Found This In My Basement

[PDX_Tarantulas]

I'm into tarantulas. I found this spunky critter scurrying around in the basement and thought somebody here might know what it is.

Thanks! PDX

 

[DeTwan]

centipede

I think those are house centipedes, or at least thats what Kanasans called them. I grew up in CO and I had never seen one of those until I moved to KS.

 

[TNeal]

I live in New Hampshire and I have seen them before. The like damp basements.

Tom

 

[bengerno]

Hi PDX,

Nice find! It is a kind of Scutigera. Search on the web for info.

 

[Stylopidae]

Scutigera coleoptera

 

[IguanaMama]

It's a house centipede. Lucky you! Keep it! Feed it small crickets or roaches. Woot!

 

[elyanalyous]

hey that looks cool! you mind if i use it for a background?

 

[PDX_Tarantulas]

Thanks for the replies! I was pretty lucky to catch this one. It is REALLY FAST! It scurried over to an envelope on the floor and 'hid' under the flap. I just picked it up and put it in a container. Took a few pictures and let it go in the garage.

Y'all have been very helpful describing the centipede. I knew this would be the place to go.

If you want to use the photo, help yourself. I have another pretty good photo of the underside. I'll post that one when I gat a chance.

Thanks! PDX

 

[8+)]

Probably good you let it go. I've heard they are hard to get to eat in captivity. Probably not the last one you'll see in your basement, though.

 

[AviculariaLover]

I've kept these as pets before and they just LOVE crickets! Just make sure they have enough water and cannot escape. If you catch another one I suggest keeping it for at least a little while, it's crazy watching them hunt.

 

[8+)]

That's good to know! I frequently see these in my basement. I tried to put a baby lobster roach on the wall for one once. I was prodding it with a twist-tie and the scute ran at it and away in the blink of an eye! I think it touched the twist-tie and that scared it.

I may have to try catching one now.

 

[AviculariaLover]

My dad's dental office is in a basement of a building and he gets these, often found patrolling the edges of the walls. His assistant freaks out but they leave them alone because they eat all the other nasty stuff that might be lurking around They're his professional pest control service!

 

[PDX_Tarantulas]

Here is a picture of the underside of the centipede. He only stayed like this for about 1 second. I just had my camera in the right place at the right time. He really didn't seem to like being upside down.

Enjoy! PDX

 

[verry_sweet]

Here is a pic of the one I found. They get pretty big and I'm glad to finally know what the heck they are. Thanx

Steph

 

[cacoseraph]

keep it real low vent and feed it smaller or prekilled prey items. give access to water and it should stay alive pretty easily for you. i have had some luck keeping S. coleoptera (which i agree with Cheshire this looks like) multiples to a container but didn't keep that up for very long so i can't say for sure what would happen long term.

Orin ( ~ ElytryaAndAntenna on here) has had good success with these (or some scutigeromorph) from what i recall so you might want to find what that name really is and search for info from him if you are looking to make a pet out of it.


oh yeah, sweet pix dude. i absolutely love the belly up one!

edit:
some fun facts. scutis are the only cents to have compound eyes. they are also the only cents to have a single spiracle per spiracle bearing body segment, and further the only cents to have the spiracle located mid-dorsally (all the rest have them on their sides, this helps them burrow and not get spiracles clogged). the legs are increasingly long moving from anterior to posterior to help them not trip/tangle their own feet (i believe this is actually true of all cents (mebbe not geophilo's though) but most readily apparent with scutis.
there might be a couple other especially interesting things but i can't remember them right now if there is. oh, there are some tropical species that achieve 4"/10cm body lengths with 8-10"/20-25cm lengths from antenna to back legs!

 

[Baconator]

I see these in my basement all the time. Now that I know they are centipedes I will try to catch one. Pretty cool.

 

[UltimateDracoMeteor]

Pretty cute little guy! There's a bunch of centipedes in my yard that look a bit like that but with smaller legs, but I don't mess with them because I'm afraid of being bitten.

 

[Kymura]

Personally only seen them in pictures and videos, going to admit that pedes give me the willies as a rule. Love these guys though.