Interesting centipede behaviour

[LeFanDesBugs]

Hey,

I have this Scolopendra hainanum.. I've had it since it just left it mom.
Over the last few months I've noticed something.. peculiar
In its early stages -under the 4" mark I'd say- it was very, and I mean very, aggressive. It would run when disturbed, and be ferocious with its preys. Like any asian pede!
Everything changed about six months ago. NOTHING changed in terms of humidity or temperature, but its attitude is just.. gone! Or is it?
I can pull it or push it, disturb it in any possible way, it just won't move. Or if it reacts, it will only be to walk away slowly. It's basically a millipede with fangs!
I tried feeding it mealworms, which it would take happily after long fasts.
But I noticed that when I fed it another type of feeder, say a dubia, it would just destroy it as it did before!
After killing the roach, it just calms down a becomes a millipede again.
I handled it yesterday, no signs of aggression at all whereas it never did any work of socialization.
What's up with this guy? To sum things up it's a perfectly healthy, millipede-tempered centipede

 

[Scoly]

There's a few things I think are relevant to this.

The first is that centipedes often become calmer with age. (Just for illustration, here's a video of a sub adult Hardwickei being handled whereas at pedeling stage these are absolute demons). I'm not sure if this is true of all species, or even of all specimens, but it is certainly something a lot of people have observed.

The second is that a centipede's aggression towards food is very different to its "defensive" aggression. It needs to be fast to catch it, and if it is a fast eater (I've never kept hainanum) it will certainly feel like a highly aggressive animal, but this isn't necessarily true. Think of great white sharks: people used to describe them as monsters that go into a "feeding frenzy", but it turns out that if you're in water and have serrated teeth and no hands, then violently shaking a seal side to side is the only way you're going to cut pieces off to swallow. A centipede that eats fast is not necessarily being aggressive. My pedeling Kenyan blue legs jump up and bite at tweezers, and also destroy crickets, but let me stroke them without ever biting. I think they're intelligent enough to know the difference between various things in its environment, and decide not to bite you.

The third thing is that I've noticed certain centipedes go through a sluggish phase at times, often lasting months. My adult male S. Cingulata was aggressive when I first got it, then after a few months it became very calm and stayed like that for a few months. I did try some interaction but it wasn't socialised, rather just "sluggish" and that lasted a few months. Now it's back to its old snappy self (so in that sense an example of a pede that didn't really mellow with age). I've also just acquired a sub-adult viridicornis, which I was told was rather aggressive, but it's acting like a zombie.

Another idea, though this one is pure speculation (whereas the above have at some basis in observation) is that aggression changes with temperature/humidity, but as your centipede has aged, it's requirements or the levels at which it turns aggressive have changed.

Another speculative idea, is that I have read that centipedes become aggressive when they are thirsty (I've not verified this) and maybe it has learned to drink in a new way, or it is eating larger prey which contain more water.

I think the last two ideas are probably completely wrong, but sometimes you have to think along those lines. My guess is mellowing with age...

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

For the record this hardwickei is 4 or 5 times as fast as the pede I'm talking about!
It must be an age thing. You're saying that aggression against predators and prey are different and I agree.But what I was trying to point out is that it acts like a zombie, as you put it, even with the tweezers or me.. which would not only indicate a very good comprehension of its surroundings (which wouldn't surprise me..) but extreme trust in me (I don't want to sound like addison chloe here lol) or what it sees me as?
I swear I could literally pull it out of the substrate with the tongs with no reaction..
But considering what you said about your cingulata and viridicornis you know this kind of behaviour. Would be cool to know what it's due to.

 

[LawnShrimp]

I believe age plays an important part. I have three hainanum females and before the two smallest ones laid eggs, I noticed that they were much more aggressive than their larger conspecific. The biggest one never hesitates to destroy a prey item and is always on the surface even in bright light. A cricket got loose in her enclosure today, she refused to eat it, and the bloody thing burrowed into the soil. So, I put a piece of mesh in with her to test it, poked her on to the mesh with tweezers, and when she clutched it, I put it and her into a small container while I dug for the cricket. Except for a few tail lashes and antenna flickers, she was mellow as ever and didn't even burrow afterward the whole ordeal. When her 'sisters' stop brooding their plings, I'll test their temperaments some more. Perhaps hainanum is just a very calm species. I still wouldn't handle mine though, as I have seen them lash out quite violently at disturbances.

Meanwhile, my sp. 'Mint Legs' is an utter beast. A tap on the plastic can set him on 30 seconds of tearing around at full speed and rearing up like a snake. Perhaps he too will mellow with age (although he is already 18 cm).

As one of the people on here who also currently keeps hainanum, do you know if it is true that males have blank orange legs and females have striped legs? I found a thread on here that suggests otherwise, but E&A's book says that the stripes theory is true. 2/3 of mine, which are all thickly striped, are definitely female.

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

Interesting observations. I'm confused, really. But as you said hainanum might be more calm than previously assumed.
When it comes to sexing the buggers I have no idea. I know there are some stripeless specimens, but are they all male? I don't know.

 

[Scoly]

If you're saying it's slow, then it's maybe a sluggish centipede, as opposed to a more relaxed adult. I also think it is quite unlikely for an asian centipede to be as relaxed as you describe it (yes, I know, people out there pick up their cherry reds unsocialised etc...) so it seems it is sluggish. What temp you keeping it at?

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

Around 24 celsius which is considered normal for hainanum

 

[LawnShrimp]

Same here, room temperatures are enough to keep them happy. I have always had good feeding reactions from them and they never appear sluggish when moving around, just calm and aloof as a 'pede can be.

 

[Staehilomyces]

I keep all my pedes at room temperature without any issue. I've kept desert, subtropical and tropical species under the same conditions, and they've all done just fine.