# Just bought a 7" Vietnamese Centipede



## johnx818 (Jan 26, 2008)

I just bought a 7" vietnamese centipede today. I set up the tank and everything for it. I'm not sure how many gallons the tank is, but tall tank and has an octagon shape. Before buying my centipede I read caresheets for how to take care of one. Req. temp. and humid and all that stuff. But I still have a few questions. First off, the req. temp. is about 80-85F. I am using a substrate heater that is for rainforest reptiles, so it heats up to about 83-85F. My substrate is about 3 inches thick. Being that the substrate is so thick, will the substrate heater be able to heat it well and provide my centipede the temperature it needs? I have a temperature gauge and it's reading only 70F. Will my centipede be okay if it's too cold? And a question about humidity, my humidity gauge is reading 80% which is alright. What happens if the humidity level gets too high? I have no worries about the humidity level getting too low. Thanks in advance.


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## Xaranx (Jan 27, 2008)

Do you have it on the side?  Being on the bottom, it won't really work because all the substrate will insulate it.  

And where are you measuring the temps?  Down in the substrate or on the surface/top?


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## Dillon (Jan 27, 2008)

Being as how they (centipedes) are always burrowed, wouldn't they be getting the heat that was being "insulated" in the dirt? I always wondered.

I use a 50 watt infrared bulb, no problems yet just gotta keep an eye on that humidity.  Lights dry substrates fairly quickly.


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## johnx818 (Jan 27, 2008)

To: Xaranx. I have the substrate heater on the bottom of the tank. Last night I just added about another half inch or so of substrate (potting soil) so it has more substrate to burrow in. The temperature gauge is towards the back of the tank, right above the substrate that is being heated. I placed the heater more towards the back so my centipede can have warmer climate towards the back and colder towards the front. It still reads a little under 70, just almost 70F. Will it encounter any problems at a constant temperature of 70F? Thank you for your reply.

To: dillon. I'm hoping it's getting the heat that's being transferred to the substrate. If not then I would've been better off with a heating bulb. But the guy at the pet store I got my centipede said it'll work fine. So I'm taking his word for it. Also, another good thing about the heating pad is that it keeps the humidity up due to the evaporation from the soil/substrate. It doesn't dry it out. Thank you for your reply.


My centipede is also missing one leg. I don't know if I bought it like that, but I just noticed it this morning when I woke up and checked on it. I've read the centipede can regenerate it's body parts, how long will that take? Is it during the molting process that they grow it back? Thanks in advance for your replies.


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## johnx818 (Jan 28, 2008)

I need feedback, please tell me if what I am doing is wrong and is bad for my pede. To start off with, my current tank set-up includes a six-sided tank that is 2 and a half feet TALL, and about an even 2 feet on all sides. I am using an inch thickness of potting soil on one side and about 3 inches on the other side to make sort of an uneven ground for it. I packed the soil real tightly because I don't want my centipede to burrow. I have half of a cork bark I think it's called, on the lower side so it can go under there for shelter and a water dish with paper towel in it so it doesn't drown, also on the lower side. I'm using a heat wave tropical substrate heater to keep the temperature up, but my temp. gauge is reading only 70F, I'm hoping the substrate is a bit warmer being that it's a substrate heater. For lighting, I'm using a 15" repti-glo 5.0 that I covered with blue paper so it isn't too bright cause I want to be able to see it active, being that they're active at night. I also have an incandescent blue night light that I bought to use when I want to simulate night-time for it, but I hardly use it because all it does is dry up the substrate and drop the humid level, that's why I put the blue paper over the repti-glo to simulate night-time 24/7. Sorry for the long post but this is my first centipede and I really like it and want to be able to make it feel more at home in captivity, with the exception of it burrowing of course cause I love to see it and not hidden all the time, hehe. Please tell me if anything here is wrong and what else I would need to put in there. Flame me and what-not this is my first time and I would love to learn more about the centipede. Thank you in advance for all replies.


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## PhilK (Jan 28, 2008)

OK mate. You have a tall tank, so pack it full of substrate to allow for maximum burrowing - that is the best thing for your pede. It is VERY selfish and irresponsible to prevent your pede from burrowing because you want to see it. If you want to have a visible pet buy a fish.

Move the heater to the side of the tank so if the pede needs a really warm spot it can go over to it. Under the substrate is useless.

Lose the paper towel, it won't do anything good. Pede won't drown.

Missing leg won't bother it.

AGAIN - you're attitude about burrowing is pretty messed up in my opinion. Pedes burrow. If you aren't prepared to accept that - get a different pet. I am so sick of that attitude.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Dillon (Jan 28, 2008)

I agree with the need of burrowing.

The second I got my pede he burrowed after eating...

Immediately..

And continues to stay burrowed 85% of the time.


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## ragnew (Jan 28, 2008)

PhilK said:


> AGAIN - you're attitude about burrowing is pretty messed up in my opinion. Pedes burrow. If you aren't prepared to accept that - get a different pet. I am so sick of that attitude.


In my experience 3" is actually more than enough substrate for a Vietnamese Giant. Provided the pede has a hide of some kind, it will almost always decide to hide under that, but remain on the surface level.

I've had all my S. subspinipes and S. s. de haani display this behavior. The only time my Vietnamese Giants really showed the interest in burrowing was when they were tiny pedelings. My Thai Giant and Hong Kong Giant are also starting to do this as well.


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## johnx818 (Jan 28, 2008)

kk. So to unpack the substrate I will do. As for the substrate heater, it's a substrate heater, I can't use it without any substrate (on the sides, for example). I'll lose the paper towel also. How is my lighting? Is it acceptable? It's flourescent with UVB rays with blue paper over it to dim it, but enough to be able to see everything in the tank. As for it burrowing, what do I do when it is feeding time and it's burrowed? I don't wanna' poke it with anything in order for it to come out and eat. Thank you for the replies!


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## cacoseraph (Jan 28, 2008)

unless it is getting to like 50*F/10*C i would ditch all those heating solutions. centipedes dry out extremely easy. there is no evidence they need ultraviolet light.

ifyou absolutely must use your heating solution, shoot for about 70*F/20*C. it is quite easy to damage a cent with a bad heating solution.  plus, they are burrowers... burrowers experience a much smaller shift in temps over day/night and seasons

decent care info can be found here:
http://www.geocities.com/blight_child/centis/S_subspinipes_x.html


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## PhilK (Jan 28, 2008)

As for feeding while your pede is burrowed - you just throw a cricket in. If the pede is hungry it will come out and get it, or if the cricket blunders into the burrow (crickets are pretty stupid) the pede will get it.

If it isn't eaten in about 24 hours, remove it (this is what I do)


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## johnx818 (Jan 29, 2008)

So is it okay to just have a normal flourescent light with blue paper over it to dim the tank and make it look nightish? What I'm trying to do with the light is to make it seem like it's night-time so I can see more of my centipede on the surface cause I've read they come out mostly at night to hunt for food. And I need the heater because I have the pede in my room and my room isn't normal house temperature cause my rooftop isn't solid. It's a patio converted into a room so it gets pretty cold in here.

Here's a few pictures.

His overall tank at night.






Tank in daylight.











The pede itself.











Climbing






Flourescent light with blue paper effect







These pictures were taken with my room light off and the tank light on. I turned on flash on the pictures that looked like my room light was on.


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## PhilK (Jan 29, 2008)

The blue light (the one with paper) is fine mate don't stress so much. As long as it isn't so hot it is drying out your substrate. But it is so far away from your substrate I doubt that's a problem.

If I were you I'd make it like 20cm deeper. Or at least convert that tank into two tanks - waste of space you have there.


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## johnx818 (Jan 29, 2008)

Is it okay to have a full water dish and have dry substrate with the humid temperature gauge reading about 60%?


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## PhilK (Jan 29, 2008)

I guess so.. But I would do this: have a full water dish all the time AND every now and again (maybe once a weak) pour water (soak) one corner of the tank. Every few days spray.


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## Galapoheros (Jan 29, 2008)

Just a caution.  I bought a couple of subspinipes a while back and put them in temporary one gal containers.  While I was moving things around in a terrarium, I put one of the jugs on a warm fluorescent bulb fixture thinking it would be ok for a short while.  The pede went down to the heat apparently to instinctively escape heat that would normally be at the surface while the sun is out, sat down there and fried.  Something that's been heard about with scorpions too, an instinct to go further down to escape heat ...so when heats on the bottom, it might not know what to do, sit and fry.  Congrats John, I don't think they need a lot of heat.  Actually I've read some sub forms like it in the mid 70's.  Also I will never use potting soil again.  I think they put a lot of organic material in it that is designed to break down for plant roots to use so things in it can start to rot and smell inviting bad health to your pede.  They may put weak fertilizers in there too.  I'd look for coco fiber in pet stores.  Maybe try the potting soil and if it doesn't work out, maybe next time the coco fiber.  Most don't eat much when they area full.  I think my subspin has eaten one medium dubia roach in 3 months.  good luck!


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## ragnew (Jan 29, 2008)

Wow, that's a nice lookin' Vietnamese John! Those guys are so damn cool!


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## johnx818 (Jan 29, 2008)

PhilK said:


> I guess so.. But I would do this: have a full water dish all the time AND every now and again (maybe once a weak) pour water (soak) one corner of the tank. Every few days spray.


I always have a full water dish for it. And it seems like every 4-5 hours I have to mist the tank because the humid level goes down to about 65-70% and I'm worried he might dry up. But since the water dish is there then I'm guessing it's okay to let the humid drop that low? I will nonetheless mist it every few days though. It's just the 65-70% humid level I'm worried about.



Galapoheros said:


> Just a caution.  I bought a couple of subspinipes a while back and put them in temporary one gal containers.  While I was moving things around in a terrarium, I put one of the jugs on a warm fluorescent bulb fixture thinking it would be ok for a short while.  The pede went down to the heat apparently to instinctively escape heat that would normally be at the surface while the sun is out, sat down there and fried.  Something that's been heard about with scorpions too, an instinct to go further down to escape heat ...so when heats on the bottom, it might not know what to do, sit and fry.  Congrats John, I don't think they need a lot of heat.  Actually I've read some sub forms like it in the mid 70's.  Also I will never use potting soil again.  I think they put a lot of organic material in it that is designed to break down for plant roots to use so things in it can start to rot and smell inviting bad health to your pede.  They may put weak fertilizers in there too.  I'd look for coco fiber in pet stores.  Maybe try the potting soil and if it doesn't work out, maybe next time the coco fiber.  Most don't eat much when they area full.  I think my subspin has eaten one medium dubia roach in 3 months.  good luck!


With this information, I'll begin to use the nightlight only because it's an incandescent and puts out heat, and stop using the substrate heater and add more burrowing ground for it so it can dig to cooler temp. when it's too hot on the surface. I didn't want to use the nightlight as source of heat because it dries out the substrate and drops the humidity. So I'm hoping a full water dish'll do good.



Re-Aligned said:


> Wow, that's a nice lookin' Vietnamese John! Those guys are so damn cool!


Thank you!  The place I bought it at sold it to me for $22. He also had one about 2" that was going for $25 and I really want to go back and get it. But I gotta' learn a bit more proper care before getting the smaller one. He said the smaller one was also a Vietnamese one, it's body was more bluish than my current one.


Thank you all for your help and replies. I've learned a lot more about caring for my new pet thanks to you guys!


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## PhilK (Jan 29, 2008)

johnx818 said:


> I always have a full water dish for it. And it seems like every 4-5 hours I have to mist the tank because the humid level goes down to about 65-70% and I'm worried he might dry up. But since the water dish is there then I'm guessing it's okay to let the humid drop that low? I will nonetheless mist it every few days though. It's just the 65-70% humid level I'm worried about.


In order to stop this you have to SOAK a corner of the tank like I said. If you mist it, it is just surface moisture that quickly evaporates. If you give the corner a good soaking it will release moisture over time and maintain your humidity.

You can do this two ways: 1. deepen your susbtrate considerably and soak with water every few days. or 2. make a pile of sphagnum moss in a corner and heavily spray it so it is soaking wet. This will slowly release moisture and help with your humidity. The pede can also hide in the sphagnum moss if it i drying out.


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## cacoseraph (Jan 29, 2008)

stuff to make your life easier and your pet more enjoyable  :

get rid of the hygrometer. in all likelyhood it is not very accurate anyways.  shoot for having the substrate moist but not wet.  do this by overflowing your waterdish. depending on vent you only need to do this once a week to once a month. incidentily, giving a RH % w/o the temp is pretty much useless.  in point of fact, RH is rather complex and totally unnecessary to understand to keep centipedes.  keep sub moist and you are good to go.

what is vent like?  (i can't see any pics while i am at work). if in 10G cage with screen lid, two suggestions:  1) make sure lid is heavier gauge wire. they can bite through lesser wires eventually 2) cover ~70-95% of the screen with plastic wrap. will help keep humid up


stop misting. as you are finding out, misting in a high vent setup is only going to change things for a few hours.  that is WAY high maintenance!


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## Galapoheros (Jan 29, 2008)

One example of what caco is talking about is that the hygrometer may read low (and be accurate) even if you have the sub soaked if it's cool in the terr, water condenses out of the air when it's cool.  But the pede is in the sub where the moisture would be so it's ok.  It's really not hard.  Here, a picture says a lot.  I have most my pedes in plastic containers.  This is the only simple pede terr I have right now.  I hardly ever see the pede, and if I do, it's at night only, that's good though.  That sucker goes under at the slightest bit of light.  There is about 5 inches of sub at each end, kind of made a valley in the middle with about 3 inches just for the hell of it.  Water, deep sub and a good temp range are the basics ...don't forget the top! haha, doh!  I've forgotten the top before! ..many times.  I only have a heater on it because it's usually in the mid 60's in here.  The light is for the few plants.


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## PhilK (Jan 29, 2008)

Caco - the pede is like a foot and a half away from the 'roof' of its enclosure in those above pictures - no danger of it chewing through.

Just do what everyone said - overflow your dish so your substrate is always slightly damp.


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## johnx818 (Jan 30, 2008)

I will apply all that has been posted. Thank you guys for posting your replies and helping. Also, galapoheros, how do you manage to keep plants in your tank when the pede is burrowing everywhere? My main reason for the tall tank is to have it decorated. @ cacoseraph, the ventilation I currently have now for the tank is 100% uncovered, I have no top over the tank. The only thing I have over the tank is a clamp lamp with a night-light bulb that dries out the substrate prett8 quickly. How often will I have to mist/soak in this case?


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## josh_cloud (Jan 30, 2008)

best bet is to just get a cover. get something solid. in an enclosure that size, your biggest concern is humidity. to get rid of that concern get a lid with few or no airholes. then the moisture you put in there will stay in there. the water will condensate on the glass and drip back down into the substrate keeping your pede happy. most of us live in homes with central heating and air. this type of heating/cooling removes moisture from the air to do it's job. with the open enclosure you're just fighting that.


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## johnx818 (Jan 30, 2008)

josh_cloud said:


> best bet is to just get a cover. get something solid. in an enclosure that size, your biggest concern is humidity. to get rid of that concern get a lid with few or no airholes. then the moisture you put in there will stay in there. the water will condensate on the glass and drip back down into the substrate keeping your pede happy. most of us live in homes with central heating and air. this type of heating/cooling removes moisture from the air to do it's job. with the open enclosure you're just fighting that.


Okay I will have to find a way where I can cover the top and also be able to use the lamp. In all your opinions, would it be okay to use the lamp on top of glass? The instructions say it cannot be used on top of glass or plastic. Maybe the can be bent a little?


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