Scolopendra subspinipes Got loose!

[Mslinger]

I stupidly thought the top of his inclosure was secure. He/she managed to get out and now is loose in my room.
Unfortunately the room is cluttered with boxes and other things.
Anyone know of a easy way to attract it in and catch it?
It’s about 8 inches.
Kind words of advice please I’m already beating myself up over this.

 

[Vanisher]

Pour up a large scotch on the rocks, take a deep.breath and stsrt looking everywhere in the room!

 

[BepopCola]

I read somewhere that people set up dark/moist "traps" in various places around the room, as long as it's still in the room.
Like a box of misted sphagnum moss for the pede to use as a shelter.

 

[chanda]

Do you share your house/apartment with anyone else? Roommates? Family members? Children? Other pets?

If you share your home with other people, you should warn them that it is on the loose so they can keep an eye out for it - and so nobody makes the mistake of trying to grab it. If you have cats or dogs in the home, you may want to take steps to protect them, such as putting them out in the yard, confining them in a different room, or finding someone who can "pet sit" for you until the centipede is either recovered or given up for dead - especially if this is a large 'pede.

Unfortunately, there is no "easy" way to find and catch it. If it were me, I'd start by closing off the room by stuffing towels into the crack under the door in the hope that it is still in the room. Then, grab a catch cup and start moving boxes - very carefully - checking underneath and inside each one as you do. Use a bright flashlight to illuminate small spaces and don't stick your bare hands into any spaces that you can't verify are unoccupied. Designate a section of the room that has already been cleared, then as you check each box or other item, move it over and pile it in that section of the room. Also check under and behind any furniture or shelving, along the edges of rugs or carpets, underneath any throw rugs, and inside heater or air conditioning vents.

Good luck!

 

[Mslinger]

I read somewhere that people set up dark/moist "traps" in various places around the room, as long as it's still in the room.
Like a box of misted sphagnum moss for the pede to use as a shelter.

I just was told that by another friend, good advice thanks.

 

[Mslinger]

Do you share your house/apartment with anyone else? Roommates? Family members? Children? Other pets?

If you share your home with other people, you should warn them that it is on the loose so they can keep an eye out for it - and so nobody makes the mistake of trying to grab it. If you have cats or dogs in the home, you may want to take steps to protect them, such as putting them out in the yard, confining them in a different room, or finding someone who can "pet sit" for you until the centipede is either recovered or given up for dead - especially if this is a large 'pede.

Unfortunately, there is no "easy" way to find and catch it. If it were me, I'd start by closing off the room by stuffing towels into the crack under the door in the hope that it is still in the room. Then, grab a catch cup and start moving boxes - very carefully - checking underneath and inside each one as you do. Use a bright flashlight to illuminate small spaces and don't stick your bare hands into any spaces that you can't verify are unoccupied. Designate a section of the room that has already been cleared, then as you check each box or other item, move it over and pile it in that section of the room. Also check under and behind any furniture or shelving, along the edges of rugs or carpets, underneath any throw rugs, and inside heater or air conditioning vents.

Good luck!

Thanks that’s really good advice too.
I didn’t think to close the room off but it seems like the obvious solution,
I’ll do that. Yes I have small children at home, no pets.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

You can take some wet towels and lay them in various corners hoping it will be under one in the morning. It's worth a shot.

 

[vyadha]

Ive used those Air Dusters to get hissers out from behind furniture/appliances when they've got out. Could be helpful here.

 

[chanda]

Thanks that’s really good advice too.
I didn’t think to close the room off but it seems like the obvious solution,
I’ll do that. Yes I have small children at home, no pets.

Yeah, especially with small children, be sure to tell them that if they see a strange bug to tell you about it right away - but not to try to touch or catch it themselves!

 

[Bill S]

I have used traps to catch a few escapees. The trap consists of a one-gallon plastic flower pot of the type plant nurseries use for commercial growing. They generally have four fairly large drainage holes along the side at the bottom, and I half fill the pot with loose damp sphagnum. Centipedes need more moisture than the average house (even a cluttered one) provides, and the black plastic gives them a damp dark hiding place. Place them against the walls, in corners, etc. Not only have I caught escapees in them, but we have two local species that occasionally show up in the house (Scolopendra polymorpha and Scolopendra heros), and they have turned up in the traps as well.

 

[NYAN]

A friend of mine had his dehaani escape. He woke up to it biting his toe.

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that for you. As someone else mentioned, use something with moisture to try to attract it to the area. Also, keep in mind that they are nocturnal. You may have luck looking around at night.

 

[chanda]

Not only have I caught escapees in them, but we have two local species that occasionally show up in the house (Scolopendra polymorpha and Scolopendra heros), and they have turned up in the traps as well.

Lucky! I wish I had native centipedes just wandering in to my house! The best I find are the occasional small spiders - and a few odds and ends that show up in the garage. Maybe I'll have to set out some of those traps on my patio or in my garage! We don't have heros out here in SoCal, but we do have polymorpha.

 

[Mslinger]

Ive used those Air Dusters to get hissers out from behind furniture/appliances when they've got out. Could be helpful here.

Centipede is a little big for the duster I have, we’re talking elec vac right?

 

[Mslinger]

A friend of mine had his dehaani escape. He woke up to it biting his toe.

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that for you. As someone else mentioned, use something with moisture to try to attract it to the area. Also, keep in mind that they are nocturnal. You may have luck looking around at night.

Yikes that would really suck. I didn’t think they were aggressive like that unless cornered. I have had them crawl up my leg before and I just brushed them off.

 

[Mslinger]

I have used traps to catch a few escapees. The trap consists of a one-gallon plastic flower pot of the type plant nurseries use for commercial growing. They generally have four fairly large drainage holes along the side at the bottom, and I half fill the pot with loose damp sphagnum. Centipedes need more moisture than the average house (even a cluttered one) provides, and the black plastic gives them a damp dark hiding place. Place them against the walls, in corners, etc. Not only have I caught escapees in them, but we have two local species that occasionally show up in the house (Scolopendra polymorpha and Scolopendra heros), and they have turned up in the traps as well.

Thanks, I’m going to do this.
I have turned the room upside down, and can’t find it. Hopefully it turns up in one of those damn traps soon.

 

[Bill S]

Lucky! I wish I had native centipedes just wandering in to my house! ...

One of my favorite in-house capture stories happened one morning when I sat down at my computer while waiting for breakfast to cook. I didn't have any shoes on yet, and I felt something crawling across my foot. I looked down and saw a fairly large S. heros on top of my foot. I didn't want it to get away, but also didn't want to get bitten. I stood up, raised that foot and hopped on the other foot into the next room where I had an empty five gallon bucket. I put my foot in the bucket, the centipede crawled off my foot - and I had a new specimen for my collection.

A second story - one morning my wife was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and noticed in the mirror that there was something on the wall behind her. It turned out to be an escaped S. hainanum, which is now back in its cage.

 

[Polenth]

Centipede is a little big for the duster I have, we’re talking elec vac right?

The idea is to puff air into the hiding places you can't get into, rather than suck the animal out. Never tried it on a centipede, but it'll get cockroaches moving for sure. Anything that can puff air will work.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

It's up to you to believe or not this story, but nonetheless, I'm not lying

I lived basically for months (let me repeat this, for months) with a S.subspinipes "on the loose" (there's a reason for the " ") and nothing happened. I mean, nothing, literally, because I wasn't even aware of having a 'pede on the loose in the first place (altough, viewing things in retrospective, I should had guessed something like that).

The whole thing happened because my 'pede was gravid (purchased as 'unsexed', arrived gravid... normality with WC specimens). So obviously one day she gave birth to more or less 30 pedelings - obviously, totally unexpected on my part (I wasn't aware that she was gravid for that I wasn't even aware of the sex) so, obviously again, the holes I've drilled in the enclosure, holes that were perfect for housing a juve/adult 'pede specimen, were too damn big for already unruly pedelings

But still, I've managed to caught all of those. Yeah, that was exactly what I believed. Until one day, when, for a mix of luck and coincidence, I've spotted a now-not-so-anymore-pedeling 'pede crawling out of my main door, directed to the garden

In sum, for make a long story short:

1) The 'pedeling managed to eat, molt, so therefore grow, all alone. This honestly had me doubt a bit about all of the stuff I've heard previously during years about 'pedes being "delicate" or "prone to dehydrate" etc

2) He/she remained in full 'Ninja mode' all the time.

3) Not even my cats spotted him/her, and my cats are skilled hunters.

4) No contact whatsoever with me. Not even once.

Truth is, there's a multitude of place for hide, for a 'pede. And this talking about a room only, so go figure an entire house.

This for saying also that, IMO, at the end of the day, they aren't anyway so "defensive" either that will ambush/chase you etc hope this may give you a bit of solace.

I wish you good luck, anyway

As for me... still today I'm asking to myself: "What if that 'pedeling escaped wasn't the only one?" ih ih ih

 

[Mslinger]

No luck with leaving wet sphagnum moss in dark planting containers all over...yet.
It could have gotten into one of my scorpion enclosures.
I didn’t want to tear through they’re housing, but I probably should just to be safe.
They are just getting used to it.
I live in Alaska and it’s dry and cold.
Not many places it could or would want to go. But animals can always surprise you.

 

[Scoly]

Thanks that’s really good advice too.
I didn’t think to close the room off but it seems like the obvious solution,
I’ll do that. Yes I have small children at home, no pets.

You are approaching this all wrong.

You probably have a S.dehaani, not an S.subspinipes (brown body? yellow legs? red antennae? $25 from local pet shop?) A bite from that will put a small child in a state of delirium from the pain, and you'll need to rush them to the nearest hospital.

You do not need traps. You need to send your kids to stay with a relative, and turn your house upside down until you find that centipede, then sell it and not buy another one until you kids are teenagers.

------------------------

Dehaani have a very, very serious bite (as do subspinipes for that matter). Many adults bitten by a dehaani opt for a trip to hospital because of the pain, and small children are at serious risk. It's unlikely to be life threatening, but that does not mean it is not serious. Kids who get bitten by species like this end up going to hospital and staying for days (To other people reading this, please do not kick off a debate about venom potency, how many bites you've take, or your view on whether the fatalities were due to secondary infection etc... this has been debated ad nauseaum, all the OP needs to know is that a bite from a dehaani is "serious" for a small child - I think we can all agree on that)

The problem, as you're finding out from the posts above, is that they are incredibly difficult to find, and tend to show up near feet or in beds, and tend to bite. In their native habitat find them in their beds, in their shoes, in dirty clothes on the floor etc...

If I had a dehaani unaccounted for in my house, I would not let small children stay until it was accounted for. In fact, I don't think people should be allowed to keep dehaanis in a home with small kids. I'm not against all dangerous animals, but centipedes are just too damn good at escaping, too damn hard to find, and too damn likely to show up in the wrong place, and that combination is what makes them unsuitable.

In the meantime, or if you won't/cant follow my advice:

1. Check all beds thoroughly before putting kids to sleep
2. Check all shoes and clothes before putting them on
3. Check school bags/hand bags
4. No walking to the toilet barefoot at night for the kids
5. Make sure the pede can't climb up into their beds - which is likely impossible unless you have metal fame bunk beds (now you know why people prefer hammocks in the tropics!)
6. Don't let the kids rummage through toy boxes or play in rooms that you haven't fully checked.

Also, don't assume your pede is lying low. Escapees have been found on ceilings and above cupboards.

I have to head out now, will pick up this thread when I get back.