Finally got my new centipede!

CarbonBasedLifeform

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I finally got my S polymorpha! Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on keeping them. This one really does love that cork bark lol right after the pictures he found his way under it and has stayed there ever since. Here are a couple of pics of this beautiful creature


 

CarbonBasedLifeform

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Saw him out again. Has anyone seen their centipede doing what looks like a kind of leg workout? He kept his body perfectly still and just moved his legs up and down a few times like he was stretching them. Is that all he's doing or is there more to it?
 

basin79

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Saw him out again. Has anyone seen their centipede doing what looks like a kind of leg workout? He kept his body perfectly still and just moved his legs up and down a few times like he was stretching them. Is that all he's doing or is there more to it?
If you're pede stays out you'll fall into a trance watching them going about pede things. Be it leg tapping or methodically cleaning themselves. They're stupendous.
 

CarbonBasedLifeform

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If you're pede stays out you'll fall into a trance watching them going about pede things. Be it leg tapping or methodically cleaning themselves. They're stupendous.
He looks like he's not going anywhere for a while, unlike my flighty H marginata lol. I'm tempted to throw a cricket in there for him and watch a strike, but I'll wait a few more days and let him adjust since I just got him lol
 

basin79

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He looks like he's not going anywhere for a while, unlike my flighty H marginata lol. I'm tempted to throw a cricket in there for him and watch a strike, but I'll wait a few more days and let him adjust since I just got him lol
I'd put a cricket in. Pedes aren't fussed about setting up home as long as they've got something to get under.
 

G. pulchra

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Very nice! I am so far behind the times, I need to get one of these.
 

Staehilomyces

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I'm actually surprised how, even among bug-lovers, centipedes are very unpopular. I just can't see how tbh.
 

CarbonBasedLifeform

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I'm actually surprised how, even among bug-lovers, centipedes are very unpopular. I just can't see how tbh.
I think it mostly has to do with their reputation as vile nasty creatures and a general fear of them. I was in the same boat for a while. I didn't want a centipede for the longest time out of fear. Growing up, my parents' basement was infested with Scutigera coleoptrata, which made me develop an irrational fear of centipedes. After seeing results of people getting over arachnophobia with the help of Ts, it inspired me to get over the centipede fear.

So I finally got an H marginata (and now S polymorpha) after reading as much as I can about them, watching every youtube pede video I can find, looking at pictures, and even going into my parents' basement during visits to find and interact with S coleoptrata.

These really are amazing creatures, and now I have more curiosity than fear but I'm still hesitant to handle them :anxious: especially after seeing their speed and those fangs.
 

Staehilomyces

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I don't condone handling, but if you want to get that last hanging bit of fear out of your life, Mastigoproctus's YouTube channel thepurelife has many videos detailing how to do it safely.
 

Staehilomyces

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And I was also in the same boat originally. When I was five I used to enjoy turning the garden hose on full blast and flooding the garden. That pastime terminated when a large Ethmostigmus rubripes came charging out, running in my direction. Naturally, my childish mind thought it was giving chase, and from then on, I hated centipedes. It was David Attenborough's documentary Life in the Undergrowth that changed my hatred into respect, and experience that terminated what remaining fear I had.
 

CarbonBasedLifeform

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And I was also in the same boat originally. When I was five I used to enjoy turning the garden hose on full blast and flooding the garden. That pastime terminated when a large Ethmostigmus rubripes came charging out, running in my direction. Naturally, my childish mind thought it was giving chase, and from then on, I hated centipedes. It was David Attenborough's documentary Life in the Undergrowth that changed my hatred into respect, and experience that terminated what remaining fear I had.
Never saw Life in the Undergrowth, but if it can turn back the experience of an E rubripes chasing you it must be good! We don't have any big pedes around here so I couldn't imagine an experience like that. I'll see if I can find the documentary later today.
 

craze horse

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Are there any particular species that favour living on top of the substrate as apposed to burying ?
 

CarbonBasedLifeform

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Are there any particular species that favour living on top of the substrate as apposed to burying ?
My S polymorpha is out just about every day since I got him, tends to hide under the bark during the day and stay out at night (he arrived on the 8th so it's been about a week now.. I don't know if this is the norm for this species). He only burrowed after I fed him Saturday, came back out Sunday. I don't mind mine burrowing though, both of my pedes burrow on the side of the enclosure so I can see them underground.
 

basin79

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Are there any particular species that favour living on top of the substrate as apposed to burying ?
I think it might depend on the individual and their size.

I had a massive Hispanola giant red that would hang out on the surface a lot.

I catch my little Hardwickei about on the surface now and again too. But it's tiny so more often than not it's under the cork bark.
 

Chris LXXIX

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Are there any particular species that favour living on top of the substrate as apposed to burying ?
I think a lot depends also about how much inches of substrate and hides (I suggest always cork bark) you offer. My S.subspinipes loves to hide under that cork, where she burrowed. Basically she's a pet hole, but everytime she's out for hunting, she's impressive.
 

craze horse

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I had a quite large madagascarensis it was a meaty beast to look at, very gnarly. I had to keep digging him up just to make sure he was alive. He was only out every 3-4 weeks at best IF I was lucky, so he had to go. And I swapped him for a bunch of hissers which I love ! Would like more pedes but only if I was gonna see them.
 

Chris WT

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My pede S. Dehaani prefers to hide between his tank and his hide rather than under, I certainly think it depends on the individual. Mine will dig tunnels and holes overnight and I'll come back during the afternoon and it looks as he totally fills them back in. He's an odd little thing
 
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