Local centipedes

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357wheelgunner

Arachnobaron
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I am currently in Pittsburgh, PA. Today I went out with my 4 year old and we caught 7 dark reddish centipedes, from 1/2" to 2" long. My camera won't take good pics of them, but does anyone have any guess what these are, how bad their bite would hurt, and how big they'll get? Also, what's the best way to take care of them? They're in a small critter keeper now, with peat moss sub'.

Any help is appreciated, sorry for not posting pics.
 

Elytra and Antenna

Arachnoking
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Count the legs and we can tell you which order they're from. No centipedes found in the northeast can bite through normal human skin. 2" is very likely the maximum. They may eat each other -one per cage. Tiny crickets once or twice a month, more if they seem especially hungry.
 

cacoseraph

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"giant" centipedes of Penn http://www.geocities.com/blight_child/centis/states/cent_PA.html

23 legpairs = Scolopocryptops sp. probably sexspinosus

21 legpairs, "normal" terminal legs = Cryptops leucopodus (i don't think these are red though)
21 legpairs, FAT terminal legs = Theatops posticus. not sure if the range extends quite far north enough, but is possible

less than 21 legpairs = stone centipede


scolopocrytops, theatops have a bit of zing to their bite. i have read and heard it descibed as similar to a wasp sting but it just felt a bit tingly to me.

cryptops probably has a bit of a zing, too

stone centipedes have bit of a zing, but less than the scolopendromorpha. they can easily pierce into the skin at the ~1.25"BL size.

centipedes and other creatures do not need to bite/sting/whatever *through* the skin to envenomate. your skin is your largest organ and chock full of capillaries and even larger veins. i have been bitten by ~3/4-1"BL baby tiger centipedes that delivered venom into my skin :) cute as hell watching them bite me at that size. as long as they can pierce through the top couple layers of dead and relatively horning skin, you are envenomated




as for maximum size we would need to know the species first... but i have seen Scolopocryptops from CA get past 4"BL and have seen pics of S. sexspinosus (i *believe*) past 3"BL


feeding is pretty simple. you want to keep the centipede decently thick/tall. if you can't see any side skin the centipede needs to eat. take care not to over feed... centipedes are messy primative eaters and leave all kinds of digestible bits and blobs behind that allow for mite blooms unbelievably fast

care should be similar to
http://www.geocities.com/blight_child/centis/S_subspinipes_x.html
 

yuanti

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I just picked this little guy up from outside while working in the yard here in Summerville, SC.
 

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Galapoheros

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Ha, you dudes... Looks like a stoner to me from here. But 2 inches, that'd be pretty big. I have stone pedes in my yard. I looked under a rock in my yard and saw two getting jiggy last year. I bet your 4 year old had a good time.
 

bluefrogtat2

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me too

i have one too.with all its arms wrapped around a lil ball of eggs.wonder how small these plings will be?should be interesting.wish i had a macro lens to get a good photo.
andy
 

cacoseraph

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:? You're kidding right? Are you a cricket? I've grabbed a hundred of them and they've never even pierced the 'first layer' of my skin.

Yep, possibly Lithobius forficatus, a very common species found across the US; introduced from Europe. That species is easy to rear and can live many years.
you really want to question cacoseraph about getting bit by centipedes? you are far too much orin


and for frog's sake, take a damned logic class... jsut because you haven't seen something doesn't mean it isn't!


http://www.insectgeeks.com/user/gallery/view/id_1563/name_Choobaine/
that is a pic of a stone centipede with a few mm of fang buried in my gf's skin :0
thank you, come again
 

cacoseraph

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Third person? Is that the idiot who lets all sorts of big centipedes bite him for fun? ;)
third person to point out the truly amusing audacity of questioning me about somethign so simple as can a centipede of whatever size bite through skin

not for fun, though some of the reactions are fairly amusing. i believe that one of the reasons the centipede hobby lags behind many of the other invert keeping hobby is because nobody can answer what species light you up like a bonfire and what species are more or less human nonreactive in envenomations. we can't all write books of dubious worth for our contributions to hobby, after all ;)

but... i have been bit maybe 300 times by centipedes. i would say that coupled with a decent understand of biology and human physiology makes me as close to a resident expert in centipede bites as the hobby has :D

of course, the pracking PICTURE of a centipede doing what you express strong disbelief as to their ability really doesn't require any words, does it?
 

Elytra and Antenna

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I just thought you were being funny, I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking the one thing you base your self worth on (centipede self mutilation). So are you saying you had a stone centipede bite your girlfriend? Is the photographic evidence just a centipede trying to bite? Your photo link is to a different forum and works only for friends (few if anyone here can see it).
 

cacoseraph

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I just thought you were being funny, I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking the one thing you base your self worth on (centipede self mutilation). So are you saying you had a stone centipede bite your girlfriend? Is the photographic evidence just a centipede trying to bite? Your photo link is to a different forum and works only for friends (few if anyone here can see it).
oh orin orin orin. the bitterness you exude hurts my heart. it is a picture of a stone centipede with ~1.5-2mm of fang in her skin. i didn't have her do anything. think real hard about insulting her or i will have to add some of your super witty PMs to me to my sig again ;)

i will ask her to put the pic on photobucket or something as i rather doubt she would want to be friends with someone like you ;)
 

cacoseraph

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Is this your Loch Ness monster or Big Foot arguement?
no, it is logic. you really MUST learn about it sometime. itis hard to hold discussions with you sometimes because of your rampant lack of it :)

and in point of fact, you actually can not prove that LN or BF do not exist because of lack of proof. i do not happen to think that they *do* exist, but you can not prove a lack of existance simply by lack of empirical evidence. i am sure i can find a wikipedia that can spoon feed you through basic logic since i don't have the time, inclination, or ability (despite being an amazingly effective tutor (professionally for 3 years, semiprofessionally for 4 years) some ppl are beyond even my considerable power to teach)
 

Choobaine

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Allow me to help.

Eat this. note the centipede PULLS it's fangs out of my skin, and the strength of the bite too, oh and my hand is itchy now. So yeah
[YOUTUBE]bDx8NhKPGhY[/YOUTUBE]



and this.


and this.



and this. this is a seperate bite alltogether, the photos of it in the making are not clear at ALL. But yeah, normally I get no reaction, now I got a bump. Sometimes there's a red ring, sometimes not, but it's ALLWAYS itchy. So enjoy.
 
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