Centipede Food

[Drake Dracoli]

What alternatives are there for centipedes to eat other than crickets and mice? I've heard rumor on this board of centipedes eating vegetable and fruit matter. Say I gave a centipede a piece of meat, for a 'hot dog' or whatever. Would the centipede be able to obtain nutritional value from it? Cat food? Anything?

 

[Steven]

don't know for the other pede-keepers but i occasionaly give them a piece of "steak" or "bacon".

Just give it a try with "meat" in all kinda ways and share with us your experiences

 

[danread]

If you do a search, there is a few threads on people feeding their pedes with bacon, steak and other meats. I think they are ok as treats, but you dont want to be feeding them as a staple diet, i dont think there is enough structural diversity in one piece of meat. A whole organism such as a cricket, roach or a mouse is much better as it is going to have more nutrients because it is a whole package, organs and all.
If you are lookng for other things to feed your pedes as a staple diet, i'd go for, roaches, crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, earthworms, mealworms, superworms, waxworms, and silkworms. I've been experementing with silkworms recently for my lizards, and they are excellent. I can buy 100 eggs for £2.95, and they grow into huge worms in a few weeks that are high in protien and low in fat. I have heard they are easy to breed as well.

Cheers,

Dan.

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by Drake Dracoli
What alternatives are there for centipedes to eat other than crickets and mice? I've heard rumor on this board of centipedes eating vegetable and fruit matter. Say I gave a centipede a piece of meat, for a 'hot dog' or whatever. Would the centipede be able to obtain nutritional value from it? Cat food? Anything?

I've fed centipedes chicken and hamburger before.

I also had a centipede find it's way into a millipede tank. I didn't even know it was in there until I saw it the first time (not long after the babies separated from the mother, my guess is it was a couple to a few months following separation, maximum of 6 months, yes my memory is shabby). When I discovered it in an african millipede setup I have (20 gallon rubbermaid) I was amazed at the growth rate difference compared to the others. This sucker was nearly 4 to 5 inches already in a very short time! It didn't have much to eat in there short of what the millipedes were eating which was rotting fruit and vegetables. There were also sowbugs and some very small webby spiders from around here, but no where near enough for it to grow that quickly. I suspect it was feeding on the fruits and veggies, though I never actually witnessed that.