Scolopedra Sp. 'Mint Leg' Communal

[Ivan Ma]

Scolopendra Sp. 'Mint Leg' from Guangxi, China I've been keeping communally. Both of them are females.

 

[basin79]

View attachment 263228 Scolopendra Sp. 'Mint Leg' from Guangxi, China I've been keeping communally. Both of them are females.

I reckon it's only a matter of time until you have 1 female.

 

[Staehilomyces]

This isn't the first instance I've heard of these pedes being kept communally. I think it may be possible.

 

[Ivan Ma]

This isn't the first instance I've heard of these pedes being kept communally. I think it may be possible.

I have seen people like Bradley Doak do it with a setup of 10 pedes in a communal setup and he's had three females on eggs apparently. So far from what I've observed with the two that i have, they don't seem to show any aggression towards each other. whenever they run into each other they immediately bolt separate directions.

 

[Ivan Ma]

I reckon it's only a matter of time until you have 1 female.

They don't seem to show any signs of aggression towards each other and have plenty of room. That would suck if one ends up eating the other but we will see i guess.

 

[basin79]

Personally I wouldn't risk it. They're beautiful pedes.

 

[kermitdsk]

That will be an expensive lesson, pity for one of the two
We had that so many times... People keeping groups, first everything is ok, but after a time Pedes are missing and more and more.
I don't know any attempt that worked for a long time. Also females on eggs are no sign that keeping in groups works. Because the point is - It don't work no matter which species (Scolopendromorpha)!
I would definitely recommend you to separate them again.
However beautiful Centipedes.

 

[Ratmosphere]

That’s awesome bro!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I hope you will succeed on this but personally (despite the fact that I don't like nor I ever liked at all the idea of 'communal set up') I would had opted for a more large enclosure.

 

[Rhysandfish]

Looks good but as everybody else said, I wouldn't risk it.

 

[LawnShrimp]

Personally I wouldn't do this (I don't really see any benefits other than ease of breeding and because it looks cool) but you seem to know what you're doing and as it's been done before, I don't see why it would be impossible. Good luck with this.

 

[Bugman5454]

Love to get one, beautiful pedes'. I was doing some gardening for the Fiancees mother last year and found 5 Lithobius forficatus under a brick together, no bigger than 4cm, 3ft enclosure and I still ended up with one. Its gutting you really shouldn't risk it if you want them both

 

[Ivan Ma]

I hope you will succeed on this but personally (despite the fact that I don't like nor I ever liked at all the idea of 'communal set up') I would had opted for a more large enclosure.

Theres 6 inches of substrate and piles of cork under the leaves

 

[Ivan Ma]

Personally I wouldn't do this (I don't really see any benefits other than ease of breeding and because it looks cool) but you seem to know what you're doing and as it's been done before, I don't see why it would be impossible. Good luck with this.

I have separated them for now because i purchased a "sexed male" mint leg from HalfBakedSnakes on instagram and he screwed me over and sent me a female. i confronted him about it and all he said was "my bad". he wouldn't give me a refund either.

 

[LeFanDesBugs]

@Ivan Ma you should edit your post before a mod finds the bad words. (no joke it's happened to me though, do it)

Hope you're gonna get a male in the end.. :/

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Theres 6 inches of substrate and piles of cork under the leaves

And that's perfect nonetheless, since we are talking about communal, remaining in the 'large' side is always (IMO) a better option.

 

[jasper47]

Beautiful pedes, but like everyone else seems to be saying, the communal bit would concern me quite a lot were I in your position Sucks to hear about the recent purchase, good luck on getting a male eventually, but if I were you, I'd keep them separated still going forward.

 

[Scoly]

Things I've learnt about communal pedes: some species are truly communal, such as S.s. mutilans. Others can be kept communally but eventually some will disappear. I had a trio of S. cingulata about 12 years ago that the seller guaranteed were a communal species, which they were, until about a year in when one got eaten. I no longer treat S. cingulata as a communal species in captivity, although I have observed they share the same space under rocks in nature.

And then you get the odd instance of specimens from a communal species that haven't read their care sheet. I have a friend who keeps his S.s. mutilans separated, and whenever he introduces them for breeding they display a high enough level of aggressive towards each other that he has to pull them out. Perhaps this is as a result of having kept them isolated, we don't know.

From what I've read and seen, the mint legs are indeed "truly communal" like S.s. mutilans, but that's not to say you won't have accidents, or the odd individual who doesn't know he's meant to be a communal species. Your choice, keep us posted!

 

[LawnShrimp]

I have a friend who keeps his S.s. mutilans separated, and whenever he introduces them for breeding they display a high enough level of aggressive towards each other that he has to pull them out. Perhaps this is as a result of having kept them isolated, we don't know.

From my original group of 6 S. mutilans, I kept three in the same enclosure and three in individual containers. Two of the communal and one isolated died of internal black lumps (probably a result of inbreeding), so then the three left were each in their own container where they lived for quite a while.
A few weeks ago, I made a new, bigger enclosure and put the remaining three in there. Probably due to shock, they were very jumpy and ran away from each other, but two of them soon ran under the same hide and rested next to each other. The third was skulking about for much longer and was blocked by the others when it tried to enter the hide. It took at least half an hour of antenna-tapping before the third was under the hide. Even now, the third one is always alone but none of them act aggressively to each other.

 

[Scoly]

A few weeks ago, I made a new, bigger enclosure and put the remaining three in there. Probably due to shock, they were very jumpy and ran away from each other, but two of them soon ran under the same hide and rested next to each other. The third was skulking about for much longer and was blocked by the others when it tried to enter the hide. It took at least half an hour of antenna-tapping before the third was under the hide. Even now, the third one is always alone but none of them act aggressively to each other.

Most interesting. Watching their social interaction, how readily they differentiate a fellow centipede from say, a cricket, and how infrequent accidental bites are, really made me appreciate how finely tuned a centipede's senses are. Who's not to say they don't recognise individuals within their communal setups too?

In my setup I have two classic yellow legs, and two red legs. The yellow legs stay totally hidden, only coming out when it's pitch black, whereas the two red legs are often resting out in the open. Sometimes a red and a yellow share a hide. I'm assuming these are the exact same species as I recently caught the yellow leg female mating with a male red leg, and I've also seen these two variants kept together elsewhere.