fairly accurate (except for the number of species, a figure I just tossed off the top of my head).

If you want to show your knowledge, start a discussion thread. I'm sure you're very knowledgable on the subject, probably more so than I am. I don't appreciate it when people take my posts out of context, and highlighting my spelling errors of latin genus names that I've only been learning for a couple of months or so doesn't help.

Not exactly related to the rest of the thread, but thought I'd clarify

 

[i-zombie]

No...every time they need an 'expert' for a story, they ask Jim at PetCo.

Then I'm sure we aren't getting the whole story here. You know...that the pede was pissed because it had a water dish instead of a sponge.

 

[LongDucDong]

LongDucDong:

I never claimed to be an expert (in fact, in many of my posts, I claim to be the exact opposite), so I added a disclaimer.

I'm not one of the idiots traipsing around here on the boards who only pretends to be knowledgable on the subjects. I am here to learn things on a class of animals I've loved all my life, not to start debates on semantics.

Not quite related to anything else on the thread, I just thought I'd clarify.

I would appreciate it if in the future if you'd take my posts in context. I was using medically signiffigant as a term to explain in a sentence in what took you a whole paragraph. We said the same thing (although I admit butchering the spelling of certian words on occasion).

My point was made, and was fairly accurate (except for the number of species, a figure I just tossed off the top of my head).

If you want to show your knowledge, start a discussion thread. I'm sure you're very knowledgable on the subject, probably more so than I am. I don't appreciate it when people take my posts out of context, and highlighting my spelling errors of latin genus names that I've only been learning for a couple of months or so doesn't help.

Not exactly related to the rest of the thread, but thought I'd clarify

Thats cool man! Didnt mean to sound like I was pickin on you or whatever you seem to think, I was just trying to show you the proper way. Trust me, it took lots of studying before I understood fully too, but if noone points out mistakes, youll never learn, right? No harm was meant. Just trying to help/clarify, thats all.

 

[Stylopidae]

Thats cool man! Didnt mean to sound like I was pickin on you or whatever you seem to think, I was just trying to show you the proper way. Trust me, it took lots of studying before I understood fully too, but if noone points out mistakes, youll never learn, right? No harm was meant. Just trying to help/clarify, thats all.

'tis cool. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone thinks I'm trying to show off and they try to one up me.

Also, when people take things I say out of context I tend to get a tad bit pissy even to the point of overreacting (see above).

No harm, no foul, I'm not mad.

Welcome to the boards, enjoy your stay. There's a lot of interesting people here and like I said before, there is a vast wealth of knowledge in these here pages.