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can anyone give me advice on how to handle my pedes is it alot better to start at a smaller size?
Handling Centipedes
- Thread starter tacoma0680
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there is a lot of good info if you use the search located by the place you click for your private messages
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=48720
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=48720
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I feed my centipedes mice it even more cool watching them eat that
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Aren't your centipedes vietnamese and hong kong giants?!?! I would not really want to start with those... or end with those either...
phil.
phil.
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I totally agree with bob. If you have HK giants or ANY subspinipes sp. i definately wouldn't start with them. Try Ethostigmus sp, S. polymorpha, or small centipedes you find in wooded areas.
Also, just because it's "cool" watching them eat mice, doesn't mean it's "safe". you can greatly injure, or likely kill your pede by feeding it mice. You're better off feeding it pinkies or fuzzies on RARE occasions.... even then, i'd stick to a diet of crickets and/or roaches.
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Yes i do not feed them pinkies and hoppers not full size mice with the crickets
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I'm going to be up for awhile trying to figure out what this means.
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drop the first "t" you find. i believe he is saying he does feed immature mice (and crickets), not adults.
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A friend I bring with me to some invert shows/displays handles S. subspinipes with no trouble and never a bite. S. subspinipes bite me when I drop a cricket in and don't move my hand out of the way quick enough. Go figure.
I don't think anyone could stay up long enough to figure that out.
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Im sure it matters on the conditions, too. Someone inexoperienced may hold a hungry subspinipes, or accidently squeeze it, drop it, or other things that might piss it off, and cause it to bite.
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That or the pede could just be having a bad day.
I believe regardless of experienced or inexperienced keepers, if you handle centipedes your gonna get bit sooner or later. Its just a time thing.
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I agree it's generally stupid to play with big centipedes like toys but if you saw this guy you'd be impressed. It's not
'special' animals, all specimens I've seen him handle were my pets (brought for the displays). They were mean before and still are. I can sit back and enjoy the fire without having to stick my hands inside.
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But we all like to toss stuff in, don't we 
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Ha!, drop the first "t":razz: . I've been pulled to picking up pedes but I've hesitated to post the pics. I've been bitten a few times. I've handled my Cherry Red too. I can "usually" tell when something bad is about to happen. Most of the time I can tell by the way the feet feel on my skin. They "usually" tighten up a bit. They slow down to, "usually". I have 10 adult S. h. castaneiceps. There is a light legged one out of that bunch that I will not pic up again. It's much more willing to bite than the Subspinipes I have. It bit my forearm. My forearm got real red, swollen and sore for several days. The skin around my wrist got a little tight from the swelling. I didn't get much warning from her. I didn't sleep very well that night. She's not premolt or any other temporary condition that might change her disposition that I can see. Just a diff attitude than the others, right now anyway. I wouldn't do it unless you are willing to get bit and feel the pain. It's like throwing rocks at a wasp nest and running away. Eventually, one's going to get you! One time while I was handling a monster, it just casually stopped on my finger and started munching down like it was just hungry, and not really that hungry, just something to do. Speaking of the monster, it came out for the first time in many months tonight. Also I think I was kind of subconsciously curious about the bite. I wanted to see what it was like but also, I wanted to see how long I could go, handling an S. h. c., and not get bit. The first few were from small ones, but the last bite, son of a diddly! Now I know so, I think I'm done. Add an "n".
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i held literally crap loads of centipedes and hand caught 40-50 polymorpha of the course of something like a year before i got bit. then sometimes i got bit a bunch in the row. this last time i went centipede hunting i hand caught 9 or 10 polymorpha, literally just grabbing them and didn't get bit... but there are other times in the same area *every* centipede i caught bit me. there are lots of variables. i would seriously suggest reading the thread i linked earlier. it shows the results of me getting tagged by a few sp and i think maybe Steven posted getting bit too.
things i found that seem to affect your chances of getting bit:
being cool (lower than STP) lowers the chance
being warm (higher than STP) raises the chance
cent is hungry raises
cent is thirsty raises
cent is fresh WC raises
*ahem* just finished feeding out dozens of roaches some of which were on your hand just might raise, but i could be mistaken
*maybe* washing my hands well with soap and water before lowers
*maybe* smoking a cig before lowers
oh, and of course i don't mean to say any that i don't mark with a maybe are set in stone infallible rules of handling... i just mean i think they are probably more likely to be true more of the time.
gala is right... basically when you free handle you are accepting you will get tagged and by the gods, it just might suck
things i found that seem to affect your chances of getting bit:
being cool (lower than STP) lowers the chance
being warm (higher than STP) raises the chance
cent is hungry raises
cent is thirsty raises
cent is fresh WC raises
*ahem* just finished feeding out dozens of roaches some of which were on your hand just might raise, but i could be mistaken
*maybe* washing my hands well with soap and water before lowers
*maybe* smoking a cig before lowers
oh, and of course i don't mean to say any that i don't mark with a maybe are set in stone infallible rules of handling... i just mean i think they are probably more likely to be true more of the time.
gala is right... basically when you free handle you are accepting you will get tagged and by the gods, it just might suck
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I think all true. And don't pinch their butt:? . You can prob count on that one! I think this white legged one's genetically charged. I really agree with the wash your hands thing too. I do that. The salts, oils and bug stuff on your skin, ...foooood. Or is it defense?, both? From the way that white legged one slammed down, that was defense the way it looked to me. That surprised the hell out of me. If someone made me choose between that light legged pede and the Cherry, I'd pick up the Cherry. I know, I prob would say that if I'd been bitten by a sub before, ..but the odds. That white legged one's been bitey for many months now. Ever since she shed about 5 or 6 months ago and with allot of extra growth. Just opening the lid gets her going.
Yea, the link! Allot of things get rehacked over and over again here and on forums in general. Sometimes it's easier just to comment and maybe something new has come up, but that pede handling thread is HUGE! Most of what people would consider is there.
Yea, the link! Allot of things get rehacked over and over again here and on forums in general. Sometimes it's easier just to comment and maybe something new has come up, but that pede handling thread is HUGE! Most of what people would consider is there.
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my blue ring is so passive that i think i could try to hold it...then i think about how much i don't particularly care for self-inflicted pain i am not one to handle my pedes and certainly not any of the big guys! Heres a side note question...i am allergic to stinging insects(wasps, bees, yellow jackets etc.) you think that carries over to pedes?
i am not one to handle my pedes and certainly not any of the big guys! Heres a side note question...i am allergic to stinging insects(wasps, bees, yellow jackets etc.) you think that carries over to pedes?
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my blue rings are pretty tractable.my blue ring is so passive that i think i could try to hold it...then i think about how much i don't particularly care for self-inflicted pain
and of the ~50 or so times i got bit when handling them during the summer months nothing ever happend... except the last two times. some pretty good swelling but no pain. not sure if it was venom or coincidentally picking up a secondary infection both times in a row. futher envenomations will probably clear things up.
as far as being allergic to hymenoptera, i know for sure it doesn't transfer over to tarantulas... it has to do with tarantula venom being peptide based and bee etc venom being protein based or something. i think Thoth made some good posts about it. i guess it would come down to how the centipedes make their venom... but my arseguess is that it won't be a problem as people just don't die from centipede bites like they do from bee etc stings