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Scolopendra heros castaneiceps

Gsc

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
538
So, you're probably wondering how someone gets bit by these things... I'll get to that in a minute.

First lets start off with some background info. The Giant Red Headed Centipedes are one of my favorite inverts. I found a locality in Central TX (about 45 minutes form my home) that had a nice population of them. This area (next to a lake) was small to medium sized rock piled on top of each other..... Once you flipped a rock, if you weren't SUPER QUICK (or just plain lucky) the scorp or centipede would shoot down between others... it was all over then... these rock weighed anywhere from 2lbs to 50lbs and where stacked who knows how many deep going up the side of the hill/bank... you had one chance.

We all know that getting a 8" centipede into a deli cup is a talent all to itself... they don't like to cooperate to say the least! After loosing many to the "rocky abyss" I had to find a better method.... I'm a reptile guy and my motto has always been: "If its bitting me, then I've got ahold of it (or maybe it has ahold of me)".

I figured out a way to get these guys QUICK.... I bought me a pair of gardening gloves... HUGE welding gloves don't allow you any movement... these were cotton with a thick rubber area on the bottom side..... I figured they couldn't get their fangs through the rubber....

Method: Flip rock...grap 'pede...& QUICKLY toss into a coffee can. From the coffee can, you can coax the centipede into the vial and/or deli cup AT YOUR PACE...he isn't going anywhere. This method worked great on the first 2...but I learned a valuable lesson on the 3rd.....I grabbed him ( a big one...8"+) and he flipped around and latched onto the topside of the glove (only the bottom were covered in the rubber...the tops ar thin cotton).... he grabbed my finger like it was nothing...I dropped the 'pede and my coffee can...I had just a tad bit of blood but it really felt like someone took a hammer and smashed my finger...this really hurt... I experienced some limited swelling, irratation and pain. It lasted for the next few hours and I had limited mobility of the fingure (probably because of the swelling and me being a "baby" about "my hurt finger" lol).

Lesson: Use lightweight FULL leather gardening gloves when collecting this way. If you held onto them for a long time, they might be able to bite through them... I haven't tried that yet...I just need enough time to quickly grab and get them into the coffee can.... for the split second, they haven't (yet) gotten through my gloves.

I don't know how other people would collect in an area like this... when it's just soil or pavement, you can just coax them into the container laid on its side...these rock presented a big challenge and The Scolopendra are really hard to find...you kick yourself when you loose one of these monsters!
 
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