Neon Blue leg close to death.

Hedrus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
47
Well, I just got a baby neon blue leg centipede and it only took 3 weeks for me to kill it. I have no idea what I did to kill it. It is almost dead. It kind of moves but is very unresponsive. I need to figure out what I did wrong because I love centipedes and want to have several in my collection. I have it in a small container with coconut bedding like all my tarantulas. It has a large water dish. Thats about it. To keep humidity up there are only a few air holes. This is the only thing I can think of as to being a potential problem. Not enough air flow? I keep the substrate moist but not wet. It shed not long after I got it and grew from about 2.5" to 3.5". It ate after it shed 3 small crickets. After that it refused food. It was digging allot and then yesterday came to the surface. I figured it was hungry and put a cricket in with it. The cricket is dead but not eaten. I changed the water and when I put the dish back in I noticed the centipede wasn't responding to my movement much so I pushed it. It barely moved at all. I think it will be dead soon. My apartment is kept pretty warm around 70-75. So any ideas what I did wrong? The species that was given to me other than neon blue leg is Scolopendra mirabilis. I think it was captive bred. There is no mold or anything like mites in the container. I'll try to have pics soon. I am really bummed out. :8o
 

dragontears

Arachnoknight
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Sep 14, 2005
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I had a neon blue leg for 2 days before mine died. At the time I blamed it on previous care/being WC, but maybe they are just more fragile than other species. I've had my other adult centipede for over a year now without problems.

Sorry about your loss. :(
 

Hedrus

Arachnopeon
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Dec 12, 2006
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Thanks. Yeah, I don't know. I know something must have been wrong but I have no clue as to what. This one was captive bred. It went through a shed and was looking great. It moved a bit more after I sent the first message but I think its dead now. I moved it with my finger and it didn't move at all. Here are some pics.




You can see the air holes and the large water dish. If anything looks wrong please let me know. The substrate is about 2-3" deep.
 

Hedrus

Arachnopeon
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Dec 12, 2006
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I'd really like to hear from the guys on here that keep lots of different species of centipedes and are really knowledgeable on the husbandry of centipedes. I want to really get into them but I'm not going to keep buying them and killing them not knowing why they are dieing. Throw me a bone here guys! :wall:
 

Spike

Arachnobaron
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Mar 28, 2003
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I am sorry for your loss I lost the same exact pede after about a week and a half of getting it. S.mirabilis if Im not mistaken, the one in your pic looks exactly like the one I lost. I am currently attempting to preserve it. I am also interested to know any info on what might have went wrong for you. My pede about the same size as yours was kept similiarly with a bit more substrate and a lot more holes in the container for good air flow. Again sorry for your loss I hope we can figure it out.
 

common spider

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Mar 10, 2005
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483
I don't see anything wrong with your setup.Maby you just got a bad one thats all.

Have you had bad luck with these before?

:(
 

Gigas

Arachnoprince
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When it shed, did you remove the skin? only thing i think could have happened.

My mirabilis is going strong, I keep it a tad drier than most people reccomend and its thriving.


Oh and no water dish, i mist the side of the tank every now and again and it drinks from that.
 

Spike

Arachnobaron
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When it shed, did you remove the skin? only thing i think could have happened.

My mirabilis is going strong, I keep it a tad drier than most people reccomend and its thriving.


Oh and no water dish, i mist the side of the tank every now and again and it drinks from that.
Hi Gigus was wondering how much drier, percentage wise would you say the humidity is at? How often are you misting? How long have you had yours? I was actually quite peeved when mine died on me with no warning and have been more or less trying to figure out why. My set up was very similiar to hedrus minus the water dish.
 

Hedrus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
47
Thanks for the replies.

The substrate in mine was a bit more dry but the pede would "play" in the water splashing it out. I figured if it was going into the water dish that it must want water. My Ts do this when they want water.

I didn't remove the shed. I think the pede ate it.

As far as having bad luck... This is the first pede I've had in over 6 years. BUT, the last time I had pedes I had 2 and both only lasted about a year. One was a Scolopendra subspinipes and the other was Scolopendra sp. maybe gigantea. The S subspinipes died first and I think it had some kind of internal parasite. The other one lasted quite a while longer. I think it just died from something that I was doing wrong. But I was keeping it just like all the guides said at the time. I never got answers then as to what I was doing wrong so I never got anymore. After reading a bunch of online stuff about them again recently I wanted to try it again. I liked the fact that the one I got was captive bred. I might get another one and try really dry substrate with a water dish. Anyone know where this species comes from(S mirabilis)?

Oh and it is definitely dead. I am throwing it away tonight. :evil: :8o :wall:
 

Hedrus

Arachnopeon
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Dec 12, 2006
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Ok, so does that mean they need really dry setups? I wonder if they would prefer some sand mixed in with the substrate? Or are they living near water in those areas? Its really easy to keep dry substrate. I think I am going to try this species again. Thanks for the info. Anyone on here keep this species for years at a time?
 

mindlessvw

Arachnobaron
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Mar 6, 2006
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i keep one and what i do is i only really water where their hide is...i am kinda at a loss on the humidity as well but he seems to be going well...I try to kinda mix up the substrate as i mist and that seems to be enough...i try to keep it where the top soil is dry and the inner soil is slightly moist only in certain areas...this way he can kinda decide where he wants to be...sorry for your loss
 

mindlessvw

Arachnobaron
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oops forgot one other thing...i keep a wet paper towel in there kinda smushed up...some of them like to stay in that...just a suggestion...use a fresh one every time...
 

Gigas

Arachnoprince
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(Porat, 1876)"Sudan, White Nile in Kordofan " Ref from http://www.scolopendra.be Distribution "Afghanistan; Egypt; Eritrea; Ethiopia; India; Somalia; South-Western Asia; Sudan; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan; Vietnam." Ref from http://chilobase.bio.unipd.it/search/result_species.php?1086&post
Exactly why I keep mine drier than most, I mist mine every one and half to two weeks (which it seems to detest) and feed it one large roach every two weeks, this may not sound like alot but the pede remains fat and healthy. Not water dish and deep substrate but I have found my pede prefers to climb.

It seems too much humidity is not good for this sp.

[edit] reading what others have said by no means keep it on a completely dry substrate, centipedes membranes on the tergites are thin an dessication occurs fast. My substrate is just damp at one end and not completely dry at the other, hard to explain.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/shexshbychris/Pedes/100_0089.jpg that is the damp half of the enclosure after misting. I only mist the soil and wall on one side of the enclosure, 1 spray every week and a half.

Oh and I have had it for around 4 months now
 
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mindlessvw

Arachnobaron
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oh ya for sure never keep them on completely dry sustrate...that will so not end good for you
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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I can't help but think of the insecticide thing again. You live in an apartment complex? What about any roommates spraying stuff?
 

spinnekop

Arachnosquire
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Nov 2, 2005
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Hedrus, did your pede enclosure had enough air ventillation? Ofcourse, air humidity has to be rather high but I think the air quality is equally important.
When having plings, I think you can do best by daily refreshing all air of the enclosure. Hot humid not refreshed air causes fungus and bacteria to grow almost eplosively in the enclosure. I think that is what killed it.... but then again, I am just guessing :rolleyes:
 

Hedrus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
47
That is a great point and may have been the culprit. But I did open the lid allot and mist or change the water. There was no noticeable mold or anything that could be seen in the enclosure. From what others in this thread have said I think I kept it to humid. It killed the pede very fast if that was the problem. I had it for only about 2 weeks. This species likes it more dry I guess. Where I live it is extremely dry and I am always worrying about my inverts drying out. That's why it had only little air holes. I get bloody noses from the dryness all the time. The only mold I've seen ever in my enclosures is on drift wood that I added. And I take it out. I really want to try this species again but the guy I bought it from is sold out. I think with any pede I get from now on I am going to give allot more air flow and just make sure they have a big water dish.

The largest pede I've ever seen was at this pet store where they kept it on wood chips with a large water dish. The pede had to be almost 2 feet long. I think it was S gigantea. They said it had been there on display for 6-8 years just like that and it had grown allot. Its substrate was bone dry. I'm not going to do that to a pede but maybe they can do ok in dry climate as long as they have good air flow and a big water dish. Especially if they are really susceptible to bacteria and fungus.
 

spinnekop

Arachnosquire
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Nov 2, 2005
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Hi Hedrus,
That might be the reason then...
I suspect that plings are more sensitive to the right airhumidity then adults.
If you have a big enclosure, what you can do in future is to leave the substrate on one side rather dry and the other side wet.
If the pling needs a wet or rather dry area it will seek for it.
There's nothing more difficult then raising unfamiliar pede's :rolleyes:
 

Hedrus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
47
I'm starting to realize they aren't as "easy" as some would have you think to care for. Tarantulas seem much easier to me. I really like centipedes and want to learn the secret of keeping them healthy for long periods of time. The main problem is the sporadic nature of finding the species. The guy I bought this pede from no longer has them and I can't find them at all now. I would love to try it again with dryer more open ventilation but I don't have access to get another one and try. Oh well.
 
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