Baby centipede questions

[pediepablo]

I just ordered a couple of captive bred pedelings. I got one Chinese Red Head, and one Chinese Giant centipede. I have never cared for baby centipedes before, only adults. What kind of special care needs to be given? Humidity level? Live or dead crickets? How often do they molt? I realize that baby centipedes are very fragile and can be difficult to raise, but I am hoping to in time raise these little guys into the monsters they can become. Thanks.

 

[Arachnida]

I bought a baby S. heros last September, and he is still alive. I have not had any problems at all so far.
When I first got him I put him in a small deli cup with about 2 inches of moist peat moss. I fed him 1 or 2 small crickets a week.
As he got larger I moved him into a 1/4 gallon plastic jar with perhaps 3 inches of moist Bed a Beast. Currently he is eating one large cricket a week, and doing fine.

Growth Rate: When I bought him he was about an inch and a half long. Now he is probably about 2 and a half inches. So he grew an inch over the course of a year.
Molting: He molted about 2 weeks after I first bought him. The next molt came 2 months after that. The 3rd molt came 2 months after that, putting us in February.
I believe he then molted once in March, once or twice in April, and once in May. In June he molted twice in one week! I believe his last molt to date occurred in mid August.
Just based on observation, I think that many of these animals go through "growth spurts". This centipede certainly has


Anyway, hope this helps.

EDITED: I forgot to answer part of your question:
When I was feeding mine small crickets, I fed them live. When he got big enough for large crickets I began to pre-kill, though currently this is probably no longer necessary.

 

[Mister Internet]

Originally posted by Arachnida
In June he molted twice in one week! I believe his last molt to date occurred in mid August.
Just based on observation, I think that many of these animals go through "growth spurts". This centipede certainly has

Did you actually observer it physically molting both times, or did it just "look bigger"? I only ask because it seems my 4" juvie moristans, which I've raised since 1", has simply stretched and expanded into its new skin over the course of a few days after an obvious molt. If it appeared to you that it "looked bigger" on a Thursday than it did on a Monday after a molt, then I would submit that I feel they go through a phase where they kind of grow into their new skin... APPEARING to get larger over the course of a few days, not actually molting again. If you did witness an actual phyiscal molt, then all I can say is wow.

As far as care, it's hard to say. TOO much humidity will kill them, and too LITTLE humidity is obviously harmful, as they will dessicate quicker than the adults. I've had the best luck with keeping them in a container that's as long on each side as they are, with about 1/2" of 50/50 peat/verm substrate. What I do is just soak one corner of the substate every few days, so they have a wet spot they can hover over if the need arises. Also, I keep the container mostly sealed... I drill plenty of little holes for ventilation, but I use a solid lid. When they get big enough and move to a big enough container, I use a little water bottle cap for water, and just overfill it enough to wet the substrate as previously described. I have heard of people raising entire clutches of eggs to juvenile status with no losses, and some of us have had up to 100% losses over a LONG period of time for no reason. They are fragile sometimes, I would get more than one of each species you want.

 

[Arachnida]

Originally posted by Mister Internet
Did you actually observer it physically molting both times, or did it just "look bigger"? I only ask because it seems my 4" juvie moristans, which I've raised since 1", has simply stretched and expanded into its new skin over the course of a few days after an obvious molt. If it appeared to you that it "looked bigger" on a Thursday than it did on a Monday after a molt, then I would submit that I feel they go through a phase where they kind of grow into their new skin... APPEARING to get larger over the course of a few days, not actually molting again. If you did witness an actual phyiscal molt, then all I can say is wow.

I hear what you're saying. Let me tell you what happened.
Normally this centipede does not burrow. The only exception is when it's time to molt. He'll disappear under the substrate for about a week, sometimes longer. When he reappears, he is always a little bit bigger/longer.
Now in June he did his typical 'disappearing' routine. A week later, he's back atop the substrate, bigger than he was before he went burrowing. No big deal, right?
Well about 4 or 5 days later I'm feeding all my guys, and what do I see? This same centipede molting on top of the substrate. This is the one and only time I've ever seen him molt.

So, at the absolute least, he molted twice within a 2 week period, and he did molt - without doubt - within a week of reappearing on the surface after his previous molt.

(My fault in my original post: I did not think to note that he may have molted days previous to reappearing on the surface! Even so, twice in a 2 week period is pretty good )

 

[fatbloke]

the best results ive had with raising pedelings is i keep them on 100% peat with about 70-80% humidity i have tried other ways but had higher mortality rates and as for feeding them i feed them large prekilled crickets as i keep all my pedelings in together and i find this way easier then messing around with micro crickets as for the molting ive never seen a pede molting but i had a pedeling grow from about 1.5" to 4" in just under a year.
this is the only time ive ever seen a pede once its molted


fatbloke

 

[fatbloke]

forgot the picture

 

[pediepablo]

Well guys I got the Chinese Red Head pede in the mail today. I didn't have any small crix at the moment, so I threw in a little wax worm. He attacked it immediately and has been munching down for a while now. Here is a crappy picture, but a picture none the less.

 

[pediepablo]

Hmm or maybe no picture? Lets try again. I've never done this.

 

[pediepablo]

Chinese Giant Pedeling

Well I just got my Chinese Giant pedeling in the mail today. It is about 1 1/2 inches. I noticed that its legs fade from orange to black, looking very much like the "Halloween Giants" I've seen listed places. Are the halloween giants just color morphs of the chinese giants by chance? Think that may be what I have here? I will try to get some pictures up later, but I am not sure if my camera will pick up the color too well.

 

[Mister Internet]

Re: Chinese Giant Pedeling

Originally posted by pediepablo
I noticed that its legs fade from orange to black, looking very much like the "Halloween Giants" I've seen listed places. Are the halloween giants just color morphs of the chinese giants by chance? Think that may be what I have here?

"Halloween Giant" is nothing more than a cutesy name some importer/supplier/dealer came up with because of the color of a pede he once had, nothing more. All those pedes such as "Halloween", "Chinese Giant", "Vietnamese", "Malaysian", "Mai Chau", etc etc are ALL morphs of S. subspinipes as far as I'm concerned. They may vary in size a bit due to geographic influence, but they are prettty much all the same species anyway. It's easy to get hung up on common names, so my advice to you is just forget about it. Use it's scientific name, and if you weren't given one, learn enough to find out for yourself. Much more fun.

I myself am getting a little tired of all the freaking "NEW COLOR MORPHS OH MY GOD" of all these chinese/asian species... getting to be as bad as the corn snake market.

 

[Code Monkey]

Not that you could take what I really know about pede taxonomy and write up more than a 2 page paper, but I'm skeptical that all these things are *just* subspinipes. That is a ginormous geographic and climactic range for a single species complex to inhabit and an unbelievable range of sizes, colors, and temperaments for a single species. If correct, subspinipes gives humanity a run for its money in variety and range.

Fortunately, from the p.o.v. of care and caution, a large scolopendra is a large scolopendra.

 

[Mister Internet]

Well, I agree to an extent about it seeming like a lot of different pedes to be calling "just subspinipes", but on the other hand, not many of them are *that* different. "Oooh, this one has an orangeish-blacking color scheme on its legs... let's call it 'Halloween'!!" "This one was caught in Vietnam, let's call it 'Vietnamese!!" "This one was caught in the Mai Chau area of Vietnam, but instead of calling it 'Vietnamese', we can call it 'Mai Chau' and charge more!" Dr. Shelley has formally synonomised all three former subspecies of S. heros into one, and they are VERY different colorwise, while still being "just S. heros".

That's more the point I'm trying to make... I'm seeing a lot of fluff and hardly any urgency to have these pedes scientifically identified by a professional. It's easier to put Scolopendra sp. "Whatever The Hell I Want" on a price list than actually take the time and money to figure what EXACTLY it is before selling it. I don't honestly think they are all S. subspinipes proper, as Attems did list several sub-species including S.s. subspinipes, S.s. mutilans, and S.s. de haani, that have made it into the hobby. It was hyperbole more than anything... I just get tired of seeing 'Scolopendra sp.' all the time.

As I scrape together money for the hobby, I will do what I can to hire professional help, but the ideal situation would be to have a positive ID on ANY animal you buy, no?

 

[J Morningstar]

I agree in a perfect world it would be great to have a guide book with exacting pictures that made the kind of "proffessional" ID you speak of possible. I used the Halloween centipede name because of the color soley. But to call it a vietnamese if it were caught in that country, I belive is helpful. I know there are only a fineite number of species of centipede in the world and to use the countries of origin would help cut down on the confusion. As to raising the price for another name to tack on to the pede' when are capitalists not going to suck.
So, to me my DR Evil is a Scolopendra sp. Vietnamese. With pumpkin orange legs and a dark brown/mahogany back. Although if anyone has further ID on them I would always like that. I did take 5 years of colledge bio and I as well like to be exact.

 

[pediepablo]

Well guys.. I found the baby Red Head dead this morning Not sure what I did wrong but I guess these things just happen. If I ever get more in the future I will be sure to get more than one.