# Sc. galapagoensis, just sayin



## Galapoheros

Sc. galapagoensis, just sayin

 I received these three specimens a year ago, they were around 5 to 6 inches long, small, unimpressive really.  All three are 9 to 10 inches long now, roughly 23cm to 25 cm, they look better as they get bigger imo.  The individual next to the measuring tape is the one in the middle, I didn't measure the other two but the one on the left seems a little larger, prob around 10 and the one to the far right looks to be 9 inches like the one in the middle.  I don't know how long these live, but ...if I have three that are already this large, it sure seems there would be some big monsters out there.  I think growth has slowed a lot though, not much with the last molts.

Reactions: Like 15


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## MrCrackerpants

Thanks for sharing. Such a beautiful animal.


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## catfishrod69

That is totally awesome! You really need to get some plings from these, as i want some badly.


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## MrCrackerpants

catfishrod69 said:


> That is totally awesome! You really need to get some plings from these, as i want some badly.


Me too! Me too!

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## Galapoheros

Hey Cracker, I thought, "no way they are an inch", but I just measured and the largest is 7/8 inch across, barely over 2cm.  OK honestly, I have plings but I'm thinking of growing them before I get rid of any, maybe having them available in the Summer, I just don't know yet, maybe by then I could sex them out.  It's just that I didn't want people to get frustrated saying, "Man, why doesn't he sell any!"  I would do trades right away for gigantea and hardwickei though hehe.  I have a couple of hardwickei born in the US from Kyuzo that he saved from being eaten, but they are too little to sex out.


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## beetleman

wow! words can't describe this beast,,,,a definte must have.,


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## catfishrod69

I could always airbrush my polymorpha to make it look like a hardwickei .





Galapoheros said:


> Hey Cracker, I thought, "no way they are an inch", but I just measured and the largest is 7/8 inch across, barely over 2cm.  OK honestly, I have plings but I'm thinking of growing them before I get rid of any, maybe having them available in the Summer, I just don't know yet, maybe by then I could sex them out.  It's just that I didn't want people to get frustrated saying, "Man, why doesn't he sell any!"  I would do trades right away for gigantea and hardwickei though hehe.  I have a couple of hardwickei born in the US from Kyuzo that he saved from being eaten, but they are too little to sex out.

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## MrCrackerpants

Galapoheros said:


> Hey Cracker, I thought, "no way they are an inch", but I just measured and the largest is 7/8 inch across, barely over 2cm.  OK honestly, I have plings but I'm thinking of growing them before I get rid of any, maybe having them available in the Summer, I just don't know yet, maybe by then I could sex them out.  It's just that I didn't want people to get frustrated saying, "Man, why doesn't he sell any!"  I would do trades right away for gigantea and hardwickei though hehe.  I have a couple of hardwickei born in the US from Kyuzo that he saved from being eaten, but they are too little to sex out.


Ya, I could tell they were thick from the picture above. 

Good to know you will trade for gigantea as I have a bunch of extras laying around ; )

How many plings do you have? You don' t have to answer that question. : )


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## Androctonus_bic

I just can to say... congratulations!
That monsters are wonderful! 
Nice picture... good luck with pedelings and of course with them!
Cheers
Carles


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## Galapoheros

Thanks, I'll post pics and more info later in this thread, they still have to molt one more time before they look "normal".


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## MrCrackerpants

Galapoheros said:


> Thanks, I'll post pics and more info later in this thread, they still have to molt one more time before they look "normal".


Looking forward to the pictures.


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## Galapoheros

OK here are some pics.  Normally I would have left them in the original chamber the female created but I could barely see isopods in the bottom and I don't trust those doooods when it comes to molting inverts so I transferred them to a deli container.  The first pic is the rock they were under before I removed it, the second is a pic I took right after removing the rock.  What seems to be different about this sps is that the babies stay under for an additional development stage compared to say, Scolopendra heros.  As far as I could see and remember seeing(it was really hard to see in there so a second observation would help a lot), there was the pineapple lifesaver nymph stage, then the next stage was completely white with a small head, looking much like Scolopendra heros at this stage that I'm most familiar with.  The next stage had some color with individuals having a light brown/yellowish head.  This is the stage most young individuals like Scolopendra heros would leave and go out on their own.  But not this species, they stay together in the chamber at this stage without the mother because ...they ate her, ...revenge of the plings!  It's more evidence that it is normal for the babies to consume the mother, the babies seem specialized in doing so.  More to support that is the fact that I counted 156 babies, that's a lot.  It makes sense though that a female would have many if they only had a brood one time.  The eggs are notably small also, the smaller they are, the more she can hold while on her back.  I'm interested in seeing if gigantea and viridicornis are the same in all these respects, I wouldn't be surprised.  The next pics I plan to post will be after they molt to what would be considered "normal" looking pedes.

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## MrCrackerpants

WoW!!!!!!!!!!! Great job!!!


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## Cavedweller

Man those guys are gorgeous pedes! (The fat, squishy babies less so)

Think they'll get a little bit bigger or are they done?


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## Galapoheros

I do think they will get bigger but I think the growth will be slower for these three.  But if these are this big, it makes sense to me that there are bigger ones that would blow my mind out there somewhere.  It's one reason I'm tempted to keep many of them, I would like to see monster ones pop up over time.

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## tmcv

Galapoheros my friend, I envy you!!!!! The Scolopendras here dosn't want to breed hahahaha!!! The TºC is fine, moisture is fine, feeding is fine.... who knows!!!

Amazing animals, and I agree with you, monster ones are amazing!!! There's a viridicornis here with 28cm, and very agressive, seems like a chinese dragon!!!!


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## catfishrod69

156 Babies, holy crap! Thats insane. I for sure am looking forward to getting a few from you.


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## buddah4207

WOW these are gorgeous pede would be very interested in getting a few


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## zonbonzovi

Congrats, man!  That's very exciting news, esp. that they produce so many.  I hope you do hold some back and keep the line going...too many species have slipped away that we thought would always be available


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## Galapoheros

Thanks, it's good news for anybody that's been wanting one, what's that ......15 people haha.  There just aren't very many pede people.  I know there are more out there than it would seem of course, this is only one site and many people out there don't even mess around with computer stuff much.  I've been waiting to post again, I was going to post when they molted again but they are taking a while.  I know there are at least a few people breeding hardwickei here, it just a matter of time for those.  Honestly I'm not too interested in Sc. gigantea anymore since I have these, these were my first choice but I certainly would also like to get gigantea.  I expect these to look much different after they molt again.  Hey tmcv, it'd be nice to see a pic of that 28cm you have in the lab there, is that the biggest one there?


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## Ckelly02

Congrats on successful breeding! I have been collecting pedes for many years but have never been able to acquire such a beautiful pede as the Galapagoensis. Would definitely pay big bucks for one.


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## tmcv

Galapoheros said:


> Hey tmcv, it'd be nice to see a pic of that 28cm you have in the lab there, is that the biggest one there?


Galapoheros I'll took some photos of the monster!!


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## dactylus

*WOW!! *


Congratulations!!  What a sight!!

:biggrin:


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## Scorpendra

Congrats! I've been waiting for this for what felt like forever. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing those babies go up for sale.

Reactions: Like 1


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## fenrirswrath

You can add me as a definite buyer as well.


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## catfishrod69

After keeping a few odd and end pedes, i decided to let go of all of them except S. polymorpha. They are so much more forgiving. But i have recently decided to get back into pedes, and learn how to sex them. Maybe in the future i can help you guys out with male/female loans, and adding more CB to the hobby.


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## Galapoheros

OK, more stuff to look at, I'm trying to make it more exciting here lol.  They are finally molting, I only see a few that molted so far.  I'm being careful not to bump of disturb them esp. at this point.  They would start running over everybody else and that wouldn't be good for one that's molting:bruised:.







Here's another one that has molted again.  I'm also suspicious of something concerning this sps, something to do with the plings at the stage they are in when they eat the mother.  See the mandibles on the little pling there(I circled in red), they seem a little large for their size to me, I'm wondering if they protrude out in front more than on most species at this stage.  If so I suppose it could be more adaptation to consuming the mother pede, pretty weird if that's the case.

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## beetleman

wow! awesome closeups,those babies are beauuuuuuuuuutiful! looking great.


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## Galapoheros

I think you're just being nice beetlemanpete lol, they just look ghostly to me but beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course.  Check this out, I took a molt of the big-headed babies and took a closer look at those mandibles ....imo, made to eat up mommy, what else would they need those for if they don't come out until the next molt(?)  Next will be pics of their new cured bods and when they are able to eat, guess that'll be all.  To me, these look better as they get older while some other species seem to fade with age.

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## zonbonzovi

That is weird.  I'm very curious to see how they develop in the upcoming molts.  Adults lack these, yeah?


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## Galapoheros

I think most Scolopendra have mandibles, the chewing parts, but I read somewhere that Geophilomorpha doesn't, don't really know about that though.  A person would need to look into it more, the few mandibles I've looked at aren't this gnarly looking.  After they molt again, I could take a pic of the mandibles then.  My guess is that they won't have the "teeth" that look so long and sharp anymore.  Teeth-like features should be there, but I don't think they will look like that in the pic.


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## zonbonzovi

I could never get Geo's to sit still long enough for a ventral macro pic.  When I first saw your pic it looked like coxosternal teeth from hell but the positioning was odd(pointing inward rather than toward the antennae.  Have you noticed mandibles with with obvious "teeth" before?  Just freaked out(in a good way) as I always assumed mandibles were only for manipulation of food, but yeah, that looks like a stage specific structure if I'm looking at it from the right perspective?


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## Galapoheros

Yeah I think there is some modification there at that stage.  If you go here http://www.alanmommerency.be/centipede_anatomy_scolopendromorpha.html  ,what you are looking at in my pic are the hard chewing features that are underneath the softer, white, "covers" where it's labeled "1st mandible" in the 3rd pic at the site.  I never have gotten into the anatomy of inverts much.  I saved more exuvia, I'll see if I can get a better pic later.

---------- Post added 02-09-2013 at 05:51 PM ----------

OK these pics will allow a better perspective, much better!  You can see the "teeth" in the background behind the focused fangs.





Here's a pic with more focus on the teeth.





Here's another specimen, to me the fangs(tarsungulum) look more adapted to cutting at this stage, I see a sharp edge.  You can see the teeth in the background, they are covered as in the anatomy diagram on the site I linked to earlier.





I took a needle, that is much more dull than the teeth btw, and tried to expose and separate them better.











All this is at a very small scale by the way, took some pics just now to give a better idea of that;

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## zonbonzovi

Ah, OK...so used to those 1st mandibles looking like a bumpy, partially submerged tennis ball with a butt crack, haha.  It's strange that the coxosternal teeth in the foreground have barely developed.  Fascinating, G, thanks for putting this up!


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## Galapoheros

HA, yeah what you have been seeing are what I think of as being the covers/centipede lips, covering what most people would think of as being the true jaws.  I'm guessing these babies lose their baby teeth(the very sharp thinner ones with this molt, I will check the next molts to find out.  I'm guessing the stronger, thicker looking dark ones grow with the centipede and maybe will get more modified for grinding and chewing.  A lot of guessing there I know but what else is there to do.  I think people would like to checkout some recent pics in the gallery of Scolopendra viridicornis by AB user "Giantipede", people would have to do a gallery search for the pics.  imo it's nice viridicornis specimen and also see that there is a good pic there of viridicornis babies, they look very different than what I expected, I expected them to look very bland like the galapagoensis babies over here.  But I don't know if the color is standard for the babies of course, you know how it goes for pedes, but it could be typical.  I know, ...a lot of speculating on my part, it's what I do haha.

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## J Morningstar

I'm down,  will be there for a few!!!! OMG! you did a fantastic job onnthe breeding!!


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## Galapoheros

Thanks JM but I only watched lol, and they went through 3 batches of eggs(eaten) before a batch finally developed.  I'd eat the eggs too instead of getting eaten by those little buggers!  There is one left that needs to molt, it was injured, I'll post a pic here later I guess, something to look at anyway.

Making some repairs, suppose that's why it's taking it a while.

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## coldvaper

Wow I disappear for a couple of months and now you have babies congrats my man. I hope you can get some good breeding groups together.


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## J Morningstar

So from all the pics, how many babies in all survived?

---------- Post added 02-16-2013 at 08:53 PM ----------

I just rrealized perhaps I should not have removed my Mother of the chinese giant, when she passed after having the pedelings...


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## Galapoheros

That last one didn't make it, there are 153, don't know what happened to the other two but I could've miss-counted the first go-round.  Here they are after the final molt when they leave and start hunting on their own.  The last pic is the typical look these plings have atm.

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## coldvaper

How many adult pairs did you start off with?


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## Galapoheros

I started out with 5 on the small side, they grow fast!  I had an accident with another pede I borrowed from somebody so I sent them one to replace it.  So I ended up with 2 males and 2 females.  I don't want the other female to have babies soon since it looks like it's a standard thing for the mother to get eaten, but she already mated, I don't want anymore plings atm.  Maybe I could stagger batches, or maybe let somebody else mess with getting another batch later.  A freak accident could kill all these though so I'd have to wait before I did something like that.


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## Zumie

Talk about EXCITING! This is really cool! Hey Galapoheros, if/when you're ready to sell these plings please keep me in mind. I've been longing for a Sc. Galapagoensis to add to my collection.


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## catfishrod69

Do the babies absolutely have to eat the mother? Will they not develop right if they dont?

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## Galapoheros

I think so, that is my opinion anyway.  I haven't read anything about it other than a few people seeing that the babies of this species had eaten the mother.  Many scientists are not into breeding inverts, most are more into the ID/taxonomy end of it so some details here may be something not noticed before.  They seem specialized in eating the mother.  At the stage they are in when they eat the mother, they are slow moving, it doesn't make sense to be so slow if you are a hunter and out of the nest so I think it's standard that mom is the meal.  They are also very thin after molting into "eat mom" stage.  I asked myself where their next meal is going to come from, that's when I started wondering if it was really normal for them to eat the mother.  And notice they have small "fangs" at that stage, they too seem specialized for slicing to me, did you see the inside cutting edge?  It looks like they are designed for slicing and cutting into the plump mother to me.  Even after laying eggs they are very fat!  What somebody could try at the right time is to replace the mother centipede with some fresh-kill, freshly molted roaches, I wonder if they would accept that.  I also wonder if the mother pede would survive anyway, she may die by some natural trigger but I tend to doubt that.  The night before she was eaten, I could barely see her in there on her back, twitching, I just couldn't see in there very well.  Because she was gone the next day, I suspect that they were biting into her, I suppose the mother just lets it happen(I'm guessing of course).  If that's the case, it sure sounds bizarre doesn't it, the ultimate sacrifice lol, I mean, booohoooooo.

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## zonbonzovi

I was thinking about this yesterday...are you aware of any species that produces so many eggs at once?  Maybe a little inverse evolutionary development to counteract the sheer amount of predators/low survival rate?


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## catfishrod69

Yeah that is really wierd. I did think about what you said, about replacing the mother with roaches. I bet it would work. Im wondering if there is anything the mother has special inside her, that the babies need to eat in order to survive, highly doubt it though. Also the part about her naturally dieing after giving birth, i thought about also. Seems pretty wierd to me. I mean i wouldnt mind id the species were polymorpha or something like that, but with these guys it sucks. Especially not knowing if any of the babies will make it after eating the mother. Yep i seen those inside teeth. Pretty crazy. Maybe if you get lucky and have another brood, you should try replacing the mom with roaches. Its worth a shot. If it worked out, it would be great in the long run. Good luck with those man. Im looking forward to getting a few off you. 





Galapoheros said:


> I think so, that is my opinion anyway.  I haven't read anything about it other than a few people seeing that the babies of this species had eaten the mother.  Many scientists are not into breeding inverts, most are more into the ID/taxonomy end of it so some details here may be something not noticed before.  They seem specialized in eating the mother.  At the stage they are in when they eat the mother, they are slow moving, it doesn't make sense to be so slow if you are a hunter and out of the nest so I think it's standard that mom is the meal.  They are also very thin after molting into "eat mom" stage.  I asked myself where their next meal is going to come from, that's when I started wondering if it was really normal for them to eat the mother.  And notice they have small "fangs" at that stage, they too seem specialized for slicing to me, did you see the inside cutting edge?  It looks like they are designed for slicing and cutting into the plump mother to me.  Even after laying eggs they are very fat!  What somebody could try at the right time is to replace the mother centipede with some fresh-kill, freshly molted roaches, I wonder if they would accept that.  I also wonder if the mother pede would survive anyway, she may die by some natural trigger but I tend to doubt that.  The night before she was eaten, I could barely see her in there on her back, twitching, I just couldn't see in there very well.  Because she was gone the next day, I suspect that they were biting into her, I suppose the mother just lets it happen(I'm guessing of course).  If that's the case, it sure sounds bizarre doesn't it, the ultimate sacrifice lol, I mean, booohoooooo.

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## SkyeSpider

Galapoheros said:


> Hey Cracker, I thought, "no way they are an inch", but I just measured and the largest is 7/8 inch across, barely over 2cm.  OK honestly, I have plings but I'm thinking of growing them before I get rid of any, maybe having them available in the Summer, I just don't know yet, maybe by then I could sex them out.  It's just that I didn't want people to get frustrated saying, "Man, why doesn't he sell any!"  I would do trades right away for gigantea and hardwickei though hehe.  I have a couple of hardwickei born in the US from Kyuzo that he saved from being eaten, but they are too little to sex out.


I'd be quite interested in one if you ever do sell them. These are impressive!


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## Galapoheros

"I'M" not aware of other sps that lay so many eggs, a sps. could be out there though that do.  A theory I mentioned earlier was that the female has many eggs because she only has eggs one time, might as well have all those eggs if it's a one time thing to support the survival of the sps.  That's a good logical consideration of course, maybe the pred competition is fierce in the native environment.  I considered that too catfish, the mom might be fattened up and made for the babies specific taste and appetite at that stage, imo it's prob the case, they might reject anything else if they are so programmed through evolution to sense specific food.  To me, the adult female getting eaten is not that bad, instead of missing one big pede in your collection, you have 150 small ones that will turn into 150 big ones in time, with an interesting process along the way.  From what I saw, the babies at the "eat mom stage" were slow and thin at that stage, I thought, "what else would they eat at this stage other than the mother?, if they don't eat soon they will starve."  They appeared to be too slow to hunt for food so, yes, it looks like that's the way it goes with this sps., to me it seems the norm for them to consume the mother.  What I might do is isolate the last female I have in a deli and try to observe what really goes on during the process, I may have the time and enough curiosity to find out.  The two females had eggs in delis earlier, but they were young adults/sub adults, about 6 inches, maybe they just weren't ready yet, ...other than the possibility they ate the eggs simply because they were spooked into eating the eggs.  I still question the "spooked" theory though.  Is it because they were spooked that they ate the eggs?, or was it because of some other factor?  Ime, I've had eggs develop under very rough environments; noise, transport and vibration but still got plings out of the situation.  Other times, in quiet isolation they eat the eggs.

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## Zumie

Those are some awesome pics! Mom sure does look plump in those pics.


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## catfishrod69

Yeah thats all completely understandable. Awesome pics too. Hope you have lots of luck with those. Im wondering if maybe seperating one baby before the mother is eaten, to try and feed it seperately, would be worth trying.


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## Galapoheros

Hey yeah that's a good idea, just trying one or just a few instead.


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## catfishrod69

Well if you ever get around to it, good luck!


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## Bungetan

WOWOW!
I hope good luck


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## Bill S

I too am interested in getting some babies.  Please let me know if you start selling them.


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## Mello

Galapoheros said:


> Hey yeah that's a good idea, just trying one or just a few instead.


This has nothing to do with what you said lol I'm just wondering if you knew of any awesome books or websites about scolopendra. All the basics plus sexing and breeding. Thank you.


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## Galapoheros

Hey, been busy looking for a diff house, and other things, hope all that works out.  But anyway, no, I don't know of a well rounded book out there about Scolopendra, it's just not that popular atm.  There are good books about taxonomy, range, ...by  Dr. Rolland Shelley for example, but it doesn't include housing, breeding, basic husbandry, things like that.  "Orin" has a general paperback book that has some info in it if you're getting started.  But no, don't know of an all inclusive book like it sounds like your interested in.  btw none have died so far which is pretty cool.  Two got the "slow motion sickness" disease but snapped out of it, don't know what causes that.  One got out though, don't know how, so there are only 153 or so left haha.  They have the adult coloration now but haven't molted again.  Heat really gets that going when it comes to molting intervals, been cool here, that room is minimally heated in the winter, gets around 90F in the Summer, that's when a lot of growing goes on.  I can't believe it's almost 5:30am and I'm just not sleepy, I don't try to go to sleep when I'm not sleepy, I just stay up.  But I don't have to get up to go anywhere so, wtH.


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## beetleman

ahh, glad to see the little tanks are thriving well hope everything is well with ya.


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## Zumie

Hey Galapoheros, not that this matters much but I'm curious. Did you breed these galapagoensis or were they gravid when you got them?


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## Galapoheros

Yeah I saw each breed at least twice, maybe a third time for one of them.  I posted something about it earlier somewhere if you want to look around.  I have one large female left, thinking about breeding her again, I think they were too young earlier.  I'm thinking about breeding that one and selling all the offspring from that one, while keeping the offspring I have at the moment.  I like to take one out in the backyard and watch it walk around haha, amazing!  The three adults I have all act a little different.  One is kind of lazy and fat.  The other 2 are more active.  I had one of the lean ones sitting on the ground in the container with the top off.  It's like it knew something was up.  It kept sticking it's head over the edge, after the third time, BOOOOM!  That sucker went for it!  It ran as fast as it could for at least 15 feet, then seemed to calm down and take it easy.  But the fatter one wouldn't do something like that.  They slow down when they hit the exposed bedrock in my backyard while walking around, it seems like there is something about it they like, maybe a natural primal thing for them.  The first time I thought it might be the heat the rock had absorbed that they liked but I touched it and it was no different from the soil/ground, not sure exactly what it is but it gets their attention for some reason.

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## MrCrackerpants

Galapoheros: UPDATE PLEASE!!:biggrin:


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## Galapoheros

Still haven't molted again but they look like this now, just took this pic a few minutes ago, not much else going on atm.

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## nepenthes

I cant wait to see more breeding reports by you! Or I hope you breed more!


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## MrCrackerpants

Thanks for the update. Cute little buggers...


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## beetleman

looking good! awesome little bugger


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## MrCrackerpants

Galapoheros said:


> Still haven't molted again but they look like this now, just took this pic a few minutes ago, not much else going on atm.


How many babies did you end up with? : )


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## Galapoheros

Finally, one molted today.  Hey cracker, I think there are 152, + or - one, one got out somehow.  As they get bigger, they are more manageable imo.

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## Insektzuchen

*What Does Their Diet Consist Of?*

Galapaheros:  What are you feeding them at this age and have you separated each one in its own enclosure or are they all still together?  Being that they seem predisposed to eat their own mother, do you feel that at some point they'll begin cannibalizing each other?


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## Galapoheros

Chopped home-grown crickets, Suriname roaches and Hisser nymphs.  A routine of placing the ones with food on a separate table, the next day scanning and removing any leftovers.  They were placed in separate containers the day I typed out post #40.

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## MrCrackerpants

Galapoheros said:


> Finally, one molted today.  Hey cracker, I think there are 152, + or - one, one got out somehow.  As they get bigger, they are more manageable imo.


152!!! Craaaaaaazy!! Is it possible for you to place a note in this thread a few days before you decide (if) to sell a few? : )


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## Galapoheros

I'll try to remember to do that.

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## Arachtion

Hi congrats, not really a centipede man so apologies if im missing anything, but I'm impressed by this thread, you say the mother often gets eaten, would it not be practicable to swipe her out upon hatching and replace her with a F/T vert for them to feast on? (I obviously realise they go bad pretty quick as I feed my T's them occasionally) but surely 150 odd of them would be like a shoal of marauding piranha on it!


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## Galapoheros

I see how this could be a little controversial, I spent a couple of days deciding what to do.  The female I have left was on eggs.  I wanted to document the consumption of the mother by the plings, or experiment with feeding the plings something else other than a mother meal.  Here's what I did;

There below the heat mat, you can see the "window", that's her in there with the eggs;


I dug her up and moved her with a big, ...I don't know what you call it, a big metal pot spoon used to stir stew in a big pot.  Before that I set up a deli, I put the same substrate in as was in her terr, smoothed out a bowl shape in the deli.  It looked like a successful move;


No, she ate the eggs the same day.  This is no big deal though, I thought it out in case it didn't work.  I have well over 100 of these now, there is very little risk of not having these available here imo.  I planned to breed her again if it didn't work, hopefully after another molt.  She would then probably be a little bigger and so produce even more plings, instead of not existing anymore having been eaten up.  I will not try this again but it's not all bad, something I learned is that these are 'very' sensitive to eating eggs, more than some other pedes ime.

Here are some shots of the plings, most look the same, but a few are lighter colored and there is one here that has a lot of red on it but I think they all will turn almost black as they get big, other than the legs and some other parts of course.




Cracker asked the final count, I think there are 148.  I screwed up with my housing method.  I drilled a hole in the top of the delis for dropping food in.  The deli on top was to cover the hole of the ones underneath with no drilled hole in the one on top.  I stacked the columns next to each other, the tops would ride on another one, and now and then the edge of one would ride on another, raising it up a bit, so about 5 or so got out.  I sealed all the holes.  There has only been one unexplained death, I think it was a cricket I missed that chewed on it as it was molting.  They have been very hardy, kind of like the Asian giant pedes imo.

btw you can see how I use heat mats, I cut a small, thin piece of glass and stick them to that, then tape them where I want.  This way you don't have to throw them away or peel them off to see they don't stick again you know.  Losing a little heat having to go through the thin piece of glass hasn't been an issue.

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## MrCrackerpants

Wow! 148 giants! 

Do you have a mature male? If so, how big is he? How big is your mature female? Are they over an inch wide? 

Thanks for the update. Such an amazing species. :biggrin:


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## Galapoheros

They ARE pretty cool  imo!  Oh, yeah I have two mature males and one mature female, they are all between 11 and 9 inches atm.  They are almost an inch wide, (remember?)


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## Msh

Those are awesome definately #1 on my WTB list. It's too bad that one ate all the eggs but what you said makes a lot of sense to me. Also that heatpad mounting idea is great I've never liked how those heatpads are only good for sticking to one set up.


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## josh_r

Pretty cool Galapoheros. I recently moved to the range of this species. i hope to find some soon.... However, I know nothing about their life history.... When they are active, what specific type of habitat they like, temps, humidity, moisture, etc... Since this area is desert, I am guessing they are active with the winter percipitation as it is BONE DRY the rest of the year. Any ideas on life history in the wild??

Josh


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## Galapoheros

I've been doing that with heat pads for a long time, it works great.  I read you were over josh, watcha doing over there?  I don't know what the life cycle of these things is, but what you said might give some clues.  Over here they go under and stay there for a long time, even though it looks like it's not molting time(typical pede it seems though), so I could speculate and say they may go under in the dry season too, like you were thinking also.  Don't know, are there any valleys and hills where you are?  That's where they would be imo; creek-beds, cliffs with cracks, places like that is where I'd try to look.  I'd especially try to find places with water seeping out of some places, maybe no way there are places like that around you?


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## josh_r

Galapoheros said:


> I've been doing that with heat pads for a long time, it works great.  I read you were over josh, watcha doing over there?  I don't know what the life cycle of these things are, but what you said might give some clues.  Over here they go under and stay there for a long time, even though it looks like it's not molting time(typical pede it seems though), so I could speculate and say they may go under in the dry season too, like you were thinking also.  Don't know, are there any valleys and hills where you are?  That's where they would be imo; creek-beds, cliffs with cracks, places like that is where I'd try to look.  I'd especially try to find places with water seeping out of some places, maybe no way there are places like that around you?


This place is one giant mountain full of all sorts of canyons and whatnot. I know they have been found on the mountain I live right next to. It has perfect habitat. The wet season is just starting too... So I am hoping this will give me a chance to see some. I´ll have to post some pics if I find them. I figure any habitat similar to what heros would be found in is where I would find these guys. 

As for what I am doing here, I have a girlfriend here. I will be marrying her soon


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## Galapoheros

WOW!, you hear that everybody ...Josh is acting like he likes this girl in South America just so he can look for giant centipedes there, this should set an example for everybody!  I've got something in my eye, I have to go!  lol yeah that sounds like a good place to look around there, sounds awesome!  Good luck with all that.


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## josh_r

Hahaha..... very funny....   If that were the case, I would have picked a better place than Lima


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## dactylus

:biggrin:

Thanks for the update Todd!


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## Galapoheros

Whoa, I just went to googleEarth to take a look at Lima, that place is huge!, really cool mountains to the east, did you see those haha, must look amazing.  If you moved there, you will surely see some cool stuff eventually, hope you get some pics.  I'll post pics after the next molts, I have a feeling there will be a big difference after the next molt, I might even be able to sex them out.  I already saw one moving dirt around like it was getting ready.


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## josh_r

yeah Lima is huge... the 4th largest city in Latin America and holds over half of Peru´s population. The mountains to the east are the Andes Mts. They come right to the ocean. I took a long trip into the Andes and just got back the other day. It was pretty cool seeing all the transitions in habitat and seeing how the people live there. 

Nice work on the pedes man. This is definitely a species that needs to be worked with more often.


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## Galapoheros

I've wanted to go there, took Spanish but never did pick it up very well so I've always felt uncomfortable with the idea of doing something like that.  Anyway, I remembered to take a look at the mandibles of an adult that recently molted to compare to other pics in this thread(pg 3), interesting enough to look at imo.

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## RyanW

This thread hit my FB page through Reptile Report. I need to get into the centipede section more often. So many great pictures!! Congrats on the babies!


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## cantthinkofone

i want i want. i was supposed to get one from a breeder like 2 weeks ago but he never got any in


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## Galapoheros

I can see how people might say, "I want to get babies but I don't want my female to get eaten.."  You get +-100 and only lose one!  I say go ahead and do it!  And they grow fast, it's not logical thinking to think of losing the female, works in nature, knows better than we do.  OK they are already molting again, ..well just one haha, but of course the others will follow soon.  Look at the size now, that's pretty fast compared to other sps I'm familiar with.  It's still a little soft, won't bite, it would risk damage, that's why I decided to hold it for size reference, I don't have giant hands though.  I still don't plan to sell any atm, too hot anyway, maybe in Fall after a cool down.






follow up pic taken about an hour later;

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## nepenthes

If I could get my hand on a breeding pair of these... oh man. I love seeing these guys grow!


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## beetleman

wow. they are growing nicely,and yeah they are growing fast. veddy nice


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## Msh

I didn't realize how big they were getting until now. I would say they're as big or bigger than all but one of the centipedes I have haha


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## dactylus

:biggrin:

Very, very nice Todd.  I don't blame you one bit for hanging on to all of them.  I can patiently wait for the next generation!!

David


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## Galapoheros

I plan to sell this generation sooner or later, many of them anyway, I just don't know when.  The other female is under again, just going to let nature do it's thing this time, not going to try what I tried earlier.  So she is probably either ready to molt or about to lay eggs again.  Then I would sell many of these I already have because they are bigger and easier for people to take care of.  They are at a more interesting size, easier to feed and see you know.  Also, by Fall, or maybe even now, I might be able to sex them out and sell people a pair if they want one.  Or sell only a male or only a female.  It could be that the males tend to get bigger since the females appear to get eaten by the offspring, not lasting long in that sense.  I don't know, maybe I shouldn't even go there and speculate but I had 3 males and 2 females, the males were/are a little bigger than the females over here.  Not enough in numbers to conclude a trend there though, that's for sure.  Both females did have shorter antennae than the males too, don't know if that's a trend either but maybe something to keep in mind.  But hey man!, these ARE pretty cool, best pede I've had, it's how big they are that is interesting to me but I know that's not everybody's interest.  I wonder what they taste like if you fried one up.  It looks like they would make 6 or 7 good bites, ...a little rice and gravy, might make a meal lol.  I think I will make a vid of their defensive behavior, they sometimes take a stance like Heterometrus scorpions do.

Reactions: Like 4


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## Msh

Always cool to hear more about these awesome pedes. I'd love to see a video


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## nepenthes

I would love to see a video of their defensive stance. I love it when some of my S. dehaani pedelings strike a defensive pose with their terminal legs sticking up and head raised.


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## Galapoheros

I couldn't get that defensive response again.  Just an update on the growth of these, they are molting again so most will be between 3 and 4 inches within a couple of weeks.  I 'carefully' picked up this one after a molt to show the size, I don't recommend it though.  Also one of the adults molted again, it didn't grow much but got much more bulky around the head area, really impressive looking pede imo, it was the female btw.  I'm going to see if she will mate at least once more later and then try to get plings from her.  Maybe since she is a little bigger she might produce more eggs.

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## josh_r

friggin sweet Todd!! These are cool pedes! I hope to find some in the wild!


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## buddah4207

Wow these guys are getting big fast! They have taken top spot on my wish list.


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## catfishrod69

Man those things are growing like weeds! Ill give you $1 if you reach in and grab that penny .

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## MrCrackerpants

Galapoheros said:


> I plan to sell this generation sooner or later, many of them anyway, I just don't know when.  The other female is under again, just going to let nature do it's thing this time, not going to try what I tried earlier.  So she is probably either ready to molt or about to lay eggs again.  Then I would sell many of these I already have because they are bigger and easier for people to take care of.  They are at a more interesting size, easier to feed and see you know.  Also, by Fall, or maybe even now, I might be able to sex them out and sell people a pair if they want one.  Or sell only a male or only a female.  It could be that the males tend to get bigger since the females appear to get eaten by the offspring, not lasting long in that sense.  I don't know, maybe I shouldn't even go there and speculate but I had 3 males and 2 females, the males were/are a little bigger than the females over here.  Not enough in numbers to conclude a trend there though, that's for sure.  Both females did have shorter antennae than the males too, don't know if that's a trend either but maybe something to keep in mind.  But hey man!, these ARE pretty cool, best pede I've had, it's how big they are that is interesting to me but I know that's not everybody's interest.  I wonder what they taste like if you fried one up.  It looks like they would make 6 or 7 good bites, ...a little rice and gravy, might make a meal lol.  I think I will make a vid of their defensive behavior, they sometimes take a stance like Heterometrus scorpions do.


A confirmed male and female with written directions on how to breed them would be awesome...I would consider investing the money if there was a fairly good chance I could get another generation. : )


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## sr20det510

WOW!!
These are so impressive!!

I had the chance to purchase one two years ago, but hesitated due to price : (
Two days later I was ready to bite and it was gone!


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## josh_r

I may be able to import these in the near future for those of you that are interested....


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## MrCrackerpants

josh_r said:


> I may be able to import these in the near future for those of you that are interested....


I need CBs : )


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## beetleman

all i can say is AWESOME!! very impressive beasts


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## Galapoheros

Lol they really are, they'd get a lot of attention at reptile/invert shows.  Hey Josh, I'm looking forward to you getting some pics of the local pede giants!  When you find galapos, I'm curious to see how they look compared to the relatively few that were imported here a little less than two years ago, they may look a little diff there where you are.  Since they are there and you still haven't seen any, well that makes me think that we need to esp keep them going here if they are kind of hard to come across even in their natural range.  I mean I bet they are common there but still might be hard to find, it's that way for a lot of animals.  What kind of reports have you heard from the locals about these pedes?, anything?  As far as breeding goes, seems pretty easy but I might type up what I've seen later.  But I think it's basically here already lol, really it's basically like heros pedes and most other pede breeding reports here.


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## Lurchenstien

They look great. I'm relatively new to 'pedes, got a couple of smaller species for the time being, but I'd love to get one of these some time down the line.


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## ZergFront

Galapoheros said:


>


 WOW! I can hardly believe those are just pedelings! One of those would have a feast on the tiny, adult stone centipedes I have crawling around here. LOL!

 This species is now on my radar! ;-D


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## Galapoheros

They are a little different.  They plings can eat full grown crickets now.  Just to see what would happen, I dropped an adult dubia in one of the delis.  That pling rode the back of that roach and ate the whole thing.  The adult female molted earlier, looks bulkier, esp. bigger head.  I didn't feed her for a while, she just now ate two fuzzies, no leftovers.  I plan to have her mate again and so, I guess I'll try to get plings from her as well.  I'm not one to feed fuzzies to pedes but I wouldn't be surprised if these climb trees and steal baby birds out of nests.  I let them walk around the back yard and they tend to want to climb a tree if they come across one.  I was going to try to make the pede chase the thawed mouse I had in tongs but, it grabbed it way too fast.

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## sr20det510

Plings enjoying adult dubia, full grown enjoying not one but TWO fuzzies!
So impressive, and exciting. 
Would love to get one.

Are they slower than scolependra subspinipes?
I'd be afraid to set my subspinipes out in the garden because I doubt I could catch again.


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## Galapoheros

They slow down as they get bigger.  But when they are young they are faster than subspinipes.  They can move fast when they are big too, but I think they don't need to as much because they are pretty well armed by then, I think more things would leave them alone.  Then there's gravity they have to deal with as they get bigger.  The young ones though, they are crazy acting, flopping around when disturbed and biting anything they run into.  I've had several bolt out of the delis as I'm trying to feed.  Just yesterday 3 got out while I was trying to feed them, I need to solve that problem, deeper big delis would do it but would take up a lot of room.  Last night, one bolted out and ran behind the desk.  Instead of losing it, ransacking the desk and flipping it over like I did last time, I calmly sat in a chair next to the door with a headlamp on with lights out.  I just sat there and watched each end of the heavy metal desk, waiting for it to come out somewhere.  Finally after about 20 minutes of sweating there in that chair, I decided to get something to drink.  I got up, turned around and there it was behind my chair!  I tried to grab it but it ran into the closet.  Then I moved the stuff it ran over and it wasn't there, these things are freaking me out.  Then I looked at the other end of the closet and there it was crawling up the wall.

Just had an over-night Fire ant attack in the bug room, 7 killed.  I found the nest outside though.


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## sr20det510

Galapoheros said:


> They slow down as they get bigger.  But when they are young they are faster than subspinipes.  They can move fast when they are big too, but I think they don't need to as much because they are pretty well armed by then, I think more things would leave them alone.  Then there's gravity they have to deal with as they get bigger.
> 
> Finally after about 20 minutes of sweating there in that chair, I decided to get something to drink.  I got up, turned around and there it was behind my chair!  I tried to grab it but it ran into the closet.  Then I moved the stuff it ran over and it wasn't there, these things are freaking me out.  Then I looked at the other end of the closet and there it was crawling up the wall.


That's good to know, the first time I saw one at a bug fair I could not believe my eyes as the top of the container was removed and the specimen was shown to me.
I was freaked out and amazed at the same time. I couldn't believe how big it was, and how impressive it looked. I must of asked to see it 5-6 times to see it, but in the end the price seemed a bit too high. I decided to call back a few days later and it was gone.

I can't imagine trying to rustle these guys when they get lose. Since they are faster than subspinipes, can climb, curl, and slide under a crack it must get interesting. LOL on your little adventure, headlamp and all.

Good luck breeding and raising them.
If you decide to sell PM, I'll buy one or two.


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## Galapoheros

Haha, yeah you tend to get a "..can I see that again" from people.  Well it's easier to measure dead ones.  These are a couple that were killed by Fire ants.  I also let the female mate again, along with some vid at the bottom.







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1yLzfS8w3E&feature=youtu.be

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## beetleman

the cat looks very interested in what they are doing,and keeping a good distance aswell

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## catfishrod69

That pede next to the cat looks HUGE! Luckily the cat didnt decide it was a play toy!


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## nepenthes

Interesting way to breed centipedes!


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