# Centipede vs. Hopper (graphic)



## GartenSpinnen (Nov 11, 2006)

So if you have any crappy comments about this please dont even reply. Mice are prey items just like anything else and in the wild large centipedes eat them, thats just how it is. So... the guy i purchased my pede from said he was feeding his large centipedes hopper mice, so i figured what the hell ill try it, im sure an occasional mouse would be full of nutrition! So i was going to drop the mouse in with the pede then video what happened, but it all happened way too fast. The mouse tried to push dirt in the centipedes face and in an instant the pede came  down on the mouse, stretched it out so it was defensless then started biting it. After the initial bite from the centipede the mouse was dead within 5 seconds or so. After 15 minutes the bottom picture shows what was left of the mouse. I plan on feeding mice again, but just occasionally as some added nutrition, but maybe next time i will feed pinkies instead of hoppers.


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## GartenSpinnen (Nov 11, 2006)

Oh yea, and before anybody comments on the substrate i placed the centipede in a seperate enclosure for feeding it this mouse, and thats the substrate i used in that specific container for the feeding. The centipede is housed on peat/coco fiber/vermiculite at about 4". 

Also, the size of this pede is 8.5" from head to last tergite, and close to 3/4" diameter, its a biggin!


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## CopperInMyVeins (Nov 11, 2006)

It shouldn't need to eat for a while after that, I'd say at least a month, maybe more, obviously wasn't hungry enough to finish it.


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## jayer10 (Nov 11, 2006)

EXCELLENT! i like the pics althought i would've like to seen the video. Next time video it for us. There is not enough videos out there.


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## Scorp guy (Nov 11, 2006)

CopperInMyVeins said:


> It shouldn't need to eat for a while after that, I'd say at least a month, maybe more, obviously wasn't hungry enough to finish it.


Yes, that's true.

Next time shammer, maybe try using prekilled, it'll save you a lot of trouble with your pede.


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## GartenSpinnen (Nov 11, 2006)

Ok i will wait at least a month before i feed it again. I was trying to get this on video but the only thing i have is my cameras video and i need more lighting and stuff to get the video to look good. Also it happened so damn fast i couldnt even get the camera function working in time! But next time ill get everything setup in advance so that i can video it for yall .


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## nickbachman (Nov 11, 2006)

i had a similar scene at my house on tuesday...

[YOUTUBE]RoXfYvoUsxg[/YOUTUBE]


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## CopperInMyVeins (Nov 11, 2006)

nickbachman said:


> i had a similar scene at my house on tuesday...


What camera do you have?  That's some of the best detail I've seen in a youtube video, being able to clearly see the ocilli and all, and I imagine it's compressed a lot from the original.  Very good video.


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## GartenSpinnen (Nov 11, 2006)

Yep, thats pretty much how mine went down too


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## jayer10 (Nov 11, 2006)

Lol i just got done watchiing your video on youtube. Awesome how that thing just grabbed the mouse with lightning speed. That was excellent. Post some more feeding videos on youtube when you get some. I liked this video better than the ones with the Giant cents


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## Mr. Mordax (Nov 11, 2006)

NICE!! :clap:   I had some similar experiences feeding my dearly departed _S. subspinipes_ and giant Indian mantis some pinky mice.  I can't wait until my current pedes are big enough to feed vertibrates.


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## jayer10 (Nov 11, 2006)

someone should make a thread where everyone posts they feeding videos.


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## Kriegan (Nov 11, 2006)

Very nice! The other day I was curious to feed one of my larger T's a pre-killed small mice first and see how good she would like the treat. I didn't want to feed frozen ones..but i also didn't want to take any risks, so i pre killed a warm one from the petshop and offered it to my king baboon in front of her burrow. After she came out she started eating anxiously, but at the end of the day i noticed most of the mice's body had not been eaten, and it had left the abandoned corpse mutilated and a big mess left for me to clean. So after this experience i'll probably not even bother in offering any mice anymore, not because it's "immoral" and whatnots...because mice ARE food, but because they really don't finish it unless the T is starving badly, and since they're not that hungry it's a waste of food, money and time cleaning up the remains:wall:


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## The Shadow (Nov 11, 2006)

man thats cool. I know nothing about centipedes, not even that they eat mice! sweet, sweeet.


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## cacoseraph (Nov 11, 2006)

CopperInMyVeins said:


> What camera do you have?  That's some of the best detail I've seen in a youtube video, being able to clearly see the ocilli and all, and I imagine it's compressed a lot from the original.  Very good video.


that *is* good! 

i am interested in what format you upload in. also i have tried mov and it pooches up my sound timing and i have tried wmv and it works ok, but loses detail no matter what resolution i upload. youtube says to use mpeg4 at a certain res, so i am curious if that is what is going on here


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## kahoy (Nov 12, 2006)

nice video and nice shirt...


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## nickbachman (Nov 15, 2006)

glad you guys like the video.  the camera is a sony handycam model dcr-hc26 mini dv camera.  it's my friends, it's pretty nice.  

the format i upload is .mov file, with a medium-to-high quality h.264 compressor.  the filesize usually ranges from 8-30mb.  i've heard that often times, if there is silence at the beginning of your video, it'll muck up the imagery-sound synch.  that sort of seems to be correct, but it's not a concrete fact.


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## mindlessvw (Nov 15, 2006)

mine loved pinkys...it seemed like a good change from crickets all the time...and its cleaner than cricket parts


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## funnylori (Nov 17, 2006)

I once had to baby sit IHeartMantids' centipede, much to my mother's dismay . I am amazed by the ferocity of these creatures. And mice make good feeders, but gerbils tend to be cleaner and smell slightly less... Great footage. I am especially squemish and barely made it past the first picture. A+


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## antman (Nov 19, 2006)

shammer4life said:


> So if you have any crappy comments about this please dont even reply. Mice are prey items just like anything else and in the wild large centipedes eat them, thats just how it is. So... the guy i purchased my pede from said he was feeding his large centipedes hopper mice, so i figured what the hell ill try it, im sure an occasional mouse would be full of nutrition! So i was going to drop the mouse in with the pede then video what happened, but it all happened way too fast. The mouse tried to push dirt in the centipedes face and in an instant the pede came  down on the mouse, stretched it out so it was defensless then started biting it. After the initial bite from the centipede the mouse was dead within 5 seconds or so. After 15 minutes the bottom picture shows what was left of the mouse. I plan on feeding mice again, but just occasionally as some added nutrition, but maybe next time i will feed pinkies instead of hoppers.


 Mice are prey in the wild but you didn't have to put a pic on of the severed mouse head. Next time try a wild mouse and not a pet store mouse. Mybe it will give it a fighting chance.


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## nickbachman (Nov 19, 2006)

antman said:


> Mice are prey in the wild but you didn't have to put a pic on of the severed mouse head. Next time try a wild mouse and not a pet store mouse. Mybe it will give it a fighting chance.


why would he want the mouse to have a fighting chance?  it's not a battle, he's feeding his pet.  :?


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## Mr. Mordax (Nov 19, 2006)

antman said:


> Next time try a wild mouse and not a pet store mouse.


A lot of pet stores I've been to sell mice specifically as feeders.


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## GartenSpinnen (Nov 19, 2006)

As previously posted if you have a problem with my post please keep your narrow minded comments to yourself. I have no idea why i would want the mouse to have a fighting chance, its a food item....get over it.


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## Secare (Nov 19, 2006)

holy crap!


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## funnylori (Nov 20, 2006)

I heard mice taste good...


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## GAZ-ROBOT (Nov 20, 2006)

Just wondering,Do centipedes not eat pre killed food


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## Mr. Mordax (Nov 20, 2006)

GAZ-ROBOT said:


> Just wondering,Do centipedes not eat pre killed food


If you dangle it around, they might strike.  I fed my _S. subspinipes_ thawed pinky mice a couple of times.  I just had to wiggle them around until he attacked.


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## beetleman (Nov 20, 2006)

all i do is take a thawed med.mouse throw it in the corner where my gigantea is resting and BAM!  it pounces right on it,then walks around with it for while before eating the entire mouse my other centies are just too high strung so they all get crickets instead


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## cacoseraph (Nov 20, 2006)

GAZ-ROBOT said:


> Just wondering,Do centipedes not eat pre killed food


i virtually only feed my cents prekilled food. that way i can feed out glasswalking roaches to cents 

i've also gotten various species to take banana and apple. they are not very picky, it seems.

of course, with my way you don't really get to see the striking and wrestling with the food... but i usually live feed a roach to someone who looks hungry so i can get some "action"


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## GAZ-ROBOT (Nov 21, 2006)

NiceI might have to look into getting some Aussie centipedes
Scince we can't own exotics in Australia:wall:but I don't think the ones we get here are as big as the one's you get..........


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## cacoseraph (Nov 21, 2006)

GAZ-ROBOT said:


> NiceI might have to look into getting some Aussie centipedes
> Scince we can't own exotics in Australia:wall:but I don't think the ones we get here are as big as the one's you get..........


if you can get stuff from tasmania you can possibly get Craterstigmomorpha centipedes... something i have NEVER seen in the US hobby. also, i believe you can get some pretty decent sized pedes in au


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## Doezsha (Nov 24, 2006)

That was the coolest video ever... im hungry


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## Natco (Nov 25, 2006)

GAZ-ROBOT said:


> Just wondering,Do centipedes not eat pre killed food



All three of mine take pre-killed roaches as long as they are hungry, and I drop the food item right near, or almost on top of them.  I do not feed mice though (I know I am a wuss.)  I do feed small frogs ocasionally, and they seem to really like those.  I have never tried fruit before, but that is interesting.


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## james41777 (Nov 25, 2006)

Wow it's amazing how centipedes eat!!
they just on the prey like mantids!
i've never kept centipedes but
do they use venom to subdue prey?
very nice video!!


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## Dilbrain (Nov 25, 2006)

Cool video and pics, makes my Blondi's look like teddy bears in comparison....:worship:


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## PhilK (Oct 24, 2007)

GAZ-ROBOT said:


> NiceI might have to look into getting some Aussie centipedes
> Scince we can't own exotics in Australia:wall:but I don't think the ones we get here are as big as the one's you get..........



We have some great 'pedes of our own over here mate. Our biggest (_Ethmostigmus rubripes_ I think) get to about 20cm.

I had a centipede that was 17cm long, so they aren't tiny.


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## thedude (Oct 24, 2007)

shammer4life said:


> So if you have any crappy comments about this please dont even reply. Mice are prey items just like anything else and in the wild large centipedes eat them, thats just how it is. So... the guy i purchased my pede from said he was feeding his large centipedes hopper mice, so i figured what the hell ill try it, im sure an occasional mouse would be full of nutrition! So i was going to drop the mouse in with the pede then video what happened, but it all happened way too fast. The mouse tried to push dirt in the centipedes face and in an instant the pede came  down on the mouse, stretched it out so it was defensless then started biting it. After the initial bite from the centipede the mouse was dead within 5 seconds or so. After 15 minutes the bottom picture shows what was left of the mouse. I plan on feeding mice again, but just occasionally as some added nutrition, but maybe next time i will feed pinkies instead of hoppers.


lol the last time i did this there was nothing but skeleton left to the mouse  but i have done that once and it like pinkies just as much.

is it true that you dont hyave to worrie about the calcium intake with centipedes like you do with Ts when it comes to feeding them mice?


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## cacoseraph (Oct 24, 2007)

thedude said:


> lol the last time i did this there was nothing but skeleton left to the mouse  but i have done that once and it like pinkies just as much.


my Eublaberus posticus colony can do the same thing in about 18h.  it looks pretty tight.  F/T mousy. Had to breach it a couple places before the roaches really got into it. petstore dudes where i keep my bugs sometime thought it was cool as hell





thedude said:


> is it true that you dont hyave to worrie about the calcium intake with centipedes like you do with Ts when it comes to feeding them mice?


as far as i know this is just a theory.  no one has proved it and there has been some pretty decent counter-proofs.  my largest polymorpha was only fed mice for something like 6 months while it was at the petstore and it lived well over a year with me before i stupidly killed it by keeping it too dry (normally fine, but not come molt    )


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## bliss (Oct 24, 2007)

Splendid!  i love it all.  the fur ripping, the flesh tearing.

  i gave my 8"-9" S subspinipes a juvie mouse.  knocked it a couple times to make it dizzy then let it go to the pede.  there wasn't even a fight, the pede completely wrapped the mouse's body.    it didn't eat everything, it just carved a hollow hole where the stomach was, and left sort of like a "fleshy bowl"  type thing behind,  the spine exposed      The mouse tried to jump away halfway through the process, and it was pitiful..  the mouse dragging what was left of it's body around, while a massive pede was hanging on enjoying lunch   i actually took pics and made a video and was going to post it on here, but my computer crashed before i could put them on here  


  sorry for being graphic.


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## REAL (Oct 25, 2007)

I am totally appalled about what you guys are doing. You guys shouldn't be doing that because they are living creatures!!!!

How dare you guys torture a helpless animal, shammer4life, I WILL REPORT YOU TO THE COPS!!

Actually i'm pretty cool with with it all. I plan to at least try to feed a live mouse to one of my centipedes one day. Feeding live mice is okay with me unless it gets really disgusting.

One time I fed my monitor a mouse and I guess it was a giant struggle and it got really bloody and grossed me out and I haven't fed anything a live mice since. My tarantula took a large adult mouse once and took about two days to eat it all. Man did the tank stink, I tried to take it out but it wouldn't let me.


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## RottweilExpress (Oct 25, 2007)

I'm not really fond of the thought of putting a living mouse through the process of having it's intestence ripped out of the body while still alive as happens in the vid posted on page 1. Bliss's story only firms my belief. They DO feel pain. It happens in nature, yes. But it won't happen in my home, everything natural isn't necesserily a good thing or the best option. I'm sure you guys wouldn't choose to have your guts torn out by a bear, dispite the fact that it's a natural event.


I happily feed F/T pinkies and living roaches though.


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## PhilK (Oct 25, 2007)

I hate the "it happens in the wild" argument. What a load. They aren't wild centipedes, your humidity controlled, temperature controlled tank isn't the wild. You remove mites even though that 'occurs in the wild'.

I'm fine with feeding live prey (though I'd probably feel bad).. But the sheer amount of joy some people get out of it disturbs me more than a little bit.

Example: 





> The mouse tried to jump away halfway through the process, and it was pitiful.. the mouse dragging what was left of it's body around, while a massive pede was hanging on enjoying lunch


 Disturbing...

Nutritionally a frozen thawed mouse is no different to a live one, and it's a whole lot more humane.

That being said: wicked video, and great pics!


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## kimjonga (Oct 25, 2007)

:clap: :clap: wow
nice
Vietnam giant centipede~! 

i'm dehaani mania !!


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## cacoseraph (Oct 25, 2007)

PhilK said:


> Nutritionally a frozen thawed mouse is no different to a live one, and it's a whole lot more humane.



wrong

all KINDS of stuff is dif between FT and live.  we don't know if one is better than the other... but not the same at all


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## PhilK (Oct 25, 2007)

All the stuff we got taught said one is just as good as the other. This is why snakes on F/T don't die sooner than snakes on live etc etc


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## cheetah13mo (Oct 25, 2007)

PhilK said:


> I hate the "it happens in the wild" argument. What a load. They aren't wild centipedes, your humidity controlled, temperature controlled tank isn't the wild. You remove mites even though that 'occurs in the wild'.


The pede is still in an undomesticated and untamed state and therefor, it is wild. It's just not out in the wild.


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## bliss (Oct 25, 2007)

REAL said:


> Feeding live mice is okay with me unless it gets really disgusting.



   lol when you feed a pede a mouse, it's gonna get ugly, regardless.  



  "in the wild argument"?  yes i like that one but only to an extent.  it's true, we DO have the choice to feed our inverts other things besides a mouse.  im totally aware of this.   but it doesn't matter to me.  i like seeing that mouse struggle 

   and  yes very true, i like things that most would deem disturbing.  i find it an absolute thrill.   
   but eh, i can understand why some people might not like it.      oh well, apples and oranges i suppose.


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## cacoseraph (Oct 25, 2007)

PhilK said:


> All the stuff we got taught said one is just as good as the other. This is why snakes on F/T don't die sooner than snakes on live etc etc


that is just silly

a living mouse will have living gut fauna. a dead mouse won't. a dead mouse, no matter how it is preserved will have started to decay in certain senses... a live mouse won't.  a freakin FROZEN then thawed mouse will have even more changes... cells ruptured and sliced apart by ice crystals....


like i said, all kinds of differences.  are the differences consequential? probably not.  are there differences? obviously. is one better than the other? we for certain can't conclusively say in centiworld. dunno about snake world, just got my one corn and haven't done much deep reading


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## PhilK (Oct 25, 2007)

You do realise that regardless of live/dead it is made out of the same stuff, and the nutrients the snakes obtain from the food item (this does not include gut fauna...) will still be there, in the cells of the food item. There is simply not a big enough difference between F/T and live to justify feeding live.

But like I said, I don't really have any type of problem with it


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## cacoseraph (Oct 25, 2007)

PhilK said:


> You do realise that regardless of live/dead it is made out of the same stuff, and the nutrients the snakes obtain from the food item (this does not include gut fauna...) will still be there, in the cells of the food item. There is simply not a big enough difference between F/T and live to justify feeding live.
> 
> But like I said, I don't really have any type of problem with it


not really. there is going to be changes. lots of the like, chemical strucures are going to change.   i'm not saying one is better than the other... i am just saying it most certainly is not the same.  probably not really even super close, either.  


but... snakes and centipedes are both able to scavenge so it's not a big deal.

it's just... not the same


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## bliss (Oct 25, 2007)

i don't freeze my mice or feed them live, when pertaining to my snake.   i take their heads to the sink several good times.   then it's feeding time     and NO, i don't like to do it that way. trust me, i hate hearing that mouse squeak when i pick it up by the tail. i also hate cleaning the blood off of my sink.

  i just find it a real pain in the butt to do F/T, because:  1. the petstore doesn't sell the F/T mice. i don't know why, but they just don't.  2. I don't freeze them myself because that takes too long, and i'd rather have it over with so i can continue my day without having to wait.  3. When it's Frozen, you have to wait for it to thaw.  once again, im not willing to wait.  

  when it's freshly killed, you have the added bonus of the body warmth still being there, and in my experience, that's a big help.


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## PhilK (Oct 25, 2007)

cacoseraph said:


> not really. there is going to be changes. lots of the like, chemical strucures are going to change.   i'm not saying one is better than the other... i am just saying it most certainly is not the same.  probably not really even super close, either.
> 
> 
> but... snakes and centipedes are both able to scavenge so it's not a big deal.
> ...


The process of death isn't quite that simple.. chemical structures don't just change and then all the nutrition is gone. First of all, once blood stops circulating through the lungs to be oxygenated, and the animal is 'dead' .. all the tissues are still alive. All the cells are operating by themselves trying to keep living, and they revert to anaerobic metabolism. Only once this is exhausted does the pH etc rise from lactic acid secretion.. This will denature proteins and enzymes, and then lysosomes in the cell rupture, and the cells 'digest themselves'. Freezing would most definitly slow this process down..

I agree that they're not the same.. but I disagree that they are very different. I would argue they are quite similair (otherwise animals that have evolved to feed on live prey could not subsist and thrive on frozen/thawed prey)


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## Selenops (Nov 21, 2007)

Too bad nobody has genetically created 3"-5" tall chickens than nobody can complain, just ring them by their necks. 

What about anoles? I haven't tried them yet. I don't like to see animals suffering by being eaten alive. Don't let me influence anybody though.

Centipedes have the venom capacity to kill mice yet I guess they conserve it. Yet because the venom is designed to produce pain via histamines, serotonin, etc is there any possibility the mice are suffering shock or numbness before the chowing begins? Has anyone thought of that?


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## PhilK (Nov 21, 2007)

No. If they weren't feeling pain they wouldn't react the way they do. They're definitly feeling it.


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## Stylopidae (Nov 22, 2007)

The best way to kill a mouse it to take it by it's tail, grab the lid of a KK, place it right behind it's skull (hard enough to pin it to a hard surface) and pull it straight up.

If done correctly that should sever it's spine from it's brain stem, killing it instantly.

The gut flora argument is BS because a freshly killed mouse wouldn't have time to decay, and the 'in the wild' argument is BS because you are only rationalizing putting your pet in more danger than it needs to be in.

The rest of the arguments are just thinly velied rationalizations for wanting to see the centipede kill a mouse.

Like I said in another thread...just get a tennis raquet.


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