# Scolopendra galapagoensis care



## Ratmosphere (Oct 9, 2017)

So I'm ready to expand my pede collection, I am hooked. I would expect this species to have the same damp substrate requirements as other centipedes. However, this is a pretty big species. How many times per week should I feed it/what size prey should I offer it? Would 5 large crickets per week be enough? Would large roaches be a better alternative?


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## Ran (Oct 9, 2017)

Great species. I had its cousin gigantea in the early 90’s and depending on size they eat/grow at an astronomic rate. Food size depends on pede size. When they are out foraging that is when I offer them food....otherwise they are holed up usually in premolt. If you breed this species the pedelings consume the mother to get their immune systems and fat. Lose one gain many.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Kookookachu (Oct 11, 2017)

You should contact a member on here named Galapoheros if he is still active on Arachnoboards.  He is the resident S. galapagoensis expert having successfully bred them, I believe more than once.  When I had this species I used to feed them chicken liver.  I got the idea from this photo I found on the Internet.  Good luck.

<edit>


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## BobBarley (Oct 11, 2017)

Kookookachu said:


> You should contact a member on here named Galapoheros if he is still active on Arachnoboards.


@Galapoheros 


Ran said:


> If you breed this species the pedelings consume the mother to get their immune systems and fat. Lose one gain many.


Really?  Didn't know centipedes practiced matriphagy!


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## LawnShrimp (Oct 12, 2017)

Ratmosphere said:


> So I'm ready to expand my pede collection, I am hooked. I would expect this species to have the same damp substrate requirements as other centipedes. However, this is a pretty big species. How many times per week should I feed it/what size prey should I offer it? Would 5 large crickets per week be enough? Would large roaches be a better alternative?


Two crickets or a roach a week. Overfeeding leads to early death! Centipedes are hard to starve and a lean diet is necessary for the 6-10 years a galapo can live. They can handle even full-sized mice but raw meat is probably better.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Salvador (Oct 12, 2017)

They're pretty easy in my experience (so fa), definitely seem to enjoy being warm, but not too humid. I've been doing an appropriate-sized roach once a week and that seems to be doing the job.


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## Ratmosphere (Oct 12, 2017)

Do they need or require meat/mice/lizards?


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## LawnShrimp (Oct 12, 2017)

Ratmosphere said:


> Do they need or require meat/mice/lizards?


No, but a regimen of a roach a week could get boring. If you want to give it a small piece of raw flesh, that would probably give it some variety. Live vertebrates are not needed for centipedes (though I have no doubt a galapo could easily kill an adult mouse) and they will readily accept raw meat, f/t vertebrates, or prekilled invertebrates from tongs or a dish.

Another thing to think about is whether or not you are actually getting a galpogoensis. It is claimed that his species lives in Peru, though that may be gigantea or another species entirely. SA centipedes are truly confusing (bar _angulata _) and they have so many varieties:
S. galapagoensis from the Galapogos is a dark black with the hirsute antennomeres (fuzzy half of the antenna) dark red. It has deeply striped or unstriped orange legs. They appear more gracile than the other varieties listed.
S. gigantea 'Robusta' has an orange to red body with white to yellow legs. Occasionally the yellow and white legs are given different varieties.
S. gigantea 'Trinidad' is dark black with black, lightly striped legs.
S. sp. 'Peru Dark' is often sold as galapagoensis and looks similar to it but has paler hirsute antennomeres and is generally brownish.
S. viridicornis can look like all or none of these but has a different distribution and body shape. Still, I bet that one has been confused with gigantea before.

Just my observations and could be wrong.

For reference: 



 'S. g. eats a Beefsteak'
A video that confuses and amazes many people... a cow-eating chilopod.
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/scolopendra-galapagoensis-pic-eating-deer-sausage.251738/

Pics don't work here but you get the idea.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1 | Love 1


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## Ratmosphere (Oct 12, 2017)

Thank you! @LawnShrimp I will keep this in mind in case I order one. The ones for sale that I found are juveniles through adults and are the "white leg" variation. I think they are going for 450 dollars each. You could feed them cooked meat?


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## Galapoheros (Oct 12, 2017)

I still have 3 from the babies I had 4(?) years ago though I will have 2 soon since I will be getting rid of one of them.  Yeah they are easy, hardy ...screen top, 4+ inches substrate, something to hide under and they are good to go.  I small heat mat isn't a bad idea, not to heat the terr but just that area so it can have a warmer place to go if it wants.  I only have females btw, if anybody gets a male and wants to go for a chance to get at least half the babies if successful, let me know.  I can't breed them, I got rid of too many males.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Ratmosphere (Oct 12, 2017)

Should they be housed in a glass aquarium with a screen top? I have a heat mat but wouldn't want to use it on plastic. What material/brand can I use for the screen top?


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## LawnShrimp (Oct 13, 2017)

Ratmosphere said:


> Thank you! @LawnShrimp I will keep this in mind in case I order one. The ones for sale that I found are juveniles through adults and are the "white leg" variation. I think they are going for 450 dollars each. You could feed them cooked meat?


Ok, the 'White Leg' is usually sold as gigantea (which might actually be the correct species for once). Cooked meat probably is not as healthy as raw. I've given my centipedes slivers of raw salmon and chicken that was going to be discarded before cooking. Depending on what mood a centipede is in, it either takes food from tongs or doesn't.


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## Ratmosphere (Oct 13, 2017)

Seller is saying it's _S. galapagoensis_, should I ask him about it? Is $460 a fair price for a juvie?


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## LawnShrimp (Oct 14, 2017)

Ratmosphere said:


> Seller is saying it's _S. galapagoensis_, should I ask him about it? Is $460 a fair price for a juvie?


I've never actually seen one of these for sale, so I can't help you there. I'd buy the smallest size available... means that you get to watch them grow, handle them from a pling like a semitame wolf pup, and also get the full lifespan out of them.

As for the species, centipede taxonomy is probably the most confusing topics in entomology. Each species can have a massive range, several dozen location-specific color morphs, and even then species which look very similar, live  close together, may not be related at all. The Floridian _S. alternans_, which it was called for decades both in and out of the hobby, was renamed_ S. longipes_ just in the past few years. _S. subspinipes_ has had anywhere from 1 to 20 different subspecies described, and there are many color morphs of both this and _dehaani_ that are unscientifically described. While Asia appears the place for centipede diversity, South America has an equally confusing problem with its giant centipedes.

So, in all fairness, they could be _galapagoensis._ It's just that this morph is more often sold as _gigantea_, although this could be wrong.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Ratmosphere (Oct 14, 2017)

Really appreciate the informative responses you provide! Also, I want to buy this species but am wary about doing it. He continues to say it's the "white leg" version but I never heard of that with this species. Trying to get pictures from the guy today.


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## LeFanDesBugs (Oct 15, 2017)

White leg is most likely the common S.gigantea, reddish body and white legs


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## RTTB (Oct 15, 2017)

I would want to be 100% positive what species it is for that kind of money.


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## LeFanDesBugs (Oct 15, 2017)

Sure thing


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## Ratmosphere (Oct 15, 2017)

He’s refusing to send pictures. I am not going through with this, I guess I’ll wait until better opportunities come around.


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## DubiaW (Oct 15, 2017)

Kookookachu said:


> You should contact a member on here named Galapoheros if he is still active on Arachnoboards.  He is the resident S. galapagoensis expert having successfully bred them, I believe more than once.  When I had this species I used to feed them chicken liver.  I got the idea from this photo I found on the Internet.  Good luck.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thorsten Trapp posted videos of Cherry Red _dehaani _plings eating a chunk of chicken liver the other day. This is something I am going to add to all of my centipede diets. That is unless anyone knows a species that it shouldn't be fed to.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Salvador (Oct 16, 2017)

Ratmosphere said:


> He’s refusing to send pictures. I am not going through with this, I guess I’ll wait until better opportunities come around.


Wise. There will be others, I waited a good couple of years before indulging in one (hit Galapoheros up?). I think the price you were quoted would be high for here maybe, but don't know about yourselves in the states. I paid less for a 6" specimen, and they appear much bigger than they are at that size.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Staehilomyces (Oct 16, 2017)

I agree. Perhaps it's just because I wasn't used to seeing real big pedes until I got Azog, but a 6" pede as robust as a typical galapo is still a giant in my eyes.


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## Ratmosphere (Oct 16, 2017)

Salvador said:


> Wise. There will be others, I waited a good couple of years before indulging in one (hit Galapoheros up?). I think the price you were quoted would be high for here maybe, but don't know about yourselves in the states. I paid less for a 6" specimen, and they appear much bigger than they are at that size.


True. I actually found someone who may have them for sale for 250! Hopefully it’s true.


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## Scoly (Oct 27, 2017)

BobBarley said:


> @Galapoheros
> 
> Really?  Didn't know centipedes practiced matriphagy!


Only some species, and as far as I know this is restricted to the South American giants like gigantea and galapagoensis (maybe viridicornis, depending what counts as that these days). Having said that, the reverse is far more common. In fact most clutches laid in captivity probably get eaten.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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