Local Caught Centipedes (descriptions, tips, etc.)

[cacoseraph]

Hello

I thought this would be a convenient place to talk about any local caught centipedes you might have. Things you might want to comment on are types of conditions they are found in, sizes of centipedes caught, seasons found in.

i am kind of envisioning a post per species, or maybe per species per location... we'll have to see what develops

 

[cacoseraph]

Scolopendra polymorpha

Greetings i live and hunt around parts of southern California, USA.

There are two main areas i catch polymorpha in:

1) Pomona, CA
I caught a fair amount of polymorpha in the spring time in Pomona. I like to hunt around the edges of busy parking lots that are right next to wild areas. it seems like the centipedes feed off of the various detritivores that bloom around humans. I caught everything ranging from ~3i 1.5-2"BL to fairly massive 5" beasties. Body colors ranged from dusty yellow to solid brick red. All specimens had tiger stripes fairly prominently. One 3"BL individual had crazy BLUE legs! This individual seems to have molted once in my care and the blue seems to be less prominent now


2) Rialto, CA
I have caught maybe 10 polymorpha in Rialto so far. The average size seems slightly smaller, but i've caught only 25-33% as many as in Pomona, so i don't really have a fair sample yet. The largest individual i caught in Rialto yet was ~4".

Notes on polymorpha:
I usually find these guys under a single "layer"... be it one rock, a single board, a single rotten stump... i don't know if this is an artifact of my blundering around and scaring any "deeper" cents away before i see them... but i pretty much just flip a single layer now when i'm searching for polymorpha.

Polymorpha seem much more easy to find in southern California in the non-extreme months. i.e. spring and fall seem better than winter and summer for huntng... but i haven't kept adequate records to have any degree of certainty on that... it's more of a feeling.

also note: my brother had a ~3.5"BL polymorpha drop and hatch 30+ eggs... these suckers can mature at a moderately small size, it would appear

 

[crashergs]

how large do southern tiger species get? im starting to wonder if my tiger is almost at its mature stage.

caco knows when I caught my tiger, but ill tell it here so those that are interested in this thread have relativley ample amount of information, providing they are trying to learn more about the specie.

I caught my poly last month beginning of the month sometime? i dont think i had it for a month yet. the pede was under a 70-80 lb boulder, I kept searching smaller rocks, but I seemed to think that it was during a colder month they might be hibernating somewhere, so i stopped searching under smaller rocks, since all I found were pedelings, less then half an inch, i thought damn i know the mom must be around here somewhere. well finally after 45 minutes, I saw a little ridge where more larger rocks were, i said ill try those since they have more rock in the ground and can be alot moisture underneath, 1 pull couldnt lift it as it was submersed in hard dry dirt, i said shit i moved it a little bit, there could be once down there and i didnt want to squash it if indeed it was down there. on the second pull i gave it all i could and finally tumbeled the boulder towards my side. I got scared at first, since this is my first time seeing a pede in almost 8-9 years! i wont the lottery!!!!! i felt like i was in vegas! she was in a very moist area and verryyyy slouchy, didnt even want to move, it was cake putting her in a jar, I know now that they move less in cold enviroments, when i brought her back home, it was a total enviroment change, warm weather in the tank with a heat pad, i threw in a cricket and she ate it, but took like 2hours because she would rest on it, then finally she sought shelter and hid, until now i just got home and shes out on the hotter side of the tank. I gave the pede a baby hisser and ate the whole cockroach, didnt leave a centimeter of meat, i realized that they are much more conservative. I turned on my spot lights i have on a wall, the lights have 4 levels of brightness, i did it 2 levels which isnt all that bright, and immediatley when light came on, the pede dragged the carcus into a coconut shell and ate it in the shell, i lifted the shell and moved it somewhere else, the pede would take the carcus of the hisser to where i moved the shell at. I was in awe, my mai chau cares less, and will gladly eat a hisser in the brightest light outside of any hidden areas. thats my story.

By the way caco, highly recommended you start hunting up here, construction is happening and i bet you pedes are moving east which should be more of abundance of pedes in one area.
remember im off mondays and tuesdays.

 

[crashergs]

i just measured the tiger

4 inches exactly. again: not counting antanae and for lack of a better word, pectoral legs)

 

[reverendsterlin]

here we get polymorpha and S. heros c. Like caco flipping rocks and boards seems to be the most sucessful tack, but also a good way to come across a rattlesnake lol. Gets to be cumbersome with a snake hook, tweezers, and containers but the fun goes on.
Rev

 

[cacoseraph]

here we get polymorpha and S. heros c. Like caco flipping rocks and boards seems to be the most sucessful tack, but also a good way to come across a rattlesnake lol. Gets to be cumbersome with a snake hook, tweezers, and containers but the fun goes on.
Rev

twice now i've flipped a board or other piece of wood and had a coiled rattle snake say hello

once, i decided that there was a centipede under the board the rattle snake was on, so i gently goaded the snake off with a stick and sure enough.... tiger under the board the rattler was on

always a good idea to flip boards and rocks so they are between you and whatever is under neath them

also, it's a good idea to see what's on the other side of rocks.. i stuck a cactus thorn deep under my fingernail not too long ago. i thought some animal had stung me at first =P

 

[crashergs]

nuts! i havent encountered the snakes yet... maybe it is a good idea to hunt for beeds during winter season

 

[Galapoheros]

The good, the bad, the few and the ugly. And I hope it stays that way in a specific way. I love looking for pedes in the US. In the US, there is no "literal" legal place to do this on any land that is not private in the US. If it's private, of course, you need to get permission. Much more fun if you do it that way. The hobby seems to be real popular in Germany. Most people here in the US seem to be too busy being corporate slaves and letting propaganda tell them what life is (Sys of the Down Rocks!), so that leaves little freedom for hobbies like this. For those of us who do find the time (or fight for it), it's good to leave the hunting area as you found it. I'm being positive even though I might sound negative. I do it and I love it. I'm just saying that getting on private property and turning over rocks and logs and not flipping them back the way they were is going to stop our hunts eventually. Around here in Tx, I've been seeing signs at parks stating rules that say....no rock flipping.... So anyway, keep pedeing, scorpying and tarantulying. Just make it look like you weren't there. It won't get the regulators upset by the attention it attracts. Personally, I look under rocks in central Tx. Anywhere I can in places where it looks like nobody cares. I put stuff back like I found it and move on. In the desert US, I drive on the desolate roads from around 9:00 PM to around 4:00 AM at about 30 mph. Arizona, New Mex, W. tx. are pretty good places to look for the bling blings. Don't do that in parks, they are watching. Believe me! On public roads out of park boundaries, they may or may not be watching but it looks to me like they allow it until their judgment tells them it's getting out of hand. May, June, July and August are when I've seen centipedes on the road. It's fun to me. But, I may spend 3 to five nights/mornings and gallons of gas to find one centipede. Sometimes, nothing! But it's fun for me! Time seems to disappear when I'm on the hunt. I just think massive catching to sell would ruin it for us. We need more captive breeding going on in the US. I've got this feeling that it is getting more popular here.

 

[crashergs]

ahh i was turning dyslexic 3/4s of the paragraph :-X rock flipping prohibited, i like how legal signs say "no rock flipping" like they are in the hobby ring and are pretty much saying "this is our terf, search somewhere else"

that makes me wanna flip a rock and see some real gems to take back home and photograph, since im a photograph fanatic :-x .

As for being public/private property, to be honest with you, especially where me and caco lives, we really cant tell whats public and whats private, all land looks the same, no signs no nothing, i live in the most northern part where not much human habitat has arised and there are alot of lands, but i care less, if a cop comes around ill say dude im centipede hunting, im sure he will laugh at me and carry on to beat some homeless guy down the street. Private property SUCKS!!!!! it mother natures land, i like how people can spend millions of dollars on property when in reality and theory, its not theres at all, well only for the length of their lifespan, but what is that ? a split second in earth time?

holy crap im turning philosophical!!!! enough drugs

 

[crashergs]

im kidding kids, im not a druggy

 

[cacoseraph]

ahh i was turning dyslexic 3/4s of the paragraph :-X rock flipping prohibited, i like how legal signs say "no rock flipping" like they are in the hobby ring and are pretty much saying "this is our terf, search somewhere else"

that makes me wanna flip a rock and see some real gems to take back home and photograph, since im a photograph fanatic :-x .

As for being public/private property, to be honest with you, especially where me and caco lives, we really cant tell whats public and whats private, all land looks the same, no signs no nothing, i live in the most northern part where not much human habitat has arised and there are alot of lands, but i care less, if a cop comes around ill say dude im centipede hunting, im sure he will laugh at me and carry on to beat some homeless guy down the street. Private property SUCKS!!!!! it mother natures land, i like how people can spend millions of dollars on property when in reality and theory, its not theres at all, well only for the length of their lifespan, but what is that ? a split second in earth time?

holy crap im turning philosophical!!!! enough drugs

i've had the cops called on me twice while bug hunting. i believe the specific complaint was drinking in public (illegal in CA =P ). both times i had cops hike a couple hundred feet through spiky scrub to where i could magically hear them all of a sudden... both times i had the cops laughing and joking with me by the end. even had an "argument" about Opilione "harvestmen" were spiders or not

if they ask you what you're doing smile real stupid like, wipe the dirt off your hands, and say "catchin' bugs" and you should be good to go

oh, p.s. especially when in my bug huntin rig, i look pretty much like a bum. not even a good looking bum either... a bum who's seen better days.

 

[Galapoheros]

Haaaaa! I do it like that too. Like I said, I look where it looks like nobody cares. Some people are irrational. Gov can get that way. I know people that road hunted in a state park and a few months later, there was a fed warrant out for their arrest. The word was that several people had warrants. And they had no idea how they were tagged. I think there was a poser. Why would they issue a warrant several months after they were hunting? That's odd. Why not jump on the hunters at the moment? Something strange about that. Yea, we rent everything and own nothing, but that is not the common man's perception. FTP! Fight The Power! Hahahah....Muuuaaaahahahahaaaaaa! But, hello police state.

 

[bengerno]

Hi guys,

If you have any pics of their habitat, or from the collecting trip..I would be very happy.

 

[cacoseraph]

Hi guys,

If you have any pics of their habitat, or from the collecting trip..I would be very happy.

i will try to get some

to tell you the truth, i usually dig through/under garbage people throwinto fields for them

 

[dtknow]

How humid do they like it? I'm guessing pretty dry. Do T's and pedes occur together alot?

 

[bistrobob85]

Hehe, watch out guys, over here i can go out and catch...

...

LITHOBIUS FORFICATUS, MOUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I bet you're all jalous .

phil.

 

[LeilaNami]

Oh dear...

S. viridis
S. polymorpha
S. heros
H. marginata
S. sexspinosus
T. posticus

According to Natural History Museum website

 

[froggyman]

ive only seen one centipede in my house(i live in the north) and thankfully it was only 1/2'' long. it was a house centipede(Scutigera coleoptrata)

i kept it for a day or two. he seemed to enjoy a small cricket

 

[Kasha]

Anyone know of any native Alaskan millipedes?
We have the tiny house centipedes, and Stone centipedes (I think thats what they are) so in my not-always-accurate logic, I think there should be millipedes as well. But so far no luck. I did find some super dangerous, as in handle with extreme caution, Daddy Long Legs...but no millis yet.
Any thoughts?

 

[froggyman]

Harpaphe haydeniana is native to alaska. its very attractive too, black with yellow spots around the legs.

although it does give off cyanide as a defence