Scolopendra subspinipes Got loose!

Mslinger

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
55
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.
Wow Now I’m having bad anxieties.
Damn...
 

Mslinger

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
55
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.
Yes damn it looks like that S.dehaani.
FML
 

Scoly

Arachnobaron
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Messages
488
Yes damn it looks like that S.dehaani.
FML
S.dehaani get labelled as S.subspinipes all the time, but that's the least of your worries now. If you're not able to drop the kids off elsewhere, which I full appreciate is not entirely easy, you may want to create a safe zone where they can be. Just pick whatever room is easiest to empty out so you can be sure it's not in there, put something in place that stops the centipede from getting in under or over the door, and check everything that goes back in. The kids can stay there while you go through the rest of the house, starting with where your pets were. The less stuff in the safe room, the more sure you can be that it is safe.

Another situation you want to avoid is not finding it at all, even if it is dead or out of the house, as it could survive for weeks or months if it finds somewhere warm enough. I've had 2 escapes that I never found (much smaller and less dangerous specimens) and it puts you on edge for a month or two. In that light, you may want to think about sealing exits, e.g. behind the kitchen sink, or the toilet. What kind of home is it? What kind of floor do you have?

Consider using humane mouse traps with some sardine in there, or if the centipede is too big to set them off, and the situation is desperate, real mouse traps. I'm going to get a lot of hate for that, but this is what happens when a dangerous wild animal escapes and becomes a threat to people, whether its a chimp that broke out from a zoo, or a dehaani in a house with small children: you try to catch it safely, but if you can't catch it and can't control the threat, then you have to resort to taking the animal's life.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
Wow Now I’m having bad anxieties.
Damn...
You are taking this issue (a crappy one, I know, my man) with the wrong attitude. Have you read my post (yes, I know you read that)? So remain calmer. Freaking calmer. For that there's no point in getting anxiety or else :)

Here's a pic, btw, of my 0.1 (the one that gave birth to that unruly pedeling army) :kiss:

Scolopendra 4.jpg
 

Nicholas Rothstein

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 7, 2019
Messages
167
Where I'm from S. Subspinipes are very common. I've found them everywhere. Assuming that you don't live somewhere that they are common try and look for a place where they are "naturally" found. Higher humidity, dark, warm, moist, etc. Good luck on your search. I've found them in my clothes draws, inside of cabinets with ZERO points of entry besides the front, and my favorite crawling up my leg.

Never been biten or stung by anything for that matter. But there venom can hurt quite a bit. I bet you can visit any ER here and find at least 1 person that has a centipede bite. Keep you animals locked up, children in open areas where you can watch them (same goes to any elderly people). If someone is bitten, it will be painful. If it becomes overwhelming take them to the ER. If a small child is bitten better be safe than sorry, take them to an ER. If not aggravated the pede shouldn't evenmate you, unless you smell like its food.
 

Mslinger

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
55
O
You are taking this issue (a crappy one, I know, my man) with the wrong attitude. Have you read my post (yes, I know you read that)? So remain calmer. Freaking calmer. For that there's no point in getting anxiety or else :)

Here's a pic, btw, of my 0.1 (the one that gave birth to that unruly pedeling army) :kiss:

View attachment 305668
wow looks like the one I video’d in Hawaii. Nice
 

Scoly

Arachnobaron
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Messages
488
You are taking this issue (a crappy one, I know, my man) with the wrong attitude. Have you read my post (yes, I know you read that)? So remain calmer. Freaking calmer. For that there's no point in getting anxiety or else :)
Chris, you are really not helping here. Your story doesn't carry any parallels with the OP's situation.
  1. You live in Lombardy, where a tropical centipede can live outside for most of the year. He lives in Alaska, so the pede is not going to head for the garden but stay indoors, which means there is a much higher risk of it coming into contact with people than your situation (read comments from other posters here and elsewhere about escaped centipedes showing up on people's feet) so it's completely different.
  2. He is dealing with an allegedly quite sizeable dehaani, your escapees were subspinipes pedelings.
  3. He has young children in the house, you don't mention that being the case for you.
The health, welfare and maybe even lives (I don't know how young they are or how big the centipede is) of these children are at risk here. You have absolutely no place telling him to relax and take the situation easy, just because you once had a situation which you think is similar but really isn't.

Please, for everyone's sake, sit this one out.
 
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Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
You have absolutely no place telling him to relax and take the situation easy
The "You have" and etc kind of "suggestions".

Really? No, sorry. That's not how things works with me. In general I'm the only one that decide what I can, or can't, say.

That was exactly my advice, and if you don't like that, well... I will sleep nicely even this night, eh :)

I understand that his situation is pretty serious, but it's not my fault if the 'pede escaped. It's not my fault if the 'pede, incredibly venomous, escaped in a house where there's little childrens living.

My point to @Mslinger was/is: keep searching, always, but don't let anxiety, or nervous situations triggered by that (like maybe arguing etc) enter, taking the upper hand, for that those (however understandable) feelings never helps in those kind of situations.
 
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Mslinger

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
55
Chris, you are really not helping here. Your story doesn't carry any parallels with the OP's situation.
  1. You live in Lombardy, where a tropical centipede can live outside for most of the year. He lives in Alaska, so the pede is not going to head for the garden but stay indoors, which means there is a much higher risk of it coming into contact with people than your situation (read comments from other posters here and elsewhere about escaped centipedes showing up on people's feet) so it's completely different.
  2. He is dealing with an allegedly quite sizeable dehaani, your escapees were subspinipes pedelings.
  3. He has young children in the house, you don't mention that being the case for you.
The health, welfare and maybe even lives (I don't know how young they are or how big the centipede is) of these children are at risk here. You have absolutely no place telling him to relax and take the situation easy, just because you once had a situation which you think is similar but really isn't.

Please, for everyone's sake, sit this one out.
My son is 11 and 2 young daughters of 7-5
Still no luck with this thing. I set sticky boards out
I didn’t leave any anchovies out on them yet. This sucks
I have to go to work soon.
Temps are 46 to 31 atm
 
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mantisfan101

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
1,755
Guys let’s please focus on finding the centipede. Maybe try leaving some anchovies, catfood(wet maybe) or some other source of protein around could draw it out. I’ve never been in your shoes before but i HAVE had queen ants and a tarantula escape before and these behave somewhat similarly to a centipede. Look in dark and secluded nooks and crannies. Be careful and always have some sort of catch cup or tweezers within your(you as the person) vicinity and always check before and after you leave a room. If you think that there’s a chance that the centipede might be hiding somewhere just check. Most of the time though they always seem to appear in the most random places that tou wouldn’t even expect tbh so keep looking and never give up.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
8,982
I've been messing with these things off and on for 40 years and have had countless ones escape. I find them 50%+ of the time though, often when not even looking for them. I've often found them in closets behind things on the floor in there. Sometimes I get up around 1am with a flashlight and walk along the walls. I've found at least 3 in my bed. When they have gotten out, I make sure my bed covers aren't touching the floor. If you have bathtubs, you can use a towel, have it touching the the floor and drape the other end over into the tub. Sometimes they will come to the towel, crawl up the towel and drop off into the tub but make sure there is enough going down into the tub so they are confident enough to drop off in there. If the tub side of the towel is high enough, they will slip on the porcelain tub and so they won't be able to reach it to climb out. I've found them in the tub drain while taking a shower, they will go down there but won't be able to pass because of the pea trap full of water, so they sometimes hang out in the few inches of drain if they are in the tub, until water starts going down the drain!
 

Mslinger

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
55
Disappeared, under moss and suffered ptsd as I checked the inclosure again...lol
 

Mslinger

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
55
Disappeared, under moss and suffered ptsd as I checked the inclosure again...lol
Wow....so relieved. CASE CLOSED...hopefully
Once again a very sincere thank you to everyone who jumped onboard this nightmare situation. I am happy to be a part of this great and knowledgeable community.
 

Mslinger

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
55
Great. Now go online and buy a 20QT gasket seal sterlite tub. I use those for my Pedes and haven’t had escapes.
Ok gasket sealed sterlite tub (check)
Amazon? I’ll look thanks!
 
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