Drowning centipedes to sex?!

Babyish

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Jul 1, 2020
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I got two Malaysian cherry reds that I’m interested in breeding, but I don’t know their sex. I looked it up and it seems you have to drown them to pass them out. Please say there is other ways. I get that people say this is a safe method used by professionals. I’m worried about not fully knocking it out, or killing it.
 
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Braden

Arachnoknight
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Couldn't you pin their head down then hold it between your fingers being SUPER cautious?
I don't know much about centipedes let alone how to sex them, but I do love them
 

jwhit869

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You can wait for the centipedes to moult then observe the last segment of the body on the moult for spermathecae. This does require getting the moult out of the enclosure before the centipede eats it but otherwise this method is reliable.
 

Babyish

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You can wait for the centipedes to moult then observe the last segment of the body on the moult for spermathecae. This does require getting the moult out of the enclosure before the centipede eats it but otherwise this method is reliable.
Ahh this is what I was hoping for, but isn’t it important they eat their molt? Would it have any drawbacks/downsides?
 

Scorpiobsession

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There was recently a thread about someone killing their centipede because they didn't stun it. You could either freeze (quickly), stun under running water, or drown. Those are the ways to knock it out to sex.
 

jwhit869

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i usually only take the back half of the moult and return it afterwards. centipedes only eat the moult for the calcium and other minerals that they require to make their hard exoskeleton. if you dust the food with a calcium and multivitamin powder, this can replace the minerals in the moult. only suplement prey for a couple of feeds after moulting as its not important afterwards.
 

l4nsky

Aspiring Mad Genius
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you gas them with CO2 as well? I think that's the preferred method for extracting venom from other inverts in a research setting.
 

jwhit869

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well, yes. I wouldn't see the problem. I used to use carbon dioxide to sedate social huntsman colonies. I'm not sure wit centipedes as they are very different from huntsmen but the theory is there.
 

Alex9104

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Oct 28, 2019
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Try this.
The method is simple, have a bowl of ice water prepared and put your pede into a ziplock bag, and then submerge the pede into ice water so the temperature drops, and eventually (after 3-7 minutes give or take) the pede will be knocked out.
 

Chris LXXIX

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All of the above explain pretty well why barely the 95% (maybe more) of the centipedes you can find in the trade are sold as unsexed, and I mean, even by European sellers which are renowned among the T's/inverts community.

Isn't definitely easy like sexing T's is, and, obviously, the 'stunning' of the 'pede can be quite dangerous for the bugger.
 

100LeggedFreak

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Breeding doesn't require 2 centipedes to be in the same enclosure. So if you have a centipede that is possibly female and possibly male you can just switch enclosures. Though this doesn't have anything to do with sexing.
 

Alex9104

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Breeding doesn't require 2 centipedes to be in the same enclosure. So if you have a centipede that is possibly female and possibly male you can just switch enclosures. Though this doesn't have anything to do with sexing.
I’ve seen this but she was really vague about how she would let the male deposit the spermatophore which is quite inefficient and probably lead to no results. I doubt this method has ever worked for anyone, if it has, please provide evidence because I will like to give it a try
 

ChiefinOnSomeSkunk

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Mar 17, 2021
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There was recently a thread about someone killing their centipede because they didn't stun it. You could either freeze (quickly), stun under running water, or drown. Those are the ways to knock it out to sex.
Yes an individual posted on the forums about how their friend ended up harming a centipede by not stunning it and holding it down to find out the centipedes sex. He ended up pressing too hard on the section that was needed in order to find the sex and the centipede was unable to recover. They prolapsed the centipede and there was no way to end up fixing the situation, it was never determined if the pede passed away or not the last time I checked OP just stopped responding. I will go and check that forum post now and edit if the centipede did end up recovering/surviving.
 

Scorpiobsession

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Yes an individual posted on the forums about how their friend ended up harming a centipede by not stunning it and holding it down to find out the centipedes sex. He ended up pressing too hard on the section that was needed in order to find the sex and the centipede was unable to recover. They prolapsed the centipede and there was no way to end up fixing the situation, it was never determined if the pede passed away or not the last time I checked OP just stopped responding. I will go and check that forum post now and edit if the centipede did end up recovering/surviving.
There was never a definite answer but based on all of the answers you can assume that it died.
There's really no reason to sex a centipede if it's a pet. It's very dangerous not to stun them and it can be dangerous to stun them and an inexperienced person try to sex them.
 
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