Chew Through Enclosures

[AlphaBotical]

First please forgive me if this is a thread already, I didnt find one but there are 600 pages so, lol.

Right now I have a Scolopendra Dehaani and I am keeping a close eye on it because she is not in her forever home yet but in a proper for her size critter keeper with a double locked lid. The problem is its a plastic lid and I have heard under the right conditions, Scolopendra dehaani and similar large Scolopendra species absolutely can damage or escape through plastic and weak wire mesh lids. I am curious if anyone has had issues and had theirs chew out of its enclosure, or wake up to find an area that appears to be "chewed on"? I personally have not yet, but I havent had it in there long like that, its just a pit stop while it gets a bigger home built. I do my duties and examine the cage and all its parts every night before bed and every morning when I wake up to avoid an escape. The lid is on really tight for a critter keeper and has locks on it, I also place objects on top of the lid to make sure if it is to somehow do what they do best I have a opportunity to be alerted to its escape...in theory because we all know these things are good at getting out. I sit up at night and watch it explore and observe it, feed it, make sure it has water, and learn from it, but most of all make sure it feels contempt to not chew or escape. I just hope i am doing enough while I build a new home, I am hoping it doesn't find joy in eating at plastic whether it will swallow it or not lol.

Has anyone had a chew escape and if so what did it chew through?

 

[Wolfram1]

I keep mine in heavy duty rectangular buckets with a strong lid and 0.2mm mesh width stainless steel gauze covering the ventilation openings, so while i have heard them scrach the gauze they have not left a mark on it.

I have not seen any attemt at damaging the plastic, but if it is textured with ventilation holes i don't doubt they may try.

I have learnt my lesson in this regard with one of my L. parahybana spiderlings that chewed through its container:

the plastic was fairly weak, but it had a nice size so i was using it as an in between enclosure, until one day i saw it stitting right outside the damn thing.

A scolopendra might use ventilation holes like this as a weakpoint as well.

 

[AlphaBotical]

Lmao damn, that is a gangster L. parahybana to be doing that, I have never had any of my tarantulas do that but i keep them in glass, I have had them jump at the cages for no reason like they were pouncing on something and have had them push at lids but never chew through anything like that. That is amazingly insane. I will defiantly keep what you said in mind when building my new enclosure for my Scolopendra and it does make me feel better because I don't want it getting out while I am sleeping lol. It does like to get on the edge of the lid rim and run around it but all ive seen it do is stick its antenna out the cracks and test the air and probably secretly planning its escape. It seems rather content but that is easier said as a human emotion towards something more than a actual feeling the centipede has lol, but it doesnt freak by any means and seems all to happy to receive food.

 

[Wolfram1]

I have 0.3 adult females of Lasiodora parahybana as well as a couple of sings i kept from when i bred one of them, so they have to make do with a little more sparse enclosures than i would give to some of the rest. But this one certainly was not going to be content with that so i have had to upgrade it to one of my self made enclosures.

In terms of Scolopendra, i have had 0.0.3 Scolopendra dehaani for a while now and i find they calm down a lot after the first year.

guess they figure out there is no way out and get used to the big mammal doing weird stuff in their surroundings and no longer react to every disturbance.

Opening the enclosure no longer spooks them at least, nor do they try to escape as often.

Thats nice, but on the other hand i feel the enclosures could be much bigger for them to truly exibit all their behaviours...

To me watching them stalk prey over long distances or into trees is one such behavior that just falls short in captivity.

 

[AlphaBotical]

mine seems chill but will not hesitate to move fast. She doesnt seem to react to me opening the cage or anything and when i hand her a roach with the tweezers she is all to accepting to just let me feed it straight feed her. I am hoping she stays calm and gets calmer. I dont plan on handling her any more than i need to as she is what i call eye candy. I favor eye candy pets because other people dont ask to touch them lol I would like to breed her though, She is probably around 6in or so. I figure I got enough time to do it correctly and allow myself time to adapt to her as much as she will to me again without holding it lol I have heard and see the reaction of bites and though im ready i dont want to put myself in that spot to have to go through it lol.

 

[Wolfram1]

mine seems chill but will not hesitate to move fast. She doesnt seem to react to me opening the cage or anything and when i hand her a roach with the tweezers she is all to accepting to just let me feed it straight feed her. I am hoping she stays calm and gets calmer. I dont plan on handling her any more than i need to as she is what i call eye candy. I favor eye candy pets because other people dont ask to touch them lol I would like to breed her though, She is probably around 6in or so. I figure I got enough time to do it correctly and allow myself time to adapt to her as much as she will to me again without holding it lol I have heard and see the reaction of bites and though im ready i dont want to put myself in that spot to have to go through it lol.

same, i really enjoy keeping them and if possible i want to bred them at one point, but i still haven't committed to actually sexing the two 'red' morphs i have. Thats a little more close and personal than i am comfortable with atm. I am hoping for a male and female ofc.

0.0.1 Scolopendra dehaani 'red'

• Wolfram1
• Mar 5, 2025
• 3
• dehaani scolopendra scolopendra dehaani

freshly molted about a month ago
hard to be specific since it was burrowed the whole time, only...

will need to move them into the cellar soon so they dont have to tolerate summer temperatures. @Zac0904 reccomended keeping them around 22°C or even below.
It has worked well so far so i will try to keep it up.

will probably make the move once this guy hardens up from the recent moult:

Premoult S. dehaani

• Wolfram1
• Jun 6, 2025
• 3
• dehaani pre-molt scolopendra scolopendra dehaani

0.0.1 Scolopendra dehaani 'red' Vietnam

i bought this juvenile (~5"-6") almost 1,5 years ago...

Not sure if it is required but a friend who got himself 4 at the same time as myself lost them all during the first few months and he keeps his animal room considerably warmer than me ~26-28°C. Most animals thrive in his care, so... makes me think there might be something to it.

On the other hand temperature needs could be morph/origin specific.

What temperatures do you keep yours at, and how has that been working out so far?
I'd really like to get more comparisons.

 

[AlphaBotical]

mine looks just like the top image, and from what i am able to find the Scolopendra hainanum will exhibit stripping in the legs as mature females though it should be used as a indicator of possibilities rather than a way to tell completely. From what i can find on the dehaani it also can exhibit the same but im not 100% if that is true or not. I was reading up on putting them in the fridge to slow them down to a suspended animation rather than the cold water trick because I feel though it works its probably not healthy for the animal. I have read using the fridge and keeping them in there for about 5 to 10 min should be enough to check. I was told mine was female but im not 100 and will be checking anyway once its a mature size enough to breed before I drop another one with it. I did find during my searching a Scolopendra venom data sheet that scientifically shows everything in their venom and how its medically significant. It dropped my jaw to read, it here is a small piece of it and will be happy to link it to you if your interested.

"Centipede venom is natural source of bioactive proteins, peptides
and other small molecules. Proteins and peptides possess disulfide
bridges with novel pharmacology and three-dimensional structure.
Centipede venom peptides target neuronal ion channels and
receptors. Their venom toxins induce myotoxic, cardiotoxic,
neurotoxic and other toxic effects"

It is indeed a real documented study on the effects and what does what in its venom. It also goes as far to break down how it causes the issues it does and even what proteins are blocked why and how. Sorry i know that was a little off topic but I wanted to share I found this sheet very helpful.

As for the Temps I keep it in my room and the house is usually 24 -25 C but the room i actually keep it in doesnt usually get lower than 26 to 28 C because I have a 120 gallon salt aquarium, and major plant life in this room and it keeps the temp and humidity up. Then at night it drops a little and we run a fan to keep air moving through the room so it cools down a little to around 22 to 25 C. My major worry is winter, because though it stays warm in the summer down here it gets cold in the winter and I will have to make sure it is in a room with warmth. I am going to be moving soon so hopefully this winter wont be an issue and ill have a climate controlled room for it.

 

[Wolfram1]

Yes i saw that one, very fascinating how many differeny ion-channel blockers the venom contains.

Not something i'd ever want to get tagged by.

I personally think CO2 should be the best method of anesthesia, hooking up a CO2 cannister for sparkling water with a hose and gassing a plastic bag with the centipede inside a porous catch container. I dont think i would trust the fridge method since i heard they need to be completely limp in order to make pressing out the genitalia possible. But maybe i am wrong. Where did you see that method?

As far as i have read and seen the males of Scolopendra hainanum should be quite distinct from the females so you may not even need to check the genitalia, lucky bastard .
S. hainanum is its own species though, its not Scolopendra dehaani. Which one do you have?

I am raising 0.0.4 S. hainanum 'black' plings right now and they are just the cutest little worms.

this one could be male because it has less prominent black leg-tips and seems a little more slender then the rest but it could also just be a different instar, or have eaten a different amount. I have not yet seen any mention that the sex would already be apparent so soon.

So i am just speculating.

 

[AlphaBotical]

I mentioned the hainanum because of how they show actual differences. I read that a molt can be used for checking a dehaani by looking for two tiny slit-like gonopores visible behind the last leg pair. The male lacks these or are almost to tiny to see. I saw the water method from a guy on youtube who described everything including CO2. I happened to see a mention of the fridge while doing research on sexing dont exactly remember where I read it, but it was more in question on the method. The video is probably still in my history and I dont like the idea of getting water just above freezing and submerging it for a couple mins. The guy on the video claimed he uses ice cubes in the water some times because it stops them quicker. It only took a couple mins for them to completely stop moving. To me it didnt look safe but from what I could tell It didnt hurt either of the two he did and they woke back up in a couple mins time or warmed up i should say. He seemed to have done it a lot. I will probably take mine to the guy who sold it to me if i can find him and ask him to look again, but chances are ill have to do it myself.

I am pretty positive i have a Scolopendra Dehaani but The morph eludes me in what to call it. The guy who sold it said it was a cherry, but i think he meant a cherry leg if that is a morph because I dont think the body is red enough, and to me looks like a Flame leg morph. I would like your opinion on it actually. Maybe you can help clear it up for me because I have been doubting the guy a little lol

 

[Wolfram1]

Nice pede, looks very much like mine indeed (and somewhat like it molted recently), so probably a red or orange legged morph from Vietnam, they are the biggest exporter of pedes anyway, so it would make sense.

It's not a 'Flame Leg' those come from Thailand and look very distinct from these. Nor is it an Indonesian 'Sumatra Red Leg', or a Malysian 'Cherry Red'.

You probably saw the method by ThePureLife right? I think it works, however i have seen the water method end in drowned Pedes so personally i consider it to be too risky. Not to mention some pedes can dive for up to 30min. Not sure if CO2 is really any better, except the spiracles and tracheae can't get clogged with water, which would be my big worry.

 

[AlphaBotical]

ok cool appreciate it, ill refer to it as a orange or red leg morph then and it had to be a recent shed just before i bought it if I was to guess. Dude was probably trying to sound smart or something lmao, because he didnt use it to sell it, I already had it in my hand the moment I laid eyes on it so I sold it to myself lmao. He just kept saying thats a nice cherry, and i was like ehhh ok...Because I knew it as a Vietnamese Giant Centipede and a morph meant nothing in the sense of me buying it. After looking into it I saw it was indeed a morph but not what that guy was saying. I appreciate your info thank you.

Yea im not positive probably the same one, I do totally believe its way to easy to drown them I mean they breathe through holes in the body cant just fill them with water. That is pretty dope that some can dive 30 mins, quite impressive. I was reading i believe somewhere on here someone had one that ate crayfish as a main diet and needed a huge water source. I thought that was really cool because I build a lot of paludarium's and it would be up my ally.

 

[Kada]

In my opinion. Always glass. Always punched steel/aluminum. Zero worries, and very good design for their needs.

I use thick acrylic for small stuff, but only temporarily. Glass and thick metal for the long term

 

[Charliemum]

I keep mine in heavy duty rectangular buckets with a strong lid and 0.2mm mesh width stainless steel gauze covering the ventilation openings, so while i have heard them scrach the gauze they have not left a mark on it.

I have not seen any attemt at damaging the plastic, but if it is textured with ventilation holes i don't doubt they may try.

I have learnt my lesson in this regard with one of my L. parahybana spiderlings that chewed through its container:
View attachment 498531
the plastic was fairly weak, but it had a nice size so i was using it as an in between enclosure, until one day i saw it stitting right outside the damn thing.

A scolopendra might use ventilation holes like this as a weakpoint as well.

Was just going to tag u to say can you show Shawshank .

Op Glass n tall these are the rules I was told when it comes to cent's, komodo style if possible. I would not risk anything plastic just incase but thats just me n cent's creep me out so no escapey .

 

[Wolfram1]

Was just going to tag u to say can you show Shawshank .

Op Glass n tall these are the rules I was told when it comes to cent's, komodo style if possible. I would not risk anything plastic just incase but thats just me n cent's creep me out so no escapey .

there u go, i took it out of the gallery to keep some space, but its still a good illustration

you can do away with the hight if the lid is truly secure. I would prefer glass over plastic if it is secure and has proper ventilation, but sadly most keep them in tanks with only top ventilation & that just would not do in my opinion.

In my opinion. Always glass. Always punched steel/aluminum. Zero worries, and very good design for their needs.

I use thick acrylic for small stuff, but only temporarily. Glass and thick metal for the long term

i make my own from the square buckets i order fresh from the factory, so no worries either

they actually need to be modified so i don't rip out any of my fingers trying to open them

the the stainless-steel gauze has been tested against tarantulas, scorpions and scolopendra by now and is perfectly indestructible to them

 

[AlphaBotical]

Woke up another morning and there is no chew marks, though last night for some reason the power went out and it got quite and I could hear it moving around across my room doing its nightly exploring. I am a light sleeper but i was hyper sensitive listening for it to see if it was trying to chew but it wasnt. My house is like visiting a cities sea aquarium, I have been told I should charge for entry into my house lol so when i say quiet and your used to hearing water, bubbles, filters, etc it gets silent and I took all the advantage to listen.

Sepa (what i named my pede, named after the Egyptian Centipede God) ate two roaches the night before last so Im hoping it is content enough to not go at the plastic until I can get it a new home. I have plans to do a completely realistic habitat for it as I do all my animals literally give it a place where it cant be caught unless it needs to be by removing stuff. I am hoping my respect towards it will give it peace in its new home to where it feels escape is not needed, but human thoughts and centipede thoughts are completely different lol so I am hoping through chemical senses it understands its a good place to be with plenty of food when it wants it.