# Scolopendra enclosures/terrariums



## Draiman (Sep 6, 2011)

How do you keep your centipedes?

Here is what my adult female S. hardwickei lives in now (40cmx25cmx25cm); pretty much finished it today, just needs some dead leaves to complete the look:


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## coldvaper (Sep 6, 2011)

Nice looking enclosure.


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## satchellwk (Sep 6, 2011)

Wow, that's a really nice terrarium. 
Here's my subspinipes's terrarium, but it's nowhere near as nice as yours. I took out that peice of driftwood to clean it after some mold started growing on it, I'm debating wether or not to put it back in:


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## Draiman (Sep 7, 2011)

satchellwk said:


> Wow, that's a really nice terrarium.
> Here's my subspinipes's terrarium, but it's nowhere near as nice as yours. I took out that peice of driftwood to clean it after some mold started growing on it, I'm debating wether or not to put it back in


Thanks  The problem with these nice looking terrariums is you'll never see the animal living in them!

I've found that issues with mould/fungi are usually easily resolved by increasing ventilation.


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## Draiman (Sep 7, 2011)

I added some new plants today, tell me what you think.


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## satchellwk (Sep 7, 2011)

It looks even better!
When you have live plants in there, what do you use for a light source? 

I'll try giving his terrarium a bit more ventalation, hopefully that'll help. How much ventalation do you give?
And another thing, I don't have a problem with my pede being a pet hole, he's actually rather active, and even if he's not moving, most of his burrows are against the sides of the terrarium, so he can still easily be seen.


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## xhexdx (Sep 7, 2011)

Draiman said:


> I've found that issues with mould/fungi are usually easily resolved by increasing ventilation.


You can also combat these issues with isopods and other detritivores.

Your enclosure looks great.  My next vivarium is going to be for a centipede - plants should be coming in today.


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## Draiman (Sep 7, 2011)

satchellwk said:


> It looks even better!
> When you have live plants in there, what do you use for a light source?
> 
> I'll try giving his terrarium a bit more ventalation, hopefully that'll help. How much ventalation do you give?
> And another thing, I don't have a problem with my pede being a pet hole, he's actually rather active, and even if he's not moving, most of his burrows are against the sides of the terrarium, so he can still easily be seen.


I use a small fluorescent lamp, which seems to be good enough so far, although my enclosures are next to a window so there's quite a bit of sunlight coming in as well. I try to use only low-light, low maintenance plant species though.

My hardwickei terrarium is a glass tank with a plastic lid, I drilled large holes in it and covered them with wire mesh, so it's well ventilated. It can be difficult sometimes to find the perfect balance between ventilation and humidity, but having a decent sized water bowl and ensuring it is constantly filled with water will keep humidity up even in a well ventilated enclosure.



xhexdx said:


> You can also combat these issues with isopods and other detritivores.
> 
> Your enclosure looks great.  My next vivarium is going to be for a centipede - plants should be coming in today.


Thanks Joe!  Your communal vivariums look very good as well. What species of centipede will you be keeping in there?


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## ArachnidSentinl (Sep 7, 2011)

Draiman said:


> It can be difficult sometimes to find the perfect balance between ventilation and humidity, but having a decent sized water bowl and ensuring it is constantly filled with water will keep humidity up even in a well ventilated enclosure.


I've never had any luck with water bowls and centipedes. My big subspinipes fills his in with substrate two minutes after I fill it with water.



xhexdx said:


> You can also combat these issues with isopods and other detritivores.


In my experience, this has proven to be the most successful means of controlling mites/mold. In my subspinipes enclosure I decreased ventilation to raise the humidity. Any mold that appeared was quickly dealt with by the small handful (a dozen, maybe) of Aarmadillidium vulgare. Those little gray dudes are amazing.


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## zonbonzovi (Sep 7, 2011)

I gave up on plants in moist 'pede enclosures.  Not a lot of natural light sources in my house & the damned isopods always eat the roots eventually!  Yours look great, though.


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