Is He Stupid? (Don't handle giant centipedes)

[dtknow]

Just better hope that wherever the photos show up their is some kind of caution against handling them. No one ever told me pedes were dangerous. I remember when I was 6 we were on a field trip to a school or something and on the asphalt(it was raining) was a maybe 3-4 inch centipede...probably S. polymorpha since thats all that occurs here. It was moving a little and being me I promptly went over and picked it up gingerly by the tail(if their was a container around I would have kept it). Could be bad if someone sees the photos and decides it is ok.

 

[centipede]

What about the girl of the neighbours (I have seen her in real - it's not fake !)

http://www.pattayamail.com/478/community.shtml (somewhere in the middle)

She’s still there - Samui Scorpion Queen goes for record http://www.pattayamail.com/478/pictures/o3_478.jpg

Kanchana Ketkeaw, aka Nong Na, is attempting to break the world record for the longest stay with scorpions - 32 days - right here in Pattaya.

Nong Na is going for the record - right here in Pattaya - for the longest stay with scorpions (and we aren’t talking about the German rock group, either, although that would be a feat in itself). Go ahead and lend her your moral support - she’s at the Royal Garden Plaza, "on display", free of charge.



Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, in conjunction with the Royal Garden Plaza Pattaya are joining hands to help her break and set the New Guinness World Record.

The current Guinness World Record was recorded by 25-year-old Malaysian Scorpion Queen, Nur Malina Hassan, in 2001. She spent 30 days with 2,700 scorpions until she fell unconscious.

However, Kanchana Ketkeaw, also known as Nong Na, plans to spend 32 days with 3,000 scorpions! She began her quest on September 21, and from now until October 23 you can come and meet the 30-year-old challenger from Samui Snake Farm in Surat Thani. Without any prior training, Nong Na has been working at Samui Snake Farm as one of the scorpion performers for farm visitors for the last 7 years.

Come and see how she fearlessly lives, eats and sleeps with 3,000 scorpions in a special built glass cage measuring 12 square meters, where every 8 hours she is allowed to leave the confinement for 15 minutes.

Come and render your moral support at Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, 3rd floor, Royal Garden Plaza, Pattaya until October 23rd, from 10 a.m. to midnight - free of charge.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum and co-organizers would like to thank the following companies for their generous support towards this exceptional event: Samui Snake Farm (Surat Thani), Advance Info Service Public Company Ltd., Bangkok Interfurn Co. Ltd., Thai-Asahi Glass Public Company Ltd., Kawasaki Motors Enterprise (Thailand) Co., Ltd. and Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital.

 

[Steve Nunn]

Hi,
Nice pics

I'd think almost any invert can be handled, you just need to know the behaviour of the animal well enough to know when to leave them alone.

Anyhoo, the reason I'm posting is because I've been nailed by a large Scolopendra westwoodi and it was NOT pleasant!! Most painfull envenomation I've ever had, aside form a dangerous spider bite, which was worse from the point of view I had systemic symptoms, only pain with the pede. The reason I was bitten: asleep out in the bush here in Oz, one climbed in my sleeping bag at about 3:00am, I was dead to the world, until that bloody thing woke me up. Felt an itch on my knee, so I scratched and got nailed.

Bottom line is if I hadn't annoyed the pede by scratching, I don't believe I would have been bitten at all.

The symptoms were intense pain from the bite site (kneecap) down to my toes, it felt like I'd been injected with battery acid, all over my lower leg, that's probably the best way to describe it.

Thanks for all the images, they were awesome to see

Cheers,
Steve

 

[beetleman]

i keep many inverts, lot's of very large centipedes,would'nt think of handling any of them they are fast,really aggressive,and unpredictible,you really don't know what it will do,i too was bitten by very large hongkong giant,and it was the worst pain i ever felt in my life,it lunged so fast out of the container at my finger(i was watering them at the time)at that time i should of used tongs to remove the water dish,it was hiding in the soil,and BAM!! just like that it exploded out of the soil,at my index finger,that was it,i use tongs all the time,and still these giant centipedes,try to kill me,but i luv em anyway,but to handle them....I THINK NOT!!!:wall:

 

[cacoseraph]

Hi,
Nice pics

I'd think almost any invert can be handled, you just need to know the behaviour of the animal well enough to know when to leave them alone.

Anyhoo, the reason I'm posting is because I've been nailed by a large Scolopendra westwoodi and it was NOT pleasant!! Most painfull envenomation I've ever had, aside form a dangerous spider bite, which was worse from the point of view I had systemic symptoms, only pain with the pede. The reason I was bitten: asleep out in the bush here in Oz, one climbed in my sleeping bag at about 3:00am, I was dead to the world, until that bloody thing woke me up. Felt an itch on my knee, so I scratched and got nailed.

Bottom line is if I hadn't annoyed the pede by scratching, I don't believe I would have been bitten at all.

The symptoms were intense pain from the bite site (kneecap) down to my toes, it felt like I'd been injected with battery acid, all over my lower leg, that's probably the best way to describe it.

Thanks for all the images, they were awesome to see

Cheers,
Steve

you know what is funny... this actually makes me want to go to Australia MORE

one reason i decided giant centipedes would make an interesting subject to handle was exactly what Lord Nunn (ok, that sounds like a scary sith lord to me... i don't know what other ppl think) alluded to: centipedes might cause me a huge amount of pain... but they are excedingly UNLIKELY to kill me

pain i can handle... death i'm a little more weary of

thank you very much for looking in and commenting... i am very much honored

p.s. i think if i trimmd my hair and beard and you know, my face got alittle more like, symmetrical, i think we would look similar

 

[cacoseraph]

All of this begs the question, why do it? Like i said, i'm not saying you should or shouldn't do it, it's entirely up to you as an adult what you do with your pedes, but i am curious to know whats your motivation for wanting to handle them?

i've thought a lot about this question... not necesarily just cuz you asked it, but cuz it probably should be thought about from time to time.

i will admit now, there was some mighty fierce hubris in my earlier motivations

but i think i have mellowed out a little and matured a tiny bit. now i would like to think i am helping to convince those people who are *almost* ready to get a giant centipede that maybe these guys aren't *quite* as bad as legend and common "knowledge" dictate

hopefully over xmas/winter/chan/kwan/solstice/etc break i can take some more pics of playing with some interesting animals

at this point i certainly don't think anyone should try to free handle anything based my experiences... but i know a fair number of masters (certainly not a title i will claim for myself... yet, at any rate ) that free handle

... granted pretty much every body gets tagged at some point (me and now everybody i've talked to except my crazy friend that made the "Playing With Fire" pic) but i guess it comes down to a personal risk vs. reward decision

edit:

ok, i would be completely dishonest if didn't add this: there is definitely a rush in handling something... but heck, i would say everybody who free handles a venomous bug, be it G.rosea or P.imperator gets a rush the first time they do it... adrenalin kicks in, flight or fight, etc...

heh, it's somewhat analgous to a drug in a number of ways...
each "hit" gets you slightly less high than the last one, unless you take a bigger "hit" and hold a badder bug
handling polymorphas didn't excite me at all anymore... well, until i got bit

plenty exciting once again

 

[324r350]

heh, it's somewhat analgous to a drug in a number of ways...
each "hit" gets you slightly less high than the last one, unless you take a bigger "hit" and hold a badder bug
handling polymorphas didn't excite me at all anymore... well, until i got bit

plenty exciting once again

almost everything in life is this way
everything good at least

 

[cacoseraph]

HUGELY OFF TOPIC... but interesting

almost everything in life is this way
everything good at least

very much so, i think!

i read a very interesting explanation for sadness when someone is dies or breaks up with you etc.

basically your body is built to always return to it's balanced state. homo-something or other. homeostasis, that's it

when you see someone you like, you get increased endorphin production, increased metabolic response, (redistribution of blood flow *cough*) etc.

you body senses this is a deviation for the baseline state and will actually release depressant effects, to reabsorb those endorphins(and other stuff), slow heart & breathing etc

eventually you will reach homeostasis again... but once you remove the "postivie" source you body will still produce the negative homeostatic response... thus you have the depressants with out the stimulants... and are sad

gee-whiz! that could in part explain post-partem depression... that and the horredous hormone shifts

 

[324r350]

very much so, i think!

i read a very interesting explanation for sadness when someone is dies or breaks up with you etc.

basically your body is built to always return to it's balanced state. homo-something or other. homeostasis, that's it

when you see someone you like, you get increased endorphin production, increased metabolic response, (redistribution of blood flow *cough*) etc.

you body senses this is a deviation for the baseline state and will actually release depressant effects, to reabsorb those endorphins(and other stuff), slow heart & breathing etc

eventually you will reach homeostasis again... but once you remove the "postivie" source you body will still produce the negative homeostatic response... thus you have the depressants with out the stimulants... and are sad

gee-whiz! that could in part explain post-partem depression... that and the horredous hormone shifts

things would be so much simpler if crickets and predators were all we had to worry about

 

[chrisacres]

Bumpety bump. This is such a great thread and I'm still very interested in the OP's thoughts and thinkings on handling these creatures!

 

[Greenjewls]

pretty sure you can see vids of him handling S. heros on his Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLsnVQIQeX4. He hasn't posted on here in a long time. Another interesting vid by another poster:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpH97UV69Vs