Anybody have an idea what this is?

[LaRiz]

This thing has been protruding out of it's "butt" all week. The other Scolopendra sp. "Peruvian" do not have this. Any idea what it is?
Oh, I'd like to add that it wasn't "poopin'".
john

 

[MrDeranged]

Possibly a female marking a territory? Hey Tom, get Carl over here

Scott

 

[Poecilotheria]

Maybe a male? I've noticed small differences "back there" with vietnamese pedes that I had before. Try a tank swap and you might get lucky ;P
Steve

 

[LaRiz]

Actually, I've been doing the tank swap method for over a month now. I've been watching for little "presents" on the substrate but so far I haven't seen anything.
But check this out. This morning, since I've seen the one doing the above illustrated prolapsed "thingy", I decided to introduce them to each other again. First time, which was approximately 2 weeks ago, scared the heck outta me. They went at each other immediately, but since I was ready, I separated them swiftly.
This morning didn't go so well. As soon as the antennae touched, they went at it again. This time I wasn't so fast. My Unicron sustained a horrid injury on it's laterals about 1/3rd down. It was bleeding though not profusely. The bite and hold was a long 6 seconds (approx.).
Things I noticed was that Unicron was not interested in attacking but the other was. Actually, the other one was not even bitten.
I thought for sure I'd come home from work and find a dead Unicron. Nope, still spunky and ready to bite me. Thank god.
I didn't post this earlier as I felt like I was either going to cry or puke. Or both.
So far, so good for Unicron. I will try again, but I'm going to have to brainstorm here to better protect them.
I still can't believe that it sustained a bite like that and it didn't even phase it. They're tough as nails, or they evolved for a breeding like that.
Back to the drawing board.
I'm anxious for Carl S. to visit the boards and offer advice.
john

 

[Bob]

John,
I wonder if you have a male and female? Pretty hard to know for sure I guess. Carl Sandefer would be the best person to ask but I have not talked to him for about three years now. I called him at work but can not remember the name of the Pet wholesales anymore where he worked. I have not seen him show up on any forums, have you? I wish he would update his book.
Have you ever put a piece of screen door screen between two centipedes to see their reaction first? It would be awesome if someone actually does captive breeding of centipedes.
Some guy last year in Sugarland Texas (I think) was buying a bunch of Peruvians to try and breed........never heard what happened.

Bob

 

[Henry Kane]

Hi Bob,
You're talking about Tim DelRosario from Sugarland. Not much has been heard from him in quite a while although I do know he was successful in captive breeding a couple other sp. but nothing yet with Peruvians.

John. Sorry to hear about Unicron. On another note, I found a page not too long ago that showed male and female parts with detailed anatomy and pics of the pede's backside. It was in Japanese or something like that. I will see if I can find it again.

Atrax

 

[Wade]

Hmmm...people who know alot about centipedes and are working seriously to breed them suddenly dissapearing...Perhaps they got a little to close for the centipede mafias' comfort?

Watch out John, you may be next. Don't let Unicorn near the phone, she might call in the hit ;P

Wade

 

[aftershock]

Lariz>>>

My S gigantea looks the same. I guees it's premolt when it comes to mine, but of course I'm not sure.

 

[Mister Internet]

I want to say that one of my heros had that weird prolapsed rectum-looking thing happenening right before a molt recently. Of course, it died two days after molting apparently successfully, so I hope for your sake Uni doesn't have what mine had.

 

[LaRiz]

If you guys seen and remember back when it was molting (do a search "what is my peruvian giant doing", or something along the lines of that), I think I noted this "extension". Also, the other one I paired up with Unicron did not have this process as it molted. This was the only difference between the two I've found. So I decided to place them together.
The pic doesn't really showcase this thing as I saw it. It was a tad longer when I first seen it, so by the time I had my camera in order, it went back in. Like I said, it's been doing this all week, so I thought maybe this was a courtship of some kind.
Anyway, Unicron is doing great despite the terrible injuries recieved two days ago.
Thanks all for your thoughts.
john

 

[phoenixxavierre]

When I observed two Alipes species breeding I saw this same thing. The male fiddled with it from behind the female and not too long after, voila, baby pedes. So maybe she's "in heat"?

 

[BugToxin]

Did anyone ever figure this out?

I see this is an old thread, but I've been searching and can't find an answer. Does anybody know what this really is? I saw one on my subspinipes. He/She looks healthy, but it would be really interesting to know what this thingy is and/or does.

 

[ScorpZion]

hmmmmm

maybe a parasite? just my thoughts?
:wall:

 

[BugToxin]

Ok, I'm going to bump this one because it still bugs me. Here is a picture of my Hong Kong Giant (subspinipes ssp.) with a little bit of the thingy hanging out. In this pic it looks like he/she is taking a dump. Right before I took the picture the thingy was out about a half an inch or more and did not look like it was dumping. Right after I took the picture the thingy went back in and dissapeared. Please tell me if this is a joke for the people who haven't figured it out yet. :8o It would indeed be funny, except that I would really like to know what this is. :? :? :?

The second picture is my pede hanging upside down trying to chew through the screen because it was mad at me for taking pictures of it's butt. I have a double screen on the tank with the second one being the dipped kind, so hopefully he/she won't get out to extract his/her revenge (Notice chewed wire at the top of the pic).

 

[BugToxin]

I'm not sure if this is related to the tube thingy or not, but the pede is now acting different than usual. I took the above pictures right after checking on him/her, which is something I do once weekly. The pede hasn't eaten for a month and a half, but I offer food every two weeks (usually pinkies but I also offered big crickets today which were also refused). Usually, he/she runs around the tank a little and then scurries under the cork bark to hide again for a week. This time, the pede scurried around and climed the tank to hang upside down as you see in the pic's. Then he climbed down and is now huddled in the corner with his head under his body. He is twitching a little, but is otherwise not moving. I hope he is ok, but I'm not sure. Since I check up on him weekly I suspect that it may be stress caused by my checkups. Of course it may also be coming up on a molt, getting ready to lay eggs, or just sitting there resting. I will post again if anything changes.

 

[cacoseraph]

i believe i read with S. morsitans you can apply pressure to the sexual segments (last one or two segments) and evert some kind of psuedo-penis in males

maybe similar thing here

i think there is a thread where i quote or paraphrase from _Biology of centipedes_ by Lewis, i'll see if i can find it

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=44457&highlight=sexual

 

[BugToxin]

i believe i read with S. morsitans you can apply pressure to the sexual segments (last one or two segments) and evert some kind of psuedo-penis in males

maybe similar thing here

i think there is a thread where i quote or paraphrase from _Biology of centipedes_ by Lewis, i'll see if i can find it

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=44457&highlight=sexual

That is extremely helpful and interesting. Thanks!!! :clap: I had never heard of that book before and it appears to be out of print. Does anybody know someone who sells this book or another like it? There are so few books on pedes. I only have one pede book "Giant Centipedes" by O. McMonigle, which is a good one but doesn't go into as much depth as I would like. It is still a great book for the keeper though.

On another note, my pede did eventually move this morning over to the side of his cork bark hide and then finally hid under it when the sun started to come up, so I think he is ok. I know you can never really know with pedes, but I am now suspecting pre-molt. I've had this guy for about 7 months and he hasn't molted yet in my care, so it should be about time. It would be truly awesome to have this big boy molt out to an even bigger boy!!!