# digging up centipedes (in captivity)



## Pulk (Jan 18, 2008)

If you want to take out your pede for some reason, what method do you use to dig it up? I can't think of any easy ways to do it...


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## Bigboy (Jan 18, 2008)

Take something long thin blunt and sturdy and slowly drag it through the soil until the soils begins to move "on its own".  Then you know where the pede is.  Just tease it from there and it'll dig itself out (with a hellish fury if its one of the big guys).

Reactions: Like 1


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## cacoseraph (Jan 18, 2008)

my fingers

(heh, i just put fingers but it wasn't long enough)


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## bistrobob85 (Jan 18, 2008)

cacoseraph said:


> my fingers
> 
> (heh, i just put fingers but it wasn't long enough)


Hahahaha, that's because you're collecting bite reports . As for me, i just use the tip of tweezers and it works out fine... 

 phil.


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## sick4x4 (Jan 18, 2008)

flooding the enclosure works best for me!! they usally come right out..

wayne


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## cacoseraph (Jan 18, 2008)

bistrobob85 said:


> Hahahaha, that's because you're collecting bite reports . As for me, i just use the tip of tweezers and it works out fine...
> 
> phil.


oh yeah, good point


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## Elytra and Antenna (Jan 19, 2008)

Pulk said:


> If you want to take out your pede for some reason, what method do you use to dig it up? I can't think of any easy ways to do it...


I use a butter knife.


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## Scolopendra (Jan 19, 2008)

if you're using gallon jars you can just roll the jar around at an angle in your hands and the cent' will eventually tumble to the surface. gently tho...


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## Dillon (Jan 19, 2008)

you guys seriously use gallon jars for full grown centipedes?  Seems like centipede cruelty to me!

Reactions: Like 2


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## Scolopendra (Jan 19, 2008)

i would say its not a problem, much less "cruelty", for any centipede under
10" to reside in a gallon jar. they is flexible like rubber hose.


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## bluefrogtat2 (Jan 19, 2008)

*pedes*

i use the huge 3 gallon jugs from sams club cheese puffs.
andy


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## Elytra and Antenna (Jan 20, 2008)

Dillon said:


> you guys seriously use gallon jars for full grown centipedes?  Seems like centipede cruelty to me!


 Some full grown centipedes are 1/2" long. However, large centipedes do great in gallon jars. (Ahhh, man's inhumanity to centipedes. Sounds like one of those people who sterilize themselves so they won't have children that could have an adverse affect on the environment. Keep up the good work.) If you're worried about the centipede's feelings you should understand these animals live in tiny burrows and giving them too large a cage will stress them out unless provided a small areas inside that large cage for burrow construction so either way their residence is confined to a small area (unless you refuse to provide a small refuge out of cruelty).

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## Dillon (Jan 20, 2008)

The fact that you mock my concern for the well being of my centipede, made me laugh. <edit>


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## bistrobob85 (Jan 20, 2008)

Hahahaha, this is a bit silly. Look a bit deeper in the subject, you will see that Elytra and Antennas is right and most of us will approve. From your response, i don't see you lasting too long on the forum . Do your research and learn respect for the ones who did. 

 phil.


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## sick4x4 (Jan 20, 2008)

Dillon said:


> The fact that you mock my concern for the well being of my centipede, made me laugh.  .


wow dude, thats alittle harsh. before one can interject on husbandry issues, do some homework... our idea of ideal conditions can greatly differ from what is over doing it and what is borderline cruelty...most pedes are found in pretty tight crevices or in burrows. sooo needing space is not as big a concern as deep sub....<edit>

wayne


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## Dillon (Jan 20, 2008)

I'm surprised that maturity is brought up on being concerned for a 8" pedes well being inside a 1 gallon jar..  ::::::


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## Mr. Mordax (Jan 20, 2008)

I had a fully-grown _S. subspinipes_ that never left his burrow that was smaller than a DVD case -- I doubt he would have noticed a difference in a 1-gallon jar (he was in a 10-gallon tank and I never saw him in the majority of the space provided).

Anywho, back to the topic of the original post.    Mine are all immature at this point and as such are in smallish containers.  I put the small container in a large tub that they can't climb out of and gently run a wooden chopstick through the soil until the 'pede comes flying out.  They usually have enough momentum to leap out of the smaller container, so double-tanking is helpful.


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## Mister Internet (Jan 20, 2008)

Dillon said:


> I'm surprised that maturity is brought up on being concerned for a 8" pedes well being inside a 1 gallon jar..  ::::::


You've made your point, dial it down please.

I have a Small extendable snake hook, which is what I use for transferring/transporting them short distances anyway, and I just drag it through the soil gently...


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## cacoseraph (Jan 21, 2008)

Dillon


i don't know who you are or what you have done. perhaps you have great success with your methods... but EandA wrote a good book on the care of centipedes... one of the only modern english hobbybooks out there.

between some of the other posters, E&A, and myself we have produced.... perhaps thousands of baby centipedes.  i would say we probably have at least the beginnings of a good grasp on the captive husbandry of our little friends


now... i *can* see how someone who thinks centipede care should basically be the same as a mouse or little birdy would think a 1G jar cage would be cruel. but i choose to look out the success i and others have had in getting viable young out of centipedes in just such a cruel and nasty setup and then compare our relative ease to those who keep them in large inadequate cages and all the problems they have with mothers eating the eggs.  centipedes are... centipedes. they are not mice or birds or lizards... or even tarantulas. they have a biology and drives that are unique to them and trying to treat them as anything else does them a disservice


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## Stylopidae (Jan 22, 2008)

You know, it always amazes me the number of bleeding hearts on here who chide keepers/breeders for doing what has brought them success for years without even bothering to display even a smidgeon of knowledge about the habits, neurobiology or anything else related to the biology and physiology of the animals in question. The base of this logic is anthromorphization, and that's the end result. I call this 'The Argument From Anthromorphization', although it's just another form of circular reasoning.

I need a large amount of space to feel comfortable, therefore my centipede must have a similar requirement. I can pass a bowel movement, therefore my computer must be able to do so as well. It's the same exact thing. Just because something is true for us doesn't mean it's true for our pets, especially when you realize the animals we keep usually try to live their lives in the smallest areas possible eg. burrows, scrapes under rocks, etc. They don't require much in the way of space and as others have pointed out, too much space can cause problems related directly to stress.

I actually do not dig up my centipedes. I wait for them to emerge from the burrows (where they spend 90% of their time) before I do substrate changes.

On the rare occasions when I actually do need to bring them out (presentations), I use an unsharpened pencil or the dull end of a pen.


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## Mr. Mordax (Jan 22, 2008)

Cheshire said:


> I can pass a bowel movement, therefore my computer must be able to do so as well.


You've obviously never seen the results of a virus scan on my lappy. :razz:


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## scolopendra277 (May 24, 2020)

for my baby pedes, water seems a little risky. just use tweezers


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## Bill S (May 24, 2020)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> If you're worried about the centipede's feelings you should understand these animals live in tiny burrows and giving them too large a cage will stress them out unless provided a small areas inside that large cage for burrow construction so either way their residence is confined to a small area (unless you refuse to provide a small refuge out of cruelty).


As someone who frequently observes centipedes in the wild (_Scolopendra heros_ and _polymorpha_), I'm going to say that they do not naturally live in small burrows, but wander quite a bit, sometimes over large areas.  In captivity, when possible, I keep my large centipedes in 10 gallon terrariums and have noticed that they use all the space given them.  I have a small group of _Scolopendra mutilans_ in a 29 gallon long terrarium, with dead wood, leaves and rocks, and even the babies will wander from one end of the terrarium to the other.  As for "too large a cage will stress them out" - then how do centipedes ever survive in the wild?

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## Scorpio420 (May 24, 2020)

I just want to add, i have NEVER seen my centipede come out of its own, and he is in a 10 gallon tank. I don't think he actually cares that he has all this room.... So I don't think the jars are cruel. I don't think it stresses them out. either, that is like saying snakes need to be in tubs or they will be stressed out. That is bullshit breeeders tell themselves to feel better.


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## Elytra and Antenna (May 24, 2020)

Bill S said:


> As someone who frequently observes centipedes in the wild (_Scolopendra heros_ and _polymorpha_), I'm going to say that they do not naturally live in small burrows, but wander quite a bit, sometimes over large areas.  In captivity, when possible, I keep my large centipedes in 10 gallon terrariums and have noticed that they use all the space given them.  I have a small group of _Scolopendra mutilans_ in a 29 gallon long terrarium, with dead wood, leaves and rocks, and even the babies will wander from one end of the terrarium to the other.  As for "too large a cage will stress them out" - then how do centipedes ever survive in the wild?


"giving them too large a cage will stress them out unless provided a small areas inside that large cage for burrow construction"
If your goal is to create and win an argument by quoting part of a comment without context you'll win every time.

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## Bill S (May 24, 2020)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> "giving them too large a cage will stress them out unless provided a small areas inside that large cage for burrow construction"
> If your goal is to create and win an argument by quoting part of a comment without context you'll win every time.


Point taken - I did miss the second part of your comment.  That does make a difference.

And on a second point - I have a copy of your book and refer to it periodically.  Good book and as someone else hinted, the only really useful one out there in English that I know of about keeping centipedes in captivity.


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