# Use Care Changing The Water Bowl



## Pofecks (Feb 13, 2006)

This guy was not so lucky...  

http://www.local6.com/news/7001577/detail.html


A South Florida man nearly died this weekend after being stung by a rare Vietnamese centipede considered to have one of the most toxic stings in the world, according to a Local 6 News report.

Authorities said the man was changing the water bowl of the 7-inch Vietnamese centipede he was keeping as a pet when it quickly stung his hand.

The victim, who was not identified, was in stable condition at Baptist Hospital in South Florida, according to a report.

Since the Vietnamese centipede is so rare, anti-venin is not kept readily available.

Officials said because of its large fangs and toxic venom, the centipede's sting can be 10 times worse than a scorpion.

This is only the second case of a Vietnamese centipede bite in the United States.


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## cacoseraph (Feb 13, 2006)

Pofecks said:
			
		

> This guy was not so lucky...
> 
> http://www.local6.com/news/7001577/detail.html
> 
> ...



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"


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## Steven (Feb 13, 2006)

anyone seen Mark online lately ?


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## cacoseraph (Feb 13, 2006)

Steven said:
			
		

> anyone seen Mark online lately ?


oh man!

you're bad!

lol


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## PA7R1CK (Feb 13, 2006)

Good job 



			
				cacoseraph said:
			
		

> wow, this might merit calling in for some fact checking!
> 
> well, i emailed the webstaff at that news site. here is my message
> 
> ...


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## Stylopidae (Feb 13, 2006)

Pofecks said:
			
		

> Officials said because of its large fangs and toxic venom, the centipede's sting can be 10 times worse than a scorpion.


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


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## Bigboy (Feb 13, 2006)

This thread has been a very enjoyable read.  Thanks for the article and the delightful letter


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## Stylopidae (Feb 13, 2006)

Do I really have to point out that they bite and do not sting


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## Aviculariinae (Feb 13, 2006)

Classic. I wonder did it spin him into a cocoon and the offspring burst out through his chest


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## Steven (Feb 13, 2006)

Aviculariinae said:
			
		

> Classic. I wonder did it spin him into a cocoon and the offspring burst out through his chest


can they do that ?  



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


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## cacoseraph (Feb 13, 2006)

Steven said:
			
		

> can they do that ?
> 
> 
> 
> wow man,...  i need to get me some centipedes a.s.a.p.


you have to be sure to get the ones that the news agencies report on

*that* is the good stuff... exploding cocoons, telepathy, pyrokinesis, teleportation... 

centipedes are actually aliens. i think i read that in an article one time


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## bananaman (Feb 13, 2006)

awesome letter to the newspaper


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## Galapoheros (Feb 13, 2006)

Man!, talk about "spin".  I mean I've heard/read that it's very painful.  But, well no wonder the general public is at war with bugs!  "Be scared!  Run away.  Kill, kill, kill the arthropods!  Drama.  If they knew what they were talking about Caco, you'd get a reply.  So I bet you don't get one.  That was a good one!  Man this is where phobias come from.  People let others tell them how it is instead of using a little bit of their own reasoning.  Hmmm, I wonder if that guy was really just trying to pick it up?  But they are very fast, aren't they?  The water bowl changing thing sounds a little fishy, but possible.


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## insect714 (Feb 13, 2006)

I just got off of the phone with the news room at that station, the guy posted it is either going to pull it or get it revised, I expalained to him how a "story" like that is just going to sensationalize the situation more and cause more of a panic by giving out false info.


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## bananaman (Feb 13, 2006)

awesome! did they say anything else? did they apologize? daaaamn theeeem!


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## insect714 (Feb 13, 2006)

nope all they guy would say to me was he did not know that it was incorrect because he pulled it right off the wire typed it and posted it at face value with doing no checking of material value:wall:


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## bananaman (Feb 13, 2006)

baaaaaaaaaad reporters... 

misinforming the public? what a surprise huh?


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## Scorp guy (Feb 13, 2006)

rare? 10x? they make it sound like something out of an indianna jones movie  you know the news, theyll lie and do what ever it takes to get


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## Natco (Mar 20, 2006)

You mean their not form the movies?????


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## CedrikG (Mar 20, 2006)

What a stupid reporter ... What else, do centipede can poison you by telepaty with their antena ?

Interesting tread, hope they will answer your email cacoseraph


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## Fierce Deity (Mar 20, 2006)

cacoseraph said:
			
		

> wow, this might merit calling in for some fact checking!
> 
> well, i emailed the webstaff at that news site. here is my message
> 
> ...


Did you get a reply?


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## Jmadson13 (Mar 20, 2006)

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.


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## Jmadson13 (Mar 20, 2006)

Steven said:
			
		

> 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


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## cacoseraph (Mar 21, 2006)

Fierce Deity said:
			
		

> 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


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## Jimmy James (Mar 21, 2006)

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.


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## Stylopidae (Mar 24, 2006)

Jimmy James said:
			
		

> 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.


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## LongDucDong (Apr 6, 2006)

Evil Cheshire said:
			
		

> 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
> 
> ...


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 jac__ksoni_ 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.


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## Stylopidae (Apr 7, 2006)

Evil Cheshire said:
			
		

> (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


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## i-zombie (Apr 7, 2006)

Evil Cheshire said:
			
		

> 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.


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## LongDucDong (Apr 8, 2006)

Evil Cheshire said:
			
		

> 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.
> 
> ...


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.


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## Stylopidae (Apr 9, 2006)

LongDucDong said:
			
		

> 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.


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