Built-In-Burrow version 2.0 Multiburrows (S. subspinipes mutilans)

cacoseraph

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Built-In-Burrow version 2.0 Multiburrows (S. subspinipes mutilans)

I decided to adapt the built-in-burrow idea to a breeding colony container for some Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans that i recently got. Here are the

kind of step by steps

First i chose some plastic containers to use as "understructure/substructure". I cut access holes in all of them (trying to get some kind of access in all the planes that make up the objects. I seared the edges to make sure there are no sharp jags of plastic. I also scored the crap out of the inside of the plastic containers. when centipedes brood they sometimes go upside down. the slick surfaces of the plastic containers would prevent them from doing that unless they are scored.


start burying the substructures. i periodically tamped the dirt down to hopefully minimize the chance of any of the substructure shifting... which could be VERY bad!


I have some of these "clay" pot things. i dunno what they really are. i broke up a large one to use as substructure.


i scored the clay pots too


these edges can be pretty darn sharp


so i am always careful to some how dull them and all the corners


here is the jar with all the substructure added, but before the rest of the substrate has been added


after i finished filling and packing the jar with the substrate i poked some initial access routes down to the different layers of the substructures.


add two centipedes (for now. i would like to add maybe 2 more) et viola!
 

moose35

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i will have to try this sometime......i just need to eat more utz pretzles.




moose
 

cacoseraph

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well... this is not exactly what i had intended the centipedes to do... i am thinking i didn't have enough vent to push them underground. i have a new idea for a similar multiburrow setup that i want to try... i want to use a bunch (like 15 or so for cage this size) of these 16oz (er, half a liter?) water bottles with their constrictions cut off and all scored up for grip. i think it would simulate a foot of leaf litter and branches that are decomposing into dirt a little better and hopefully allow for the centipedes to actually inhabit the substructure.

on the other forciple... there are two centipedes in there and i haven't seen one since almost the day i put them together in there...
 

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cacoseraph

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well, i pulled one centipede out (the mom in the pic above, i think) after the eggs got eaten cuz of a NASTY argentine ant invasion

the other pede was hiding out for a few months in there. i was adding roaches to the cage on principle... i thought it had died in the ant attack... but then after a couple months or so i saw the little fellow out on top of the substrate and grabbed it up and got it into a dif cage

i still think this idea is pretty viable... but subject to some refinements. for one thing... that habitat jar weighs like 15-20lbs (7-9kilos) which is considerably more weight than i like
 

bistrobob85

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Nice concept, Caco :). You're so lucky you've got them to produce eggs... do you think they laid due to being mated before you got them or did they mate in your setup?!?! I've had my two colonies of 4 sc.s.mutilans each running for a bit more than a year now and i haven't gotten any eggs yet...

phil.
 

cacoseraph

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Nice concept, Caco :). You're so lucky you've got them to produce eggs... do you think they laid due to being mated before you got them or did they mate in your setup?!?! I've had my two colonies of 4 sc.s.mutilans each running for a bit more than a year now and i haven't gotten any eggs yet...

phil.
thanks :)

probably from being mated before. they were only together for ~1 month before she droppd the eggs and i don't know the sex of the pede that didn't lay the eggs.

i don't know the exact mechanics of centipede reproduction, as in when the like, zygotes are formed... but since centipedes have deferred reproduction it is possible that they are like centipedes and the female stores the sperm and eggs seperate and then mixes them right before she actually lays the eggs... if this is the case then it is possible that if the other pede was a male he could have mated with the female and she could have used some of his sperm... but no real way to tell.




do you do any seasonal queues?
 

324r350

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Is it possible to keep a mutilans colony of multiple generations?
 

Galapoheros

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I missed this thread. I've never had this species but keep reading about the sp. Just how communal are they? Hey Andrew you ever had good luck with keeping many together semi-long term? ...or anybody else?
 

324r350

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I missed this thread. I've never had this species but keep reading about the sp. Just how communal are they? Hey Andrew you ever had good luck with keeping many together semi-long term? ...or anybody else?
Ive had them about one month now. I keep them in a large cage and they prefer it, coming out at night and exploring. They don't interact at all when active, other than to scramble over each other like an obstacle. They sleep curled up, forming a sort of centipede-substrate, but I think this is just because they all recognize a good hide.

I wonder if they will ever mate.
 
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