Breeding Advice Needed (Scolopendra hardwickei in the US)

[Quixtar]

Hey pede breeders, I have with me, 3 adult Scolopendra hardwickei, and as you know, they're not too common in the states, and everyone wishes them to be, which is why the successful stateside breeding of them hinges upon your expert advice and valuable experience.

I am relatively experienced in breeding Ts and scorps, but have never tried with a pede. I have, however, owned pedes ever since I got into the hobby and have owned several gravid females and witnessed the birthing of little pedelings. Now I've done a fair bit of reading from using the forum's search function (seen Turgut's posts and Lateralus' S. h. arizonensis video documentation) and have a general idea of how mating works, but I'd like to make absolutely sure of it since having recently sexed them as one male and two females, I only have one shot here. Both females outsize the male and the smaller one is crazy. I think I have a better chance with the bigger girl.

Any standard procedures you use would be helpful, and advice specifically catered towards S. hardwickei is of course, preferable.

Some things I want to take into consideration:

- Should I take both the male and female out their enclosures and put them in a newly setup enclosure at the same time, or do I just throw the male in the female's enclosure and hope for the best? Should I keep her occupied with a cricket while I throw him in? They are all in a relatively spacious rectangular acrylic enclosure of their own at the moment.

- Any specifics to setting up an enclosure if I need to do that? All of my pedes have a cork bark slab that would be great for spinning a cradle in their enclosures already. Should I make sure give them a lot of open space for courtship?

- Are there any signs that the male isn't ready for mating?

- Any cooling phases, specific temperatures, humidities I need to monitor, or a simulation of India's seasonal fluctuations? Any particular seasons or conditions in which they will NOT mate whatsoever?

- How long does the courtship take in general? Are there any signs to look for in the female to remove the male immediately in case of endangering him? I would obviously separate them if they attacked each other.

- Provided that I give them enough hides in a new enclosure, should I ever leave them unattended to cohabitate for some amount of time or should I always keep a close eye on them until the act is complete?

- Do females remain fertilized through molts? My big girl molted 4 months ago so I'm sure her molting won't be a problem.

- This is a rather loaded question and a bit ambiguous, but how "easy" would you say it is to successfully breed centipedes compared to tarantulas as a whole (I know there are a lot of variables)?

Thanks, your help is much appreciated.

 

[Galapoheros]

I can't talk much about hardwickei but I have one thing to say that might help you out. I've played around with heros pedes pretty much and had them latch on to each other in kill mode. At first glance it looks like there is nothing you can do but there is. If you have springy tongs, the kind that don't crush, and a stick(I use a chopstick) or another pair of tongs, you can pull them apart. The first time I just used two chopsticks, it worked. I've usually had to work some legs off here and there but I've never lost any to fighting. Some injured very badly, bleeding all over the place but sit and heal up fine. I just give them a cap of water, maybe a crushed cricket, something like that. One time one sunk it's fangs in right behind the head of the other one, it acted like it was headless, not moving anything on the head, including a few segments down, a lot of oozing. I thought there was no way it would make it but it did.

 

[Steven]

Both females outsize the male and the smaller one is crazy. I think I have a better chance with the bigger girl.

This could be coincidence, but all my males were bigger(read longer, not fatter) then the females in the past,... i would first double check the sex as a first advice

- Should I take both the male and female out their enclosures and put them in a newly setup enclosure at the same time

that's the way i do it,... feed them plenty the weeks before you gonna put them together, no disturbing feeders while you set them together.

- Any specifics to setting up an enclosure if I need to do that? All of my pedes have a cork bark slab that would be great for spinning a cradle in their enclosures already. Should I make sure give them a lot of open space for courtship?

open space is not really needed, good corkbarks or other stuff they can crawl underneath is more important tmo. my breeding enclosure is stuffed with corkbark, almost no open space.

- Are there any signs that the male isn't ready for mating?

you'll see when you put them together,... they show interest right away or h8te eachother,... nothing in between to my experience.

- Any cooling phases, specific temperatures, humidities I need to monitor, or a simulation of India's seasonal fluctuations? Any particular seasons or conditions in which they will NOT mate whatsoever?

this can be found here on the boards somewhere, i've posted a complete seasonal diagram and stuff for Sc.hardwickei last year or the year before.

- How long does the courtship take in general? Are there any signs to look for in the female to remove the male immediately in case of endangering him? I would obviously separate them if they attacked each other.

i've let them stay together for a night orso, it can take some hours.

- Provided that I give them enough hides in a new enclosure, should I ever leave them unattended to cohabitate for some amount of time or should I always keep a close eye on them until the act is complete?

always a risk, but see my answer above,...

- Do females remain fertilized through molts? My big girl molted 4 months ago so I'm sure her molting won't be a problem.

not sure about this, as i mated my females with 2 different males with a period of some months in between.

- This is a rather loaded question and a bit ambiguous, but how "easy" would you say it is to successfully breed centipedes compared to tarantulas as a whole (I know there are a lot of variables)?

breeding is rather easy if you know the gender,...
raising pedelings to adult is the hard part
(i only have 10 pedelings left of the 30 i"ve kept for myself from my last year breeding)

good luck ! and i'll keep my fingers crossed.

PS: keeping a bottle of water at hand is also my advice, when you see them attack eachother,... you can flush them apart with a good cold shower.

Cheers
Steven

 

[micheldied]

I couldn't help with any advice, but heres the link I think Steven was talking about:http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=182970

And Steven's breeding thread, if you haven't looked it up yet: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=173292&page=3

Unfortunately, I can't see the diagrams that Steven posted. I don't know if you can either.

SO I did a little searching...
And this is from Wiki: Based on the Köppen system, India hosts six major climatic subtypes, ranging from arid desert in the west, alpine tundra and glaciers in the north, and humid tropical regions supporting rainforests in the southwest and the island territories. Many regions have starkly different microclimates. The nation has four seasons: winter (January–February), summer (March–May), a monsoon (rainy) season (June–September) and a post-monsoon period (October–December).[31]

The Himalayas act as a barrier to the frigid katabatic winds flowing down from Central Asia. Thus, North India is kept warm or only mildly cooled during winter; in summer, the same phenomenon makes India relatively hot. Although the Tropic of Cancer—the boundary between the tropics and subtropics—passes through the middle of India, the whole country is considered to be tropical.

Summer lasts between March and June in most parts of India. Temperatures exceed 40 °C (104 °F) during the day. The coastal regions exceed 30 °C (86 °F) coupled with high levels of humidity. In the Thar desert area temperatures can exceed 45 °C (113 °F). The rain-bearing monsoon clouds are attracted to the low-pressure system created by the Thar Desert. The southwest monsoon splits into two arms, the Bay of Bengal arm and the Arabian Sea arm. The Bay of Bengal arm moves northwards crossing northeast India in early June. The Arabian Sea arm moves northwards and deposits much of its rain on the windward side of Western Ghats. Winters in peninsula India see mild to warm days and cool nights. Further north the temperature is cooler. Temperatures in some parts of the Indian plains sometimes fall below freezing. Most of northern India is plagued by fog during this season. The highest temperature recorded in India was 50.6 °C (123.1 °F) in Alwar in 1955. The lowest was −45 °C (−49 °F) in Kashmir.

Plus: http://chamberstotheworld.blogspot.com/2008/12/climograph-map.html
and http://www.climatetemp.info/india/

I believe Hardwickei can also be found in Sri Lanka? http://www.climatetemp.info/sri-lanka/

Unfortunately, I'm not good at finding official papers on Scolopendra Hardwickei... But from what I can see, India's climate can be quite variable from region to region, and S. Hardwickei I think are quite widely distributed?:?

 

[Quixtar]

This could be coincidence, but all my males were bigger(read longer, not fatter) then the females in the past,... i would first double check the sex as a first advice


that's the way i do it,... feed them plenty the weeks before you gonna put them together, no disturbing feeders while you set them together.


open space is not really needed, good corkbarks or other stuff they can crawl underneath is more important tmo. my breeding enclosure is stuffed with corkbark, almost no open space.


you'll see when you put them together,... they show interest right away or h8te eachother,... nothing in between to my experience.


this can be found here on the boards somewhere, i've posted a complete seasonal diagram and stuff for Sc.hardwickei last year or the year before.


i've let them stay together for a night orso, it can take some hours.


always a risk, but see my answer above,...


not sure about this, as i mated my females with 2 different males with a period of some months in between.


breeding is rather easy if you know the gender,...
raising pedelings to adult is the hard part
(i only have 10 pedelings left of the 30 i"ve kept for myself from my last year breeding)

good luck ! and i'll keep my fingers crossed.

PS: keeping a bottle of water at hand is also my advice, when you see them attack eachother,... you can flush them apart with a good cold shower.

Cheers
Steven

I posted this thread awhile ago. What do you think of their sexes?

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=201069

Female 1 is slightly shorter than the male, but thicker. They are about 17-18 cm. Female 2 is bigger than both of them in both length and girth and approaching 22 cm. She (or he) is the one featured in the middle picture.

Thanks for the info Michel, I can't see the diagram either. Do you mind re-posting it Steven?

 

[Steven]

Thanks for the info Michel, I can't see the diagram either. Do you mind re-posting it Steven?

no problem,... placed it on the AB gallery now:

Sc.hardwickei has indeed quite a broad distribution area in India,... but the ones that were imported are from this area,... unless there are sources out there that i'm not familiar with,... but this is how i keep my hardwickei for the last years.