Communality

[phoenixxavierre]

I am wondering if anyone out there has actually captive bred any species of centipedes (of the larger variety) and whether they have placed two individuals together in the same container. What were the results?
Has anyone actually seen two centipedes being aggressive to eachother? I know with stone centipedes, which I have uncovered while out and about hunting for bugs, that they actually join together in some fashion, and I maybe incorrectly assumed it was during coitus.
At any rate, I have seen this in the smaller species of centipedes, overturning stones and finding small numbers of them that appeared to be cohabitating.
And has it been ruled out (being that very little is known regarding sexing) that the only ones who attack each other are same sex? Please do share your experiences! The myriapod forum needs a boost!!

Paul

 

[AlbinoDragon829]

Basically, and I hate to be repetitive, when mating pedes, the "swap method" is generally used. You put the centipedes in one another's cage (no more than one pede in any cage at a time) and you hope that if they are different sexes then the male will pick up on the female's scent (pheramone) and deposit a spermatophore, which hopefully the female will impregnate herself with upon putting her back into the original cage with the spermatophore. I've only ever seen pictures of Scolopendra Heros Castaneiceps habitating together.

 

[Alonso99]

Where have you seen these pictures?

 

[AlbinoDragon829]

This IS the internet, go look for yourself. Some people say only emperors and heterometrus' can live communaly, but I've seen pics of a few lucky people here and there that get "hot" scorps habitating together. It's a game of chance, one with generally poor results.

 

[Henry Kane]

Yeah, I think that comment pretty much sums it up. Game of chance with generally poor results.
I certainly would never consider keeping any sp. of pede communally. I trust the outcome would be a bad one.
Somewhere though, some one is still going to try it and see.
As far as breeding them, the "rotation" method is certainly safer than just pairing them up. Before you even get into the odds of a successful mating, you first have to overcome the 50/50 odds of both pedes even surviving meeting each other. Just not worth the risk IMO.

Atrax

 

[phoenixxavierre]

So no one has tried it yet?

Does anyone know for certain in the large centipedes (Scolopendra sp) whether their venom effects each other or not?
I understand about the swapping method and I appreciate you posting it for me, but what I was wondering about is if anyone has actually TRIED keeping any Scolopendra together and what the results were. Who came up with the info that you cannot keep more than one in a tank?

Someone must have tried if the general opinion is don't keep them together.

Thanks for your responses!

I appreciate it!

Paul

 

[AlbinoDragon829]

This is what you're looking for

http://www.arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?threadid=3347

 

[atavuss]

Originally posted by Atrax
Yeah, I think that comment pretty much sums it up. Game of chance with generally poor results.
I certainly would never consider keeping any sp. of pede communally. I trust the outcome would be a bad one.
Somewhere though, some one is still going to try it and see.
As far as breeding them, the "rotation" method is certainly safer than just pairing them up. Before you even get into the odds of a successful mating, you first have to overcome the 50/50 odds of both pedes even surviving meeting each other. Just not worth the risk IMO.

Atrax

do pedes need a flat hard surface to drop the sperm packet onto or do they just drop it on the substrate?
Ed

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by AlbinoDragon829
This is what you're looking for

http://www.arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?threadid=3347

Thanks, AlbinoDragon! That is what I was looking for!
I've heard of the tank swapping but was wondering who had actually had experiences with pedes attacking each other. Thanks again!

Paul

 

[AlbinoDragon829]

Originally posted by phoenixxavierre
Thanks, AlbinoDragon! That is what I was looking for!

 

[zoobugs]

I agree, I think all pedes are a crap shoot if housed together, however, having said that, Pat Kane of Regal recently told me that he has had many Chinese red-headed pedes shipped to him in multiple groupings without seeing any mortality through eating. Of course, the act of shipping is so stressful that the animals probably don't feel like feeding; on the other hand, he could open the container to find a mass slaughter with just 1 or 2 pedes alive. Like anything else, we won't know until someone tries to attempt it.