Concerned about my giant centipede...

HybridOne890

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
42
Hello all,

I come to you all with a question regarding my Vietnamese yellow leg giant centipede. I keep it in a 10 gallon vivarium with plenty of substrate and moisture to keep it happy. I've had this critter (first centipede) for approximately a month now and have started to grow a bit concerned.

Since I know these enclosures should be rather high in humidity, I took precautions and added a colony of springtails for some bio control. However, today I arrived to find an infestation of freaking mites... My question is, what should I do? With my tarantulas, I just dry the enclosure and that usually gets rid of them, however I know that lack of moisture kills these animals. Should I add isopods as well? More springtails? Will the mites harm the centipede? I am just concerned and want to make things right. He's been roaming a lot and refuses to go in his hide or touch the bottom of the enclosure at all.

Please help me help him :(

Ps

Yes the enclosure was freshly misted when pictures were taken, last picture is a pic of his hide.
20170411_223558.jpg 20170411_223602.jpg 20170411_223606.jpg 20170411_223614.jpg 20170411_223619.jpg
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
Mine is the classic (and cheap) S.subspinipes and I can guarantee you that her parameters aren't nowhere near humid like your seems, judging the pics. And she gave birth to more than 25 pedelings, uh.

IMO your enclosure is too wet, man.

Btw I'm a fan of cork bark (centipedes loves to hide/burrow under those) and "misting" cork bark/wood in general is damn wrong.

A water dish always full and room temperature water directly in the substrate is key. With a top notch ventilation. Always.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
This is the set up for my female:

thumbnail_DSC_0649.jpg


Pieces of cork bark (she mostly lives under the one on the right, btw) and fake leaves are IMO everything you need. As you can see, the cork bark is "dry"... a thing I wouldn't have if I start to mist.

I keep her more 'moist' than the other Asian/Tropical arachnid/invert I had/have, sure, but not exaggeration.

I have no 'cleaning squad' of all sorts, no mold, no mites.
 

HybridOne890

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
42
Mine is the classic (and cheap) S.subspinipes and I can guarantee you that her parameters aren't nowhere near humid like your seems, judging the pics. And she gave birth to more than 25 pedelings, uh.

IMO your enclosure is too wet, man.

Btw I'm a fan of cork bark (centipedes loves to hide/burrow under those) and "misting" cork bark/wood in general is damn wrong.

A water dish always full and room temperature water directly in the substrate is key. With a top notch ventilation. Always.
What state do you live in tho? I'm in CO so conditions are incredibly dry over here, hence why I feel the need to compensate by misting so much. Should I just let it dry out? Is there a reason that he seems to be just backed in the corner like that or is that just normal 'pede behavior?
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
What state do you live in tho?
Lombardy, Northern Italy, Italy :-s

I'm in CO so conditions are incredibly dry over here, hence why I feel the need to compensate by misting so much. Should I just let it dry out? Is there a reason that he seems to be just backed in the corner like that or is that just normal 'pede behavior?
I understand but why misting? You can pour directly (with a syringe or a plastic pipette) room temperature directly in the substrate.
Substrate should be always slightly moist, not the "walls" (a side effect of misting) of the enclosure.

As far as the position of your pede I see nothing wrong, even if my experience with Asians says that, given the chance, they are mostly pet-holes.

If the ventilation of your enclosure is enough (a thing I can't judge by the pics) let that dry a bit. I'm a fan of total ventilation (therefore on sides as well) especially for Tropical/Asians, btw.
 

WeightedAbyss75

Arachnoangel
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
921
The same thing happened to my centipede enclosure. For me, I let it dry out a lot more than I normally would, until I saw no more mites. Then I remoistened the substrate and that seemed to work. However, my mites don't seem to affect the pede. Are any of your mites on the actual pede? That may be detrimental to its health, but if not it may not be a big deal.
 

Jesse James

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 3, 2016
Messages
93
Hello all,

I come to you all with a question regarding my Vietnamese yellow leg giant centipede. I keep it in a 10 gallon vivarium with plenty of substrate and moisture to keep it happy. I've had this critter (first centipede) for approximately a month now and have started to grow a bit concerned.

Since I know these enclosures should be rather high in humidity, I took precautions and added a colony of springtails for some bio control. However, today I arrived to find an infestation of freaking mites... My question is, what should I do? With my tarantulas, I just dry the enclosure and that usually gets rid of them, however I know that lack of moisture kills these animals. Should I add isopods as well? More springtails? Will the mites harm the centipede? I am just concerned and want to make things right. He's been roaming a lot and refuses to go in his hide or touch the bottom of the enclosure at all.

Please help me help him :(

Ps

Yes the enclosure was freshly misted when pictures were taken, last picture is a pic of his hide.
View attachment 236685 View attachment 236686 View attachment 236687 View attachment 236688 View attachment 236689
It depends on what type of mites they are.
 

Jesse James

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 3, 2016
Messages
93
On the substrate mainly, I saw them peeking out of the top of the enclosure when I found them, like crawling out to go spresd their kind to my T's.. Mill

They're these little white, yellowish mites.
Is your centipede dragging it's body on the substrate, like the mites or springtails are bothering it? If so, then rehouse and sterilize the substrate.
 

Jesse James

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 3, 2016
Messages
93
What is the actual issue with mites and centipedes?
Do they clog the spiracles? if so, can you not just do a fresh rehouse after washing the centipede off under running water?
The issue is that they annoy the animal involved, stressing it out.
 

BishopiMaster

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
356
The issue is that they annoy the animal involved, stressing it out.
While this may be tangental to an appeal to nature fallacy, if these mites pose such an issue, would we not find full grown tropical specimens, in the wild?
And again, why can we not simply wash off the pede briefly and do a fresh rehouse?
I do not have any issues with mites and believe it is more organic matter and decomposing prey parts that lead to these infestations vs simply humidity

I think especially when someone has a large collection, its much easier to lose the stringentness as opposed to a few specimens.

I use a dish when i feed dead prey and while the animal may carry them off, it does help control left over "parts"
 

HybridOne890

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 23, 2016
Messages
42
Might i also add that those plants, which i assume at least some are live, ARE organic matter
Fully alive and kicking, it's a vivarium. I added isopods on top of the springtails yesterday, well see how it goes! And he ate a cricket I fed him today so that was good!
 

BishopiMaster

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
356
Fully alive and kicking, it's a vivarium. I added isopods on top of the springtails yesterday, well see how it goes! And he ate a cricket I fed him today so that was good!
Good to hear it, perhaps some sort of aeration in the soil can minimize the deteriorating effect? Like maybe putti g the roots in some pill vial or some such cylindrical container, assuming the pede is large enough, aerating that setup would be more complicated, there are over 6000 species of plant eating mites
 

Jesse James

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 3, 2016
Messages
93
While this may be tangental to an appeal to nature fallacy, if these mites pose such an issue, would we not find full grown tropical specimens, in the wild?
And again, why can we not simply wash off the pede briefly and do a fresh rehouse?
I do not have any issues with mites and believe it is more organic matter and decomposing prey parts that lead to these infestations vs simply humidity

I think especially when someone has a large collection, its much easier to lose the stringentness as opposed to a few specimens.

I use a dish when i feed dead prey and while the animal may carry them off, it does help control left over "parts"
Yes, everything everyone has said is right. too many mites can be a problem, but I would assume that most are just after decaying materials in partnership with springtails and isopods. If your centipede like I stated above is dragging it's body on the substrate with a problem, then you can't have the mites or springtails, Bare bones basic common knowledge things that shouldn't have to be talked about.
 
Last edited:

Crowbawt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 20, 2016
Messages
43
Has anyone had issues with springtails annoying their pede? I was thinking about getting some for my planted Polymorpha tank.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
Has anyone had issues with springtails annoying their pede? I was thinking about getting some for my planted Polymorpha tank.
My Scolopendra Hardwickei tub is bursting with springtails and it's never been a problem. It's only a baby (well not so much now) and has shed twice in my care.
 
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