# new pede!



## codykrr (May 18, 2009)

hey guys. i thought id share my new pede i got for free today.  i picked him up this morning from gh0001356. its about 2.5 to 3 inches long. and man is he mean! he nailed a roach and it was gone in minutes.  any tips on setup and humidity would be cool. also how do you sex a pede?  i know its an S. mutilans, and that there communal but what temp and humidity? any way...enjoy

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## Julia (May 18, 2009)

Yeah......

Can i have one?  

Keep his substrate wettish.  (I dump at least 8 oz of water in my pede's enclosure per week.)  That's all I can offer, as I don't know how to sex them.


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## cacoseraph (May 18, 2009)

here is a summary of how i care for subspinipes when i have them
http://www.geocities.com/blight_child/centis/S_subspinipes_x.html#cap


ignore the stuff on species and subspecies, i have to fix some stuff there


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## Draiman (May 18, 2009)

Julia said:


> Keep his substrate wettish.


Why? I respectfully and honestly disagree. I keep all my centipedes (tropical as well as "desert" species) on bone-dry substrate, with a water dish provided. I simply refill the water dish once it's less than half full. That's all, and my pedes are thriving.

Damp substrate is a haven for mites and phorid flies and fungus gnats and all sorts of pests.


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## codykrr (May 18, 2009)

ok sooo...was thisa good find? i mean free is always good. but are these a dime a dozen or more rare in pede land? just curious. also ive seen various sizes of these saying that they get about 4 inches, to 7 inches....which is true?


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## Draiman (May 18, 2009)

codykrr said:


> ok sooo...was thisa good find? i mean free is always good. but are these a dime a dozen or more rare in pede land? just curious. also ive seen various sizes of these saying that they get about 4 inches, to 7 inches....which is true?


_S. subspinipes mutilans_ gets to 5-6" max.

I suppose the Yellow colorform is rather common in the US, but I bet you haven't seen the Red ones:


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## codykrr (May 18, 2009)

so how common are these?....also how bad is there bite?


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## codykrr (May 18, 2009)

thats gorgeous!    wanna trade!!


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## Draiman (May 18, 2009)

codykrr said:


> so how common are these?....also how bad is there bite?


How bad? Not too bad (for me at least), but if you're allergic to the venom you could very well die.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=141235


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## cacoseraph (May 18, 2009)

first:
i have NEVER read about a centipede giving someone an allergic reaction. it is possible some species, such as S. alternans, can give systemic affects. but in all my reading of medical reports i have never read about one giving an allergic reaction

does that mean it is impossible? nope. does it mean it is exceedingly unlikley? you freakin betcha!


oh, and i suspect S. s. mutilans can light someone up. i sort of recall reading at least one or two reports of ppl getting fairly significant bone ache and swelling from it


second:
centipedes are horrible at retaining moisture.  they virtually never choose to live in completely dry settings and can die from it in nature and captivity.  i read something to the affect that some centipedes can't drink fast enough to replace moisture they are losing in certain conditions.  people do keep them on completely dry substrates with water available... but if the centipede goes into hiding before a molt it might not drink. i have seen what happens when a pede is too dry before a molt... they can get stuck in funky parts of their old skin.  i keep all my centipedes in very low vent (most ppl would probably call it no vent) setups and keep their sub slightly moist.  i don't have problems with mites or mold. they pop up every once in a while, but in such small numbers/quantity that i can usually pinch out mold or let the sub get a little more dry and problem solved before it really is a problem. dry sub and air will cause a centipede to constantly lose moisture at a rate higher than they normally see in their chosen microhabitats... and i can't believe that is good for them.


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## peterbourbon (May 18, 2009)

Hi,

i don't have enough space to keep each of my centipedes in bigger good ventilated aquariums, but all the pedes i keep in thoses enclosures (plus a time-controlled PC-fan that sucks bad air out of the enclosure) are doing very well - and i had the most deaths in enclosures with bad ventilation. cause i first thought subspinipes would do fine in not ventilated boxes with moist substrate. I was wrong.

In fact i experienced a lot of bad mycosis after a while keeping the pedes in those conditions and i would not recommend this method (it's only my opinion).

Furthermore i know some cases where desert-prone centipedes got mycosis after keeping the substrate only a little bit moist (could watch it with S. heros and S. canidens from Egypt).

I would always recommend good ventilation, because centipedes not only live in their "isolated" microhabitats, but still wander around when they search for prey. I guess it's not that unimportant to provide fresh air since in nature they have extremely good ventilation. 

Nevertheless: For molting issues or to avoid the pede dries out too fast i always keep a small area of the enclosure moist. Surprisingly most of the centipedes hide in the drier areas.

Just my two cent.

Regards
Turgut


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## Draiman (May 18, 2009)

peterbourbon said:


> Hi,
> 
> i don't have enough space to keep each of my centipedes in bigger good ventilated aquariums, but all the pedes i keep in thoses enclosures (plus a time-controlled PC-fan that sucks bad air out of the enclosure) are doing very well - and i had the most deaths in enclosures with bad ventilation. cause i first thought subspinipes would do fine in not ventilated boxes with moist substrate. I was wrong.
> 
> ...


Agreed, 100%.


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## Julia (May 18, 2009)

Draiman said:


> Why? I respectfully and honestly disagree. I keep all my centipedes (tropical as well as "desert" species) on bone-dry substrate, with a water dish provided. I simply refill the water dish once it's less than half full. That's all, and my pedes are thriving.
> 
> Damp substrate is a haven for mites and phorid flies and fungus gnats and all sorts of pests.


Possibly, our enclosures differ.  I keep mine in a KK, which has a ton of ventilation.  So while the sub is damp, it's constantly drying out.  Also, you live in Singapore, correct?  I would think that your ambient temp and humidity in the air is much different than mine here, in the middle of the US.  My enclosures dry out VERY quickly if I'm not careful.  I mean....if the air around here gets bad enough that it hurts ME to breathe (because it's so dry), I can only imagine how my inverts feel.  That is why I keep the substrate more on the damp side.


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## szappan (May 18, 2009)

Cool new 'pede!  Congrats!   I love those smaller crazy ones...


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## Rick McJimsey (May 18, 2009)

S.mutilans isn't a valid species. I think you meant S.subspinipes mutilans.
And they are very common.


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## zonbonzovi (May 18, 2009)

I've always kept my substrate at least a little moist as it's much easier for a centipede to tunnel & maintain those tunnels.  Since I've introduced isopods & mealworm beetles to the tanks I've never had a problem with mycosis or mold, even under hides, which are notorious for staying moist & building up fungus.  I also keep a water dish full, just in case things get hectic & the sub gets drier than I want it to.  Even in an arid environment, the soil in which centipedes live retains some measure of moisture.


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## Galapoheros (May 18, 2009)

Wow interesting all the diff experiences with enclosures.  I wonder if it depends some on the variety of subspinipes.  I have one from Malaysia that is in a very wet 10 gal terr with water constantly dripping down the sides.  It's been in there for around 2 years now and it is very shiny and healthy.


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## codykrr (May 18, 2009)

rick....im a pede newb....kinda..so sorry!   ok so what these things have 3 names instead of like Ts and scorps?  i see what you mean but why?   ok so to clarify  this is a scoplendra subspines mutilans?(i know i misspelt that didnt i?)  only pedes i have succefully kept are a wild caught(forget he name) 2 small small pede and an S. heros wich is never active. this new one seems very aggressive and active. i got it for free enclosure and all so i know it isnt becausei rehoused it(becausei didnt have too) so i this species just naturally active? either way its cool to observe and i may consider this as another part of my addiction(Ts, scorps, mantids, roaches, snakes and now pedes) so what would you all say to get next. id like something that may get huge!


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## cacoseraph (May 18, 2009)

there are either little to no tarantula species that have valid supspecies


you should have seen subspecies in some of the scorpion posts, though

Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans
Genus . . . . species . . . . subspecies


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## codykrr (May 19, 2009)

yeah, now that you say that i hink i may have seen some scorps labeled like that. cant hink of any off the top of my head though. but thanks for the clarification guys. but hey...at least i knew some of the name right?  better than some newbsive delt with. and i at least researched some....anyway. any tips or suggestionson a bigger pede? these things are starting to grow on me


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## zonbonzovi (May 19, 2009)

codykrr said:


> yeah, now that you say that i hink i may have seen some scorps labeled like that. cant hink of any off the top of my head though. but thanks for the clarification guys. but hey...at least i knew some of the name right?  better than some newbsive delt with. and i at least researched some....anyway. any tips or suggestionson a bigger pede? these things are starting to grow on me


Scolopendra Growth Hormone.  No, seriously- get an adult S. subspinipes(any variation, although the "Chinese giants" I have are nice & thick.  Not too many monsters around these days...


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## Dillon (May 19, 2009)

Draiman said:


> Why? I respectfully and honestly disagree. I keep all my centipedes (tropical as well as "desert" species) on bone-dry substrate, with a water dish provided. I simply refill the water dish once it's less than half full. That's all, and my pedes are thriving.
> 
> Damp substrate is a haven for mites and phorid flies and fungus gnats and all sorts of pests.


I agree with your logic but if you have proper ventilation than there is no reason why you cant/shouldn't be able to have semi-moist substrate 1/2 - 3/4 of the time.  Plus, isopods take care of that stuff before it happens, those things are great for more humid tanks.  

Letting it dry out regularly is the key thing most newcomers don't understand and they use a constant 80% humidity with little to no ventilation thinking their pede likes it.  

Its very cool and interesting to me that you never flood or mist though for all of your pedes.  That's pretty cool and I don't doubt that something like a scolopendra, that's larger and more resilient, may be able to be kept that way..But the smaller,less durable species I don't think would fair as well.  Do you have any smaller species being kept this way?  Maybe a hemiscolopendra or something?  I would be curious to see how they would do.

Plus, it seems once I flood and mist, the pedes(tropical) all come out sometime after it "rains," So it seems that I see them more regularly that way.


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## cacoseraph (May 19, 2009)

i have had centipedes live for years in the same containers with the same sub.  i don't really have problems with mold or mites.

i think completely ignoring everything we know about centipede biology in order to not have to worry about mites or mold at all is not a very good strategy.  what happens when a centipede lays eggs in a bone dry setup?  they can't burrow like they normally do, which i think decreases the chance of success greatly.


and in my setups i don't keep the sub very moist at all. when you have such low air flow a little bit of water goes a long way!  i would say at a rough guesstimate i put in about 10 drops of water per month per ounce (er.. 20mL i think?) of sub in the container.  that might be a little high for some containers and definitely low for the containers that have more than a few pinholes of vent


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## zonbonzovi (May 19, 2009)

Dillon said:


> I agree with your logic but if you have proper ventilation than there is no reason why you cant/shouldn't be able to have semi-moist substrate 1/2 - 3/4 of the time.  Plus, isopods take care of that stuff before it happens, those things are great for more humid tanks.
> 
> Letting it dry out regularly is the key thing most newcomers don't understand and they use a constant 80% humidity with little to no ventilation thinking their pede likes it.
> 
> ...


I lost a Hemiscolopendra chilensis because of dessication- it had access to water, but I kept the sub "bone" dry.  This is a species that is supposedly found in habitat similar to Grammostola rosea/porteri/etc., i.e. dry scrub.  It simply wouldn't use the water supply but would come out of hiding to 'lick' the glass when I was still misting.  

Not sure what you mean by "flood", but I've noticed the same behavior after misting(just like snakes in the wild): any and all living creatures in the tank come out into the open- it's the only way I can keep track of the isopod nymphs.


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## Dillon (May 19, 2009)

zonbonzovi said:


> Not sure what you mean by "flood", .


I mean just overflowing the water dish or something like that.

Definitely not, literally, "flooding" the tank. :clap:


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