Hemiscolopendra marginalis and Vaejovis carolinianus
Python

Hemiscolopendra marginalis and Vaejovis carolinianus

I hope this is a temporary setup because these two are NOT communal. I hope you haven't lost any of your pets because ANY scolopendra will attack other creatures in it's enclosure. Both of these species do not do well with other animals. Please be careful.
 
Shhh. They don't know they aren't communal. I find them all the time under the same piece of bark so I figured I would replicate that to the best of my abilities and so far, everything I put in there is still there and it's been over a month. In fact I've had two scorpions give birth and babies are running all over the place. The only things that are disappearing are the crickets and fruit flies. But they are reproducing as well. There is also a Scolocryptops sexspinosus in there and a small orb weaver. They are all healthy and the only trouble is keeping the cats off of the tank
 
I guess eventually I'll have to tell them but I want to wait till they're older. For now I'll let them believe they are communal.
 
No problem. In the beginning I expected some measure of loss but surprisingly there hasn't been any. I suppose eventually it would happen if the prey items run low but I don't want to find out so I keep it fully stocked. Some of these will hopefully be finding new homes soon enough though.
 
They are gonna kill each other, not being a negative Nancy, just give it time. Years ago I played the same experiment game, the scorpions slowly started dissiperining then when I dug around I found there hollowed out eaten bodies, the hemiscolopendra ate them all in time even with plenty of food avalible. Don't kid yourself, centipedes are natural pedators to scorpions and spiders.
 
And here is something to be considered, I find rattle snakes and field mice under the same rocks and wood all the time, sometimes side by side, but that doesn't mean that the rattle snake will never eat said mouse. Pedes are like snakes and will fast for months even in the presence of food, so just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't, like I said give it time, you'll see. This is a lot like housing a cricket with a T and expecting the T not to eat the cricket.
 
Everything in this tank is a natural predator to everything else. Scorpions will eat pedes, pedes will eat scorpions, they will all eat spiders, crickets, roaches, termites, fruit flies etc. I've got other animals in a completely sterile environment like most people keep them. There's no interaction between species like there is in the wild. When I go hunting, I don't see a single scorpion living all alone under a coconut shell waiting for it's weekly cricket delivery. I peel back a piece of bark and things scatter all over the place. Scorpions, pedes, spiders, termites, roaches, they all live together under that one piece of bark. Sure, some get eaten, but then there are more to take their place. It's just the cycle. I want to see them interact with each other, struggles, harmony, whatever. There's nothing in there that they wouldn't encounter had I left them where they were. The only difference is, so far, there hasn't been any trouble and everything is moving along nicely. When things change, they change. It's just the way it is.
 

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Vaejovidae
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Python
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Fri, 16 September 2016 6:49 AM
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