# id this san diego county centipede



## neubii18 (Mar 7, 2010)

i just found it under a rock.also,idk if this has anything to do with it but i found alot of holes under some rocks.it just rained so there were alot of things looking for shelter.thanks!


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## presurcukr (Mar 7, 2010)

Chilopoda Geophilomorpha or soil centipede


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## neubii18 (Mar 7, 2010)

Thanks,what should I feed it?


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## presurcukr (Mar 7, 2010)

Well pinhead crickets,termites or flightless fruit flies are the norm.Feed only what you can get captive raised.


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## cacoseraph (Mar 8, 2010)

i doubt it would take any of those things.  i always feed them prekilled and torn open prey. they will actually crawl part of the way inside to eat them


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## zonbonzovi (Mar 8, 2010)

I've found Geophilomorpha when replacing substrate on several occassions and wondered if they might be feeding on something invisible to the naked eye.

It is interesting that you've had success with pre-kills, Caco.  I wonder if their diet revolves more around scavenging the dead or predation on micro-bugs.


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## cacoseraph (Mar 8, 2010)

i think this kind is a scavenger


though, the more i think about it, the better a bet the termites could be. i have found geo's within an inch of termites before




oh, and if you want to keep these kind for any length of time you pretty much have to put them in a no vent cage, i have found.  with no vents i have kept them alive for just about a year before.


the similar sized but a little beefier red version i have found i just plain couldn't get to live for even a couple months.  i just couldn't find anything for them to eat


edit:
lol, also they are called snail centipedes so they might eat snails =P


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## nhaverland413 (Mar 8, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> the similar sized but a little beefier red version i have found i just plain couldn't get to live for even a couple months.  i just couldn't find anything for them to eat


I've got the beefy red variety (strigiama I do believe) I have been keeping it for a year now feeding on prekilled baby crickets and adult cricket legs when they kick them off to escape. I've also had the pleasure of watching a molt!


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## cacoseraph (Mar 8, 2010)

interesting... how do you keep them?

the golds were pretty darn hardy, almost, once i realized i needed to keep them in a basically no vent tupperware with plenty of moderately moist substrate.  those took prekilled really easily, in fact. another very neat thing is that it really seemed like the golds would live with each other with no problem. i had a relatively small tupperware with probably ten golds in it at the same time.  that many could actually do damage to a medium sized lobster roach nymph


those dang reds, though... i even kept them in the same container as the golds, with golds getting fat and reds getting skinny.  no matter what i tried, keeping them singly, group... more vent, less vent, no vent... slightly moister, slightly less moist


that makes me very happy though!  they are neat little dudes to watch and what not.


in nature i have seen gold geo's wrapped around eggs akin to how a scolopendra does.  it would be sweet to see a thicker red doing the same... especially in captivity!






oh yeah, to the OP. i am decently sure that the dark line in the centipede is food in their gut. you can kind of use it like a battery charger status bar to see how much food they have left to digest.  i definitely could be wrong, though


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## nhaverland413 (Mar 8, 2010)

I've got mine in a vial with a few strands of new Zealand sphagnum and a pinch of native soil. I feed it monthly or bimonthly, just offer up a morsel and wait a day. the lid of the vial has  numerous pin holes (not melted just punched in SUPER tiny) I used to have one of those snail pedes about a year back but due to vacation and caretaker negligence I lost it to fungus


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## cacoseraph (Mar 8, 2010)

interesting.  i don't think i used sphagnum moss but i don't think that could really be the like, deciding factor, either =P



that sounds pretty similar to a higher vent rig of mine...  maybe i just didn't stick with that style long enough or something. i think i went through 4-5 pedes and never got it nailed down for those sweet little red guys... then i stopped collecting them.  good to know another try might be in order


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## nhaverland413 (Mar 8, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> interesting.  i don't think i used sphagnum moss but i don't think that could really be the like, deciding factor, either =P


Yea I can't imagine it would be.. seeing as they don't even have access to it in the wild haha. I use it simply because it has high water retention without making for a soggy enclosure.


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## presurcukr (Mar 8, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> i doubt it would take any of those things.  i always feed them prekilled and torn open prey. they will actually crawl part of the way inside to eat them


Yes I should have said pre killed crix but they will go after termites if you can get them and the fruit-flies to!They will go right down a wormhole to get after prey they are not just scavengers.


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## zonbonzovi (Mar 9, 2010)

You've piqued my interest in trying to "keep" these again.  I'm seeing much more of them at this time of year than I've ever seen before.  Is it the same for your area as well?


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## nhaverland413 (Mar 9, 2010)

Indeed! found a really fat beauty last saturday, alas I was volunteering and didn't bring any vials! the rains and springs imminent return have awoken a lot of life down here!


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## neubii18 (Mar 9, 2010)

Well,the one in the pic died.I supidly left it in an empty leopard gecko tub without moisture and I dried up.I have had no experience with pedes so...but I just found another.and i think I might have found a really small red one.could some1post a pic of the read ones?thanks.this one is in a vial with damp bed a beast and some leaf litter I found the last one in.


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## neubii18 (Mar 9, 2010)

Okay so I jsut put a torn up cricket in with the ault at it's eating it as I type.it's way cool.and the small one I have conluded is a young gold,not red.but still really cool.it gotbthe same setup.I may have to get into pedes.I am a scorpion and gecko guy.but centipedes are proving to be very pretty and intrrsting.


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