Most docile, least poisonous centipede?

[KyuZo]

I don't really know what people are saying, but i'm gonna say that you would be better off with the heros subspecies. I've been bitten before and the pain is really mild and disappear in about 30 minutes. the swelling will stick around for about 2 days and then disappear.

I don't handle my pedes, but there were times when i had to and they didn't bite me. with most of them, they are very skittish when they're small, but become more docile when they're bigger. also i find captive bred to be more docile than the wild caught.

 

[Splashstorm]

@the Snark, so you're saying that a centipede will bite even if its just walking on dirt?

@KyuZo, what's the hero subspecies?

 

[KyuZo]

Scolopendra heros castaneiceps, S. heros heros, S. heros arizonensis... they're all S. heros subspecies.

 

[cacoseraph]

heros are hellbiters, sometimes. you can't prove a negative with a lack of evidence... you just got lucky and had no venom injected or maybe are abnormally resistant is all. my buddy whom i trust quite a bit in all things bug definitely got lit up by a heros


pretty much the only things i have seen really influence centipede biting is how well fed and watered they are and what the temps are. well fed and watered = less likely to bite. cooler temps = less likely to bite. converse is... basically true


i have definitely seem some of my centipedes attack dirt. i reckon they are just about the dumbest bugs out there that are commonly kept as pets

 

[The Snark]

i have definitely seem some of my centipedes attack dirt. i reckon they are just about the dumbest bugs out there that are commonly kept as pets

So they will, on occasion, bite at whatever they are traversing? That is what it looked like to me. As it traveled over the kids foot he got tagged 3 times. The critter didn't even slow down and there was absolutely no provocation.

 

[Splashstorm]

I've decided on a stone centipede. Are there giant and then small sized stone centipedes?

 

[Metasolpuga]

Where I go to get feeder rats there is a rather docile flag tailed centipede for sale, but I would not attempt to hold the centipede. However, I did find an S. polymorpha that was drowning and let it crawl onto my hand, afterwards I transferred the animal carefully to a small terrarium. Overall, centipedes are "look don't touch" They are unpredictable!

 

[ScarecrowGirl]

Where I go to get feeder rats there is a rather docile flag tailed centipede for sale, but I would not attempt to hold the centipede. However, I did find an S. polymorpha that was drowning and let it crawl onto my hand, afterwards I transferred the animal carefully to a small terrarium. Overall, centipedes are "look don't touch" They are unpredictable!

http://blog.bandao.cn/UserFiles/BlogPics/46129/2009-11/Alipes%20grandidieri%EF%BC%88%E7%BE%BD%E6%AF%9B%E5%B0%BE%E8%9C%88%E8%9A%A3%EF%BC%891.jpg

Does it look like that? Man I'd love to live near by where I could get one(or a few) of those!

 

[Splashstorm]

Hey, when you handle your centipedes, why don't you wear protective gloves all the time? That way you are never prone to any bites! ^__^

 

[ScarecrowGirl]

Hey, when you handle your centipedes, why don't you wear protective gloves all the time? That way you are never prone to any bites! ^__^

Then wheres the fun of feeling those pointy little legs crawling across you with those maxillipeds so close your bare skin lol? I'd try handling mine more often if I could have the time to recover from a bite with out it impacting my job. I got bit by my big Chinese tigerlegs(S. subspinipes de haani ), that was fun.
Its all in the risk you want to take, I imagine even a large stone centipede could run pretty fast, what happens when it launches itself off you and gets under your dresser? Since its only a stone centipede I guess thats all well and good, but should you move up on the centipede scale what happens when that big one gets away? Or bolts up your shirt sleeve or into those gloves.

They are a lot of fun either way, you should go with polymorpha imo, bigger than stones, smaller than the big guys, probably(guessing) less potent a bite, and have nice colors. Heck, next three days off in a row I get I'll go tick off my big polymorpha and see what happens lol.

 

[cacoseraph]

polymorpha have quite inoffensive venom in the average case. i have probably been bit by them about 200 times over the years and a very minor bit of local swelling is the most i have ever experienced. i don't even think i have ever picked up a noticeable secondary infection

also, i never use gloves because if a centipede gets trapped in your glove it is probably going to light you up. i don't even wear gloves when i am in the field collecting, to preserve my sensitivity and dexterity over some fairly dubious protection.

 

[VictorHernandez]

I don't think there is

 

[jdl]

I have been bitten by polymorpha and S. heros castaneiceps. I find polymorpha all summer and routinely pick them up by hand as they do not often bite. I do not recommend this. The reason that I do this is because I typically find them when I do not have any collecting equipment around. I am not sure why anybody would feel the need to handle centipedes as their legs end in needle like points and it feels uncomfortable on the skin when they are walking on you. The polymorpha bite didnt feel more than a needle prick, but it did sting for an hour or two, the stinging wasn't painful, it just made you aware that you had been bit. The castaneiceps bites were a little worse. I was bit by a young four incher this summer. I was trying to stop him from running away and put my hand in front of it and it ran right over my fingers and bit while never slowing down. The first time was because I had heard horror stories from pede bites, such as the bite necrose and people go insane from the bite kind of deal, and sad to say I didn't believe it. I had one about eight inches and let it walk on my hand and as soon as it touched me it bit down. The bite was very quick, I never even saw the pede bite. Someone else was there and they let it bite him too. I know not smart, but how are truly going to learn anything until you experience it. The bite felt like a pinprick followed by a burning sensation that lasted two hours. The pain was about a 2 on a scale of one (no pain) to a ten (worst pain imaginable). There was redness in the area for a few days then it resolved. No madness or necrosis. I am not sure how serious the venom is, but I have heard that the ones here in NM have a worse bite than the ones in Texas. I don't know. I have a few that I am raising and would not take them out to play with at any time. As other people have mentioned here they are unpredictable and fast.

 

[Splashstorm]

Instead of saying through a scale of 1-10, how would a centipede's bite be like compared to say, a nip or snap from a cat or dog?

 

[cacoseraph]

that's not an especially great comparison to draw. initially a cat or dog is just doing mechanical damage to you. that kind of damage is quite negligible with a centipede strike. for myself, polymorpha never really felt like much of a sting at all, though friends say it is around a bee sting.

heros have never bothered me, but i don't think i have gotten a full size wet bite. my buddy did and it was seriously painful, to the point he doesn't play with them anymore.

 

[Splashstorm]

So are you saying that the actual bite isn't very painful at all, but the venom is?

 

[cacoseraph]

if a strike is going to be painful, it will be because of the venom, not the mechanical damage

 

[donniedark0]

So polymorpha is the choice for most docile / least poisonous?

 

[Splashstorm]

Cacoseraph, do you know how painful a stone centipede's bite is? And are there "large" stone centipedes, or do they only come in small sizes?

 

[cacoseraph]

i have never read anything that indicates they are particularly venomous. the largest stoner i have seen was around 2.5" BL, iirc. i found two or three under a cut, rotting palm tree in a field that were way WAY bigger than any i have ever seen before or since