# How'd that happen?!



## Galapoheros (Sep 4, 2012)

Dirt shark! aka, Surinam roach(Pycnoscelus surinamensis).  I have these in my yard so threw a few in a container, ...and then there were more.  If they aren't eat though, what they do is bury, nip at the let nips and keep doing it over and over again, like slowly eating a carrot.  I only saw one nip though with the roach's head barely exposed so yeah I'm speculating a little here but that's the story so far.  I should've watched longer but I got too P O'd and got rid of the roach, I didn't know it was in there alive like that.  Just throwing it out there, uneaten stuff can be a threat, just like mice and snakes.  btw it's a Scolopendra hainanum, not a galapagoensis, kind of looks like one, And it's OK, alive but prob would've been killed if I didn't check on it a while ago.


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## SDCPs (Sep 4, 2012)

Oh, poor guy . I'm glad you checked when you did. I would just wait. If he keeps losing legs you know the roach wasn't the problem ::

Why did it eat like every other leg? So...symmetrical


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## coldvaper (Sep 4, 2012)

Hope the roach was the problem.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 4, 2012)

The leg munching pattern is coincidence I assume.  All bets on my end is that it was the roach that caused it all.  This happened in a week or two, the other three I have are completely normal.  I remember putting the roach in there, I usually put crickets in there but I'm getting a lot of these roaches now.  I've seen some isopods, crickets and roaches take a bite at the ends of the legs and back up real fast, just like a dog.  I should mention that this is a captive born pede and has been in a shallow deli all it's life, it's always visible, that's how I'm able to see this stuff going on.  I caught the roach bite a nub and the pede jerk.  But I didn't see it eat all those legs, I just can't think of another explanation.  Roaches and crickets, they're pretty sneaky little critters imo.


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## stingray (Sep 4, 2012)

Now that is freaky! Its incredible how the pede will let it get munched on like that. Sorta like putting a mouse in with a sick snake and the mouse starts chewing on the snake.


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## J Morningstar (Sep 4, 2012)

Actually I had the same problem with my striped leg. It was the isopods the whole time, they would just wait for him to relax. Then gang up on the effected limb, hes molteed no isos in the tank and he's fine now.
He had lost two legs halfway up...


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## coldvaper (Sep 4, 2012)

Isopods do this? Man maybe I should take mine out, if so how do I keep mold from forming?


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## Galapoheros (Sep 4, 2012)

Some isopod sps are more aggressive than others.  Scaber seems pretty aggressive to me, I don't use those anymore.  Imo the faster the sps, the more aggressive they will be in general.  But I caught Armadillidium vulgare, the slower, pill shaped isopods picking at a freshly molted pling, almost killed it, missing legs.  I use what is sometimes advertised as dwarf white isopods.  They are very slow and small, never had a problem with those picking at live inverts, not that I've seen anyway.  I think Orin was one of the first to advertising them, not sure, but a lot of people have them now.


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## RobynTRR (Sep 4, 2012)

That is crazy to see, I feel bad for the guy.


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## J Morningstar (Sep 5, 2012)

I think I'm going to get the dwarf ones, and springtails for my centipedes and t' enclosures from now on, those big isos can really do a big creature in if too many are there...


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## zonbonzovi (Sep 5, 2012)

It should probably be reiterated that this was a specific roach species and not isopods.  It is interesting that you had them picking at a pling, Todd.  I've never had that happen but then again never kept them with plings.  With adults I've only seen them swarm over fresh sheds, ignoring the animal.  P. scaber does seem more prone to dig into fresh prey carcasses IME.


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## J Morningstar (Sep 5, 2012)

Got you, didn't mean to hijack the thread, but I just wanted to throw it out here because they did the same exact thing to mine, except, no roaches nesasarry.


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## zonbonzovi (Sep 5, 2012)

No worries, J  I'm just overly precise today and got to thinking about how these conversations are read by newbs and lurkers.  Maybe it's high time we design a group experiment on all the various species of isopod that get used in captive settings?


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## J Morningstar (Sep 5, 2012)

Thaat would be both benificial and informitive...


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## satchellwk (Sep 7, 2012)

That's pretty freaky about the roach, and I'm glad the pede is still ok (for the most part). However, I'm more interested in what exactly Scolopendra hainanum is. I've never heard of the species. Where are they from? Is that what the adults all look like? Do you have and pictures of the whole pede? Do you have a breeding group of them?


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## zonbonzovi (Sep 8, 2012)

Hey Satch, see here:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?236547-Scolopendra-subspinipes-ssp.-ID


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## Elytra and Antenna (Sep 9, 2012)

I had a few hidden, uneaten Gyna eat holes in and kill one of those baby Scolopendra heros heros after I had been caring for over a year and it had molted and grown to around 3.5". However, they never touched the centipede until it molted and the exoskeleton was a soft as pudding. 
I wonder if your pede had something else going on like leg rot and they fed on the damaged areas.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 9, 2012)

I doubt this, I have a few and each has always looked very healthy but there is the possibility I missed something of course.  I think I'll try something here for science.  I will take a pic of one of the others, then I will put one of these roaches in with it, ...just it, the roach and some substrate and check on it daily.  I'll take pics if anything worth mentioning pops up.


OK I set the stage.  Roach bait pede, healthy condition.  It's environment hasn't changed, only the roach has entered the picture.  It's been in this container about a year(?) and seems to be in great condition.  A little too moist in there imo, will let it dry out a little, a lot of isopods, small sps, they haven't been a problem.  I'll give it a month or so, checking every day.







all legs healthy







Introduced roach, same instar as the other suspect


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## coldvaper (Sep 9, 2012)

Tod I am very interested in seeing what happens here.


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## HairyCelt (Sep 21, 2012)

I had similar damage to my S.hardwickei but discovered it was my fault, due to mycosis caused by an overly moist substrate.


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## Galapoheros (Sep 21, 2012)

HairyCelt said:


> I had similar damage to my S.hardwickei but discovered it was my fault, due to mycosis caused by an overly moist substrate.


The main reason the mycosis theory doesn't make sense to me in this case is because ime I've been able to see mycosis effects on every leg when it's only caused by too much moisture, all the other intact legs look perfectly healthy.  And the other subs are in basically the same enviro conditions looking great, the diff being no roach was in the other containers.  I had another pede missing a few tips months ago, it started missing the tips of a few of it's legs and was very restless, trying to get out, couldn't figure it out.  There were two hungry crickets in there, they were nipping at the legs, I caught the dang diddlys doing it, like a pack of dogs.  I do have a diff cricket feeder sps. than most, like them a lot though for feeders.  I removed the crickets, stopped trying to get out, it molted, everything was fine after that.  So you have to watch the crix.  Update, the pede still looks good.  I changed the roach today with a smaller, thinner one because the other looked fat.  The fat one went to the bottom and looks like it's about to molt, so basically, it's not hungry.

Reactions: Like 1


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