Scolopendra gigantea acting strange

[zonbonzovi]

Chris, I was just reading a comment yesterday about centipedes from a long time importer of hot snakes...he wouldn't go near them because of their nebulous creepiness and reported bite effects. Never mind that he was messing about with kraits, Crots and everything in between. I guess is irony is dead. SMH.

Plague, I agree about the shoveling behavior. I've never had one recover from it. Galapoheros, et al, have mentioned blockage as a potential cause. I would also assume dying tissue, parasites, infection, etc. It would be interesting to see what someone with dissection skill could turn up. I have a number of things in alcohol but have never trusted my unsteady hands to do the work.

 

[Galapoheros]

Haha, I've seen that too. I told this story a long time ago, I used to road hunt snakes and some other snake hunters would be in the motel. I was interested in inverts as well, this was back in the 80s. I said to one of them that had caught rattlesnakes and put them in 5 gal buckets, "Did you see any of those really big centipedes?" "Oh yeah, but I leave those things alone, they bite." Good luck with your galapagoensis, ...I mean gigantea, what's the news with it now?

 

[craze horse]

Well, when I had my first Cormocephalus westwoodi, I woke up one day to find it running non-stop frantically around the enclosure, and after I returned from a walk, it was dead. Much more recently, one of my prize Ethmostigmus rubripes centipedes suffered a similar mysterious fate. On the other hand, I would not be worried about slight increased activity or an abnormal amount of time spent on the surface. My Scolopendra morsitans hasn't burrowed as far as I know for over a year (no joke) and it's still with me. Anyway, good luck! I wish your 'pede well!

Same thing happened to my Cameroon fan tail, really active and appeared happy, hour later goodnight !

 

[Staehilomyces]

Mine weren't just appearing active. They were running at speed, non-stop around the enclosure. Normally, a relaxed centipede moves in a slow, deliberate manner.