Multiple centipedes in the same hide, _In The Wild_

cacoseraph

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Me and other local socals have found two S. polymorpha under the same piece of structure. I think all told, i have seen this happen at least three times.

Drachenjager has found S. heros in similar situations.


Let us hear about your multiple centipede finds or talk about ours.
 

Drachenjager

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Me and other local socals have found two S. polymorpha under the same piece of structure. I think all told, i have seen this happen at least three times.

Drachenjager has found S. heros in similar situations.


Let us hear about your multiple centipede finds or talk about ours.
yes in the crevices of the cliff over lake buchannan i have seen 2 in the same crack hiding out . Not sure whats up wiht that , dosent look like a mating place lol. they were just sorta stuck in the crack sorta part way overlapping each other.
they were about 8-9 " long too. wish i had somethig to put them in id have captured them lol
 

JonathanF

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I've found 2 Scolopendra cingulata black form under the same rock in a field by my house...
 

Drachenjager

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Well Graham an i went out peed hunting yesterday and He was telling me that in that area its fairly common to find 2 or more SHC under the same rock.they also hang out in leaf litter there, which i thougt was odd. Of course everywhere i have found them before there was no leaf litter for them to hide out in lol
 

Arachnomaniak

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It's definitely interesting to hear accounts of this in the wild. It's great to have the first hand experience type research so we can try and find out if there is a "method behind the madness" so to speak!
I'm still to chicken to try putting any of mine together for extended periods of time :p
 

Elytra and Antenna

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It's definitely interesting to hear accounts of this in the wild. It's great to have the first hand experience type research so we can try and find out if there is a "method behind the madness" so to speak!
I'm still to chicken to try putting any of mine together for extended periods of time :p
In the wild they're probably not together for extended periods of time.
 

Drachenjager

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In the wild they're probably not together for extended periods of time.
yeah that and if there is conflict one can escape as they are not confined. I think that a big part of the problem with keeping more than one in captivity is they ae too confined and have to fight for space, it they get too cramped in the wild one can just leave.
 

Arachnomaniak

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yeah that and if there is conflict one can escape as they are not confined. I think that a big part of the problem with keeping more than one in captivity is they ae too confined and have to fight for space, it they get too cramped in the wild one can just leave.
I know I wouldn't want to be confined with an agitated and angry centipede :) It definitely makes sense to give them lots of space to get away from each other. I'm still chicken though so mine are staying separated except for breeding purposes!
 

Drachenjager

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I know I wouldn't want to be confined with an agitated and angry centipede :) It definitely makes sense to give them lots of space to get away from each other. I'm still chicken though so mine are staying separated except for breeding purposes!
thats probably a safe idea lol I see no reason to try to make them communal. I would bet that if you set up a 100 gallon or larger tank and had a pond in it wiht lots of substrate and rocks and dumped in say 5 SHC they would do just fine. If anyone wants to give me the set up ill try it lol
 

cacoseraph

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thats probably a safe idea lol I see no reason to try to make them communal. I would bet that if you set up a 100 gallon or larger tank and had a pond in it wiht lots of substrate and rocks and dumped in say 5 SHC they would do just fine. If anyone wants to give me the set up ill try it lol
this is actually VERY similar to the setup wburke17 is trying out ~5 adultish polymorpha in.
 

Drachenjager

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this is actually VERY similar to the setup wburke17 is trying out ~5 adultish polymorpha in.
id try it lol as many SHC as there are getting smashed in peoples yards and at the lakes when people fish on the piers at night i dont think it would hurt for me to take several WCs and put together if i get lucky and get 3 females and 2 males may be a lot of CB plings on the market lol
 

cacoseraph

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id try it lol as many SHC as there are getting smashed in peoples yards and at the lakes when people fish on the piers at night i dont think it would hurt for me to take several WCs and put together if i get lucky and get 3 females and 2 males may be a lot of CB plings on the market lol
do it :D

give gala some competition on the SHC market =P
 

Arachnomaniak

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Just seal off the basement and throw some substrate down there :p Then you can keep a whole colony! Won't have to worry about any household pests! Or pets for that matter :}
 

Gsc

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Yes- Like Gary had said- I have found 2 SHC under the same rock on may ocassions. I have also found them under the same rock as toads, skinks, and those smaller red centipedes...I believe people call them stone centipedes.


Food for Thought: A rock is sitting on the groud (or partially burried)...you are a centipede... to squeeze uder it for cover or you scrape your way into a hidding place. Do you really know what other creatures are under there if they've done it under other areas of the rock? It's not (usually) just one huge home...most of these hidding places aren't "connected"...when WE flip a rock we see ALL the animals as being under the same rock- which they are- but they might not have known that other animals were utilizing their same hidding space.


That said- I have at least twice found 2 SHC under the same small rock in the same hidding place...

Who knows... Like Orin said...it's nature and they can get away from each other...
 

clockworkorange

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I think that environmental conditions and population optimisation have to be considered to explain possible communal behavior.

Any local population is dependant on environmental variables, e.g:
- occurence of prey items
- occurence of predators
- occurence of suitable hide
- occurence of suitable habitat (temperature/humidity)

Lets imagine a local population of cetipedes living in an environment having the following characteristics:

-lots of prey items
-lots predator birds
-few hides
-extended period of drought

In such a case, food is not limitation, the three other characteristics imply prolonged period in hides. Through natural selection, specimens who are not sharing a hide will be more prone to die quickly. More sociable specimens will have more chance of survival and will not be encline to develop canibalistic behavior as food is sufficient.

On another hand, if we have a habitat type with the following characteristics:

-lots of hides
-few prey items
-no natural predators

In that case, canibalism will provide food and self regulate the population in the absence of any important predator.

I think that a population tends to optimise land and ressources use through selection. As such, there is a wide scope of possible behaviors for a same species. Observation of cannibalistic behavior in captivity has a very relative relevance, as certain basic spatial requirements may not be met. For e.g., escape is not possible, as it has been mentionned in previous posts.

To know more about population optimum and population dynamics, you can check wikipedia or search for Lotka-Volterra equations

cheers,

Mika
 

cacoseraph

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how funny. i was almost going to start a thread like this the other day


a couple weeks ago, i flipped a rock that was maybe... 8" x 10" x ~3-4" and found THREE polymorpha under it! two were adult size and one was a little baby, maybe a yearling or so. i imagined to grab the two adults and baby... but the baby fell into some grass when i slipped and dropped their rock on my leg =P

one thing i have never been real sure about, at least with this last group i found... were they all aware of each other? or it is more like three ppl all at the same hotel, but in different rooms?

the two adults i recovered are in a breeder box i made... but last time i checked i think i could only find one FAT centipede =P
 

micheldied

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actually,i see multiple pedes basically in every hide i flip when collecting (theyre tiny pedes though,not scolopendra).
 

cacoseraph

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oh sure! lots of the litho and geophilo centipedes are very mellow around most other bugs

i am mostly trying to talk about the big Scolopendromorphas here, though :)
 
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