staging another molt in action

Galapoheros

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Premolt S. h. castaneiceps. I moved it to a smaller container so I can try to get some pics. I'm guessing sometime between 2 and 3 days it will molt. Wish me luck on catching the molt. Postmolt pics for sure:eek: .
 

P. Novak

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I hope it has a successful molt, and comes out more beautiful then ever. How big is it at the momment?
 

Galapoheros

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Weeeeeedooogyyy! :eek: I sure am glad you asked me that Novak! I was letting the container big momma is in dry out a bit in the room the premolt pede is in. I went to measure the premolt and saw big mamma's top open. It's a big 9-10 inch centipede. I didn't see the pede in there and I felt really bad. I stopped and listened because it's gotten out before ...a few times. I've been able to find it by listening to it scrape it's legs on the wall before. Then I dug around in the container and it was still there, WORD! The top has been open for about 4 hours! It can easily climb out. Anyway, this premolt one is about 5.5 inches. I like this one. A female (babies last year) with long terminals and she is a little more green than the others, we'll see after the molt. I think she will look pretty hot!
 

Galapoheros

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I got up this morning and looked at the premolt pede. It had started molting so I grabbed my small camera. I'll take one more pic in a few days when she gets her more natural colors back.





 

bistrobob85

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Great stuff, Galapo!!!! I really like the pics with the headshot... it's one of the best i've seen to show the mouthparts, my compliments to you!!!!

phil.
 

8+)

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Breathtaking!!! Great job catching and photographing the molt. Photos of this seem to be pretty rare.
 

ParabuthusKing

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Awesome photo sequence.. the blue color is SO vibrant.. does this species live in Texas native? If so I may have to buy a few off you for my first pedes ever.. I am still a little nervous about pedes though :)
 

Drachenjager

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That is Scolopendra heros castaniceps, yes they are native to Texas. In a previous post he showed one that was about a half one that came in his house lol
 

Galapoheros

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Thanks guys! Well, my little camera when it's in macro mode and the flash goes off, it exaggerates the blue color after the molt with these pedes. It's really about the color of an unwashed new pair of jeans. It's already a little darker now.
 

Alakdan

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I've always wondered how pedes molt. Thanks for sharing.

BTW, the 5th picture looks like a typical illustration of a Chinese mythology dragon.
 

P. Novak

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Great molting process pics Galo! She is gorgeous! Congratulations on the successful molt!
 

Galapoheros

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Ha, she did all the work:clap::worship: I would like to see this really big one I have molt, the one in the thread that shows it eating a smaller pede. It's pretty old so I don't know if that'll happen in my care but I'm going to try and catch it if it happens.
 

moose35

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good job at catching that moult. cool sequence. that blue is awesome right after the moult. too bad it goes away as the exo hardens.

moose
 

Pulk

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Amazing!
Do S. polymorpha have that intense blue right after molting also? Because my friend told me he saw a 6" bright blue pede around here (so cal).
 

cacoseraph

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Amazing!
Do S. polymorpha have that intense blue right after molting also? Because my friend told me he saw a 6" bright blue pede around here (so cal).
polymorpha can come in all kinds of crazy colors from blue to brick red to yellow, sometimes even having legs a different color from the tergites (top armor plates). some areas have all different colors and some areas only have one color. it's pretty crazy, actually.
 

Pulk

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hence "polymorpha".
It still sounds like he saw a just-molted one, as I showed him one of those pictures and he said it looked like that. Why does the one of us who's wierded out by centipedes get to actually see one in the wild?
 
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