Getting A Vietnamese Centipede

[cacoseraph]

One of my centipedes used to do that. The other one of the same species didn't though. It actually looked like a freshly landed fish.

ha, yeah it does look like a fish! that's funny.

i call it wheeling, cuz the centipede forms a wheel shape with it's body. what is interesting to me is that i have only seen it a few times, and always from freshly caught centipedes. after a month or two they have always calmed down.

 

[Selenops]

It's hard to tell who is faster, but i know one thing for sure is that centipedes are very powerful animals, a lot more powerful than any tarantula.

Hmm, I don't know, tarantulas have alot power in their legs. I have been shocked by some displays. But centipedes are alot like one long sinewy muscle. Just glad I ain't an invert or small vertebrate in the path of one of these things. A tsunami with a hundred legs.

 

[green_bottle_04]

It's hard to tell who is faster, but i know one thing for sure is that centipedes are very powerful animals, a lot more powerful than any tarantula.

yeah i dont know if i can agree with this...if you are talking about the two at equal size...maaaybe. but a 10" t. blondi or a 9" l. parahybana are big strong spiders with fangs about 1" long!

 

[Stylopidae]

yeah i dont know if i can agree with this...if you are talking about the two at equal size...maaaybe. but a 10" t. blondi or a 9" l. parahybana are big strong spiders with fangs about 1" long!

Scolopendra gigantea can grow to 12" long, and has terminal legs maybe 2" long (I've never seen one this big in person, but the terminators on my SHA are pretty impressive). Mr. Internet had a post in the centipede enclosure thread about a Scolopendra heros castaniceps that impaled a pinky with it's terminal legs, so those can be used as weapons.

Add that to the venomous maxillipeds, and you've got more than a fair fight...especially when you consider the strength of all the centi's legs.

I'd put my money on the centi.

 

[GartenSpinnen]

I can second the centipede using its terminal legs as weapons. I put a fuzzy mouse in with my 9" S.s de haani and it attacked the fuzzy with the terminal legs, at one point and time it actually hit the mouse in the eyes with the terminal legs and seemed to have blinded it to some extent. In a weird way, it was very interesting and cool to watch, but i would not recommend feeding live mice to any invert. Actually, after a recent experience i wouldnt even recommend feeding live crickets larger than 1/2" to small centipedes (3"). My large S. s de haani actually just molted this last week, she looks MUCH bigger, im curious to see how far over that 9" mark she has gotten but i havent gotten a good look at her so far. Anyone know the average growth they put on after a molt?

 

[Selenops]

Scolopendra gigantea can grow to 12" long, and has terminal legs maybe 2" long (I've never seen one this big in person, but the terminators on my SHA are pretty impressive). Mr. Internet had a post in the centipede enclosure thread about a Scolopendra heros castaniceps that impaled a pinky with it's terminal legs, so those can be used as weapons.

Add that to the venomous maxillipeds, and you've got more than a fair fight...especially when you consider the strength of all the centi's legs.

I'd put my money on the centi.

What a match up and considering these titans of the arachnid world natural distribution overlap one another both in the Old World and New World alike.

I remember seeing a program on the Animal Planet (I believe?) where an adult South American giant centipede preyed upon a medium sized tarantula, overpowering it from the rear and consuming it alive.

Back in my teenage years, I had a friend that loved to feed his Rose Hair adult S. polymorpha that'd he caught. I seen him perform these feedings three or four times. (Cruel, yes, ignorant, yes, but I was too young and frankly too fascinated by this display of awesome predation.) The Rose Hair always managed to "tap-dance" on the squirming and whipping polymorpha and sink it's fangs into the myriapod.

I guess tarantula venom works quite fast combined with the digestive fluids on those centipedes because they simmered down and died in a snap and became an congratulatory T meal.

I guess it depends on the species represented by both inverts. As sad as that was, it happened to be a learning experience.