# Scolopendra sp. "Tiger Leg"



## Draiman (Aug 10, 2010)

I received two adults of this species today (and will certainly be getting more! ;P). Very pretty, and surprisingly, very calm! Completely unlike any of the _S. subspinipes subspinipes_ and _S. subspinipes dehaani_ I have had. I'm still apprehensive about handling them though 

These pics aren't the greatest, but I'll get more when they have settled in.


----------



## ragnew (Aug 10, 2010)

Great looking Tiger Leg! :clap::clap:! These guys have always been a favorite of mine, but for some reason I've had issues with them in the past. They seem to do great for about 6 - 8 months, then for no reason they pass away unexpectedly.

Come to think of it, the only Chinese pede I've really had tons of luck with is the Chinese Beauties (S. multidens). Both Tiger Legs and Yunnan Goliath Reds tend to be very finicky where I'm concerned.

Again GREAT looking pede Gavin! Keep us posted man!


----------



## Draiman (Aug 10, 2010)

ragnew said:


> Great looking Tiger Leg! :clap::clap:! These guys have always been a favorite of mine, but for some reason I've had issues with them in the past. They seem to do great for about 6 - 8 months, then for no reason they pass away unexpectedly.
> 
> Come to think of it, the only Chinese pede I've really had tons of luck with is the Chinese Beauties (S. multidens). Both Tiger Legs and Yunnan Goliath Reds tend to be very finicky where I'm concerned.
> 
> Again GREAT looking pede Gavin! Keep us posted man!


Cheers!  I'm glad to hear of someone on here who has kept tiger legs before, since these are quite rare, even in Europe. How big were the ones you had? Since they did well for so long in your care could it simply have been old age? These two I've got are about 15cm BL, I'm not sure how large this species can get, any idea?


----------



## thebugfreak (Aug 10, 2010)

i had one. mine was really aggressive though. the most aggressive pede i had. but it died randomly. like i checked on it at 12 A.M. before going to bed. and when i checked up on it at 1 P.M. his whole half of the body was paralyzed and then it died at around 7 P.M. really really random. 

still a cool pede though. thats a nice specimen you have there.


----------



## JanPhilip (Aug 10, 2010)

Great looking pedes! If all goes well I should be receiving a pedeling of this species in a few days too. 
If I remember correctly, a swede had pedelings from a WC female a few years back.


----------



## EMWhite (Aug 11, 2010)

ragnew said:


> Great looking Tiger Leg! :clap::clap:! These guys have always been a favorite of mine, but for some reason I've had issues with them in the past. They seem to do great for about 6 - 8 months, then for no reason they pass away unexpectedly.
> 
> Come to think of it, the only Chinese pede I've really had tons of luck with is the Chinese Beauties (S. multidens). Both Tiger Legs and Yunnan Goliath Reds tend to be very finicky where I'm concerned.
> 
> Again GREAT looking pede Gavin! Keep us posted man!


Hi!
I've actually had the same problem... I've had three of them, and just got another one. My thinking has been that, with the first three (all of which I lost), I might have been keeping them too warm. They were in the animal room, and were regularly exposed to 85 temps, (occasionally hotter). Which is not an issue with any of the other pedes. I also had similar experiences with "Malaysian Giant" Scolopendra sp. 

I moved one of my Malay. giants into my room, after losing another one, where the temps are only in the low 70's, maybe a bit lower at night. As of yet I haven't had issues (4-5 months later, roughly). The new tiger leg is now also in my room, but hasn't been here long enough to be able to say anything. There are other Chinese animals (I'm thinking turtles here) that need to be kept cooler, so that's the logic I'm using... And I'm hoping for the best. Might be something to consider. 



Evan


----------



## peterbourbon (Aug 11, 2010)

Hi,



EMWhite said:


> ..., I might have been keeping them too warm.


Yes, you are absolutely right.
Temperatures should not exceed 25 degrees celsius, humidity shouldn't be too high, then they are not very difficult to keep, in my experience.

Cheers
Turgut


----------



## EMWhite (Aug 11, 2010)

Hi!!!
Good to know!!!!! I wish I had figured it out sooner. I've worked with turtles (Platysternon sp.) that are Chinese species, and require very cool temps. Though the Malay giants aren't from China (news flash, I'm sure) I read somewhere that Malaysian Jewels need to be kept cooler in order to thrive as well, so I based it off of that. It seems to be working for the Malaysian giant as of yet. Good to know the tiger leg might stand a better chance this time around... Thanks very much!!!! 



Evan


----------



## Draiman (Aug 11, 2010)

peterbourbon said:


> Temperatures should not exceed 25 degrees celsius


Why? Temperatures on Hainan island very often exceed 30 degrees C in the summer, and although temperatures in "microclimates" on or in the ground are certainly lower, I don't think the difference is more than just a few degrees.


----------



## peterbourbon (Aug 11, 2010)

Hi,

Steven and me had success in rasing them and later on strangely a few of them died without reason - or at least my tigerlegs refused to eat and got very thin over months (it's a slow process).

The only thing we accidentally changed seemed to be the temperature by rearranging our cabinets and rooms.

After I cooled them down again they started to eat again and now everything is fine.

We don't know anything about their microhabitate, so I stick more to things I see in raising them in captivity. It simply worked - and that's the only thing that counts to me unless we know where they dwell on Hainan Island, measuring temperature in the places they hide over a certain period of time.

I don't plan to visit Hainan, hence the experimental hobby option appears the most feasable method at the moment, at least to me.

By the way: Microhabitate climates like caves or holes can have drastically lower temps than the temperatures measured outside.
I know that cause there are people who constantly travel to countries from the theraphosid scene and measure the temperatures in microhabitates.

Cheers
Turgut


----------



## micheldied (Aug 11, 2010)

Very attractive pede Gavin.
Hope they do well in your care.


----------



## Steven (Aug 11, 2010)

Very nice specie, and excellent pictures. :clap:

congratz 

quite a coincedence:
as Turgut allready mentioned: i still keep some 'tiger-legs' and had some succes with gravid females back in the days (2004 to be precise, hehehe)
i was just digging in some old archive material of myself (it's a mess)
and came across these notes i made back then on the tiger-legs i've kept.

as you see, rather cold/mild temperatures during the period i removed plings.


```
21°C - 65% humidity
12/11/04  	86 plings removed from the mother # 1
12/12/04	29 plings removed from the mother # 2
```
i've had some sudden deaths last months with the current tigerlegs and i'm pretty sure it's was because i couldn't keep the temp low enough in my cabinet.

So, i would also recommend to keep them rather cool


----------



## Draiman (Aug 11, 2010)

Steven said:


> Very nice specie, and excellent pictures. :clap:
> 
> congratz
> 
> ...


Thanks for the information Steven! 

The problem I have is, I live in tropical equatorial Singapore, where temperatures are *at least* 32 degrees C in the day and 26-28 degrees at night. Room temperature is only very slightly lower, about 30 degrees in the day for instance. There is no way I can keep the centipedes in a permanently air-conditioned room - I simply can't afford that. So are my tiger legs going to die on me after just a few weeks?  Good thing I bought these two for cheap...


----------



## Steven (Aug 11, 2010)

Draiman said:


> So are my tiger legs going to die on me after just a few weeks?  Good thing I bought these two for cheap...


I really hope not, fingers crossed. can't tell as i haven't kept adults at a higher temperature yet, juvies and plings do seem to be influenced by it,... 

could be (hope so) adults are more tolerant.

surely keep us up-to-date how things proceed.


----------



## Draiman (Aug 11, 2010)

Steven said:


> I really hope not, fingers crossed. can't tell as i haven't kept adults at a higher temperature yet, juvies and plings do seem to be influenced by it,...
> 
> could be (hope so) adults are more tolerant.
> 
> surely keep us up-to-date how things proceed.


I hope so too. I have never had problems keeping theraphosids which are found in cool montane forest habitats in the wild (such as Poecilotheria) in my local climate; I am really hoping the adults of this species are equally adaptable. I will post updates over the next few months, definitely. Thanks again.


----------



## AlanMM (Aug 11, 2010)

Steven said:


> quite a coincedence:
> as Turgut allready mentioned: i still keep some 'tiger-legs' and had some succes with gravid females back in the days (2004 to be precise, hehehe)
> i was just digging in some old archive material of myself (it's a mess)
> and came across these notes i made back then on the tiger-legs i've kept.
> ...


Yes Steven, I remember :razz:
I traded some Sc. sp. tigerlegs from you for P. irminia slings... (remember?)
Year 2004 you say, didn't know it was that long ago... 

And I also can confirm that they don't like it hot.
I also lost some adult species by keeping them to warm a couple of years ago.
I think around 25° C max.


----------



## Crysta (Aug 11, 2010)

send them to canada draiman (to me, even though i dont like their legs...hah) i can keep them cool ^^


----------



## Galapoheros (Aug 11, 2010)

Hey cool pede.  I've seen pics of some big ones, never had one but they look good to me.  Somebody in Canada used to have some of these, forgot his name, seemed to disappear from this site, maybe got out of the hobby.


----------



## beetleman (Aug 11, 2010)

i have 3 (2 adults,1juvie,raised from a pedeling)they are doing great........knock on wood:clap: i had some in the past aswell,and they lived for sometime,i'm in fla. i keep mine at room temps.being warm all the time,isn't good for them,i keep the ac on here and there,so 

they are never too warm,and ive had these for awhile now.awesome pedes they are:drool:


----------



## Draiman (Aug 12, 2010)

CentipedeFreak said:


> send them to canada draiman (to me, even though i dont like their legs...hah) i can keep them cool ^^


That's possible, since I most likely will be selling these two now. I don't want them to die in my hands while I stubbornly try to keep them in a climate they absolutely cannot live in.

Any takers?


----------



## Steven (Aug 12, 2010)

AlanMM said:


> Year 2004 you say, didn't know it was that long ago...


We're getting old Alan, getting old.....


----------



## peterbourbon (Aug 12, 2010)

Draiman said:


> I don't want them to die in my hands while I stubbornly try to keep them in a climate they absolutely cannot live in.
> 
> Any takers?


Don' give up too early and simply try it out. If you don't succeed you can stop keeping tigerlegs anytime you want.
Maybe you don't have problems keeping them in warmer environments - could depend on individuals. Who knows.

Cheers
Turgut


----------



## J Morningstar (Aug 12, 2010)

Or at least even keeping the enclosures on the floor on a nice big peice of slate...Like the ones for roofs or paving, they stay very cold.
But I am going to take the radient heat pad off the top of mines tank now...


----------



## Draiman (Aug 12, 2010)

J Morningstar said:


> Or at least even keeping the enclosures on the floor on a nice big peice of slate...Like the ones for roofs or paving, they stay very cold.
> But I am going to take the radient heat pad off the top of mines tank now...


I keep mine in a closed cabinet, and it is probably very slightly cooler inside it than in the rest of the house, but I doubt that 1 or 2 degree difference would be of any significance.



peterbourbon said:


> Don' give up too early and simply try it out. If you don't succeed you can stop keeping tigerlegs anytime you want.
> Maybe you don't have problems keeping them in warmer environments - could depend on individuals. Who knows.
> 
> Cheers
> Turgut


Yeah true, but for me money is also a consideration. I had to sell a few things to raise the money to pay for the tiger legs, and I really don't want that money to go down the drain.


----------



## JanPhilip (Aug 12, 2010)

A cheaper sollution to your problem, then airconditioning your room, might be to get a winecooler. Its a mini-fridge, just with a clear glass door, so you can still view your animals. Just a thought.


----------



## zonbonzovi (Aug 12, 2010)

Interesting thread.  Are there any other centipedes that do well in relatively cooler temps. like S. multidens & S. s. "tiger legs" in your experiences?  Conversely, are there any that require higher than average temps?

Sorry to threadjack, Gavin, I just wonder how much temps have been responsible for 'mystery' deaths among 'pedekeepers.


----------



## peterbourbon (Aug 12, 2010)

Hi,

cooler temps that are not part of a hibernation (I exclude this case now) should apply to the tigerlegs, usually pedes from Cameron Highlands and most variants of Cormocephalus westwoodi.

S. multidens usually don't like too much humidity and should be kept on drier substrate as well as S. subcrustalis, but this has nothing to do with temp.

Cheers
Turgut


----------

