Intro and amazing 19 inch centipede!

[greensleeves]

Made ya look!

Seriously, hi guys. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself because I keep coming back to this board again and again to read your stories and share in your joys and sorrows of keeping these fascinating creatures.

This is somewhat surprising to me because centipedes have always been the creatures I feared most. I'm not sure what it is about them - it isn't that they're venomous, because so are spiders and scorpions, and I never in my life had a problem seeing them on TV or even looking a pictures of them in books. I can't really explain it, but something in their form has always aroused a primal, irrational fear in me.

I think it might have something to do with seeing a small centipede in my baby bib (which was fortunately hanging on the wall) when I was a toddler.

But I believe all animals, no matter how much they frighten us, have a right to life and an important part to play in the great interdependency of nature. So I decided I was going to fight my fear with knowledge, and this has been a great place to do that.

Seeing all the beautiful varieties of centipede colouration, and the way the females lie there passively until their young are independant, has helped me to slowly begin to turn my fear into more of a cautious admiration. I can now look at pictures of large centipedes, and even videos, without being revolted or afraid, though I still would not want to encounter them in the wild.

I think my time here has proven to me that fear and fascination are two sides of the same coin, and that if you are prejudiced enough against something it is actually special to you, albeit in a negative way, so why not flip the coin and feel positively about whatever it is. Fascination is so much more healthy, and leads to understanding.

I want to thank you all for helping to get me started on the road to fascination.

Who knows, if this keeps up, I might even want to keep one some day.

Again, thank you, and keep posting because I'll be watching.

Greensleeves


(Click the picture to see how you can buy this dude - I found him while surfing. Cute eh?)

 

[Henry Kane]

Hi Greensleeves. I hear what you're saying. Understanding certainly surpasses fear, especially in the case of such fascinating creatures. (all inverts included, no?)
I think I first became intrigued with Centipedes after seeing a show on Discovery where a giant Scolopendra ambushed a rather large rainforest sp. of tarantula, and without hesitation, began to consume it. (poor T. ) I had been keeping T's already when I saw this and until then had never imagined another invertibrate predating on our giant spiders. That was it, my quest for more knowledge (and a nice big centipede to go with it) began. Of course, that turned into another and another and another an so on.

Anyhow, I'm glad you are gaining a lot from this forum and I appreciate you sharing your outlook. It's great that your fear is subsiding and being replaced with cautious respect. The world would be a better place if more people would simply educate themselves about what they fear or don't understand.

See ya.

Atrax

 

[Mendi]

Wanted to welcome you to the forums !!! I think centipedes are really neat and very entertaining when they're on the hunt. I had a TX Tiger for some time, but being WC it was probably fairly old, and passed away. I would like to get another sometime in the future after I get a bit more room... Ts are taking most all my space but that's a different forum. I've got several millipedes though and they are pretty interesting for a vegetarian... gotta love those rippling legs.