Stone Centipede infestation

Elytra and Antenna

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I'm very familiar with stone centipedes. I've commonly encountered stone centipedes that stow away on wood and leaves and have had them reproduce a number of times. When they've bred there's normally just 20-40 young and often they hatch around the same time. Recently a few of my native millipede habitats have become overrun with stone centipedes that keep hatching and hatching and hatching, probably close to a thousand at this point. The strange part is there are no adults and no new items have been introduced to the substrate in a year or so. The eggs seem to just keep coming from nowhere. If I were reading someone else's post I'd imagine there were adults they didn't notice but there's no place they could be.
 

Steven

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Could it be that adult Stone centipedes come "visit" your milipede tanks to lay eggs ? Lithobiomorpha don't stay with their eggs right ?
 

dannyboypede

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I intentionally keep stone centipedes, and with enough substrate I still can't find them sometimes. I don't know what your millipede tanks are like, but stoners can't climb glass. It is most likely that the adults are hiding in the substrate. The real question is, how did they get in there in the first place? I would assume it was something you put in there a year or so ago. They live a loooooooooong time! If I were you, I would put the substrate through a sifter and you will most likely find the adults. Then you could set up a big communal project. When I used to have five in an enclosure, I would throw a dead cricket in and all five of them would munch on chunks of it. It would be cool to take all of the babies and give them a dead full sized cricket and watch them all share it. I only have one now, so I don't usually care to watch it eat.

Steven: No, they don't stay with their eggs, but if Orin's millipede habitats are made of glass/smooth plastic and are more than 1"-2" tall, it is very unlikely that the pedes are just "visiting." Although it is a funny image.

--Dan
 

Elytra and Antenna

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Danny, as I said, there are no adults in the cages. Steven's idea is the only rational explanation I've considered but the surrounding area should not be able to suport them.
 

dannyboypede

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Has there been any change in conditions? Perhaps there were adults for a while, they laid eggs, and have died since. It is possible that there has been that amount of babies for a long time, just a change in conditions caused them to start to surface more often. It is a long shot, but possible. My former colony began to surface more often, and I found it was a change in conditions because they all died and all surfaced in the span of two days.
You have quite the mystery on your hands,
Dan
 

Galapoheros

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You were trying to breed those recently though weren't you?, I remember a thread in the last 2 or 3 months you posted ....I think:?. I think others think you are having a random invasion that didn't read you were breeding them(?)
 
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J Morningstar

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I've always steamed the wood for several hours or microwaved it but steaming it was the most commo0n method of set up pre-treatment. I have never had them in a tank but once when I didn't do this. And I have set up tens of enclousures. They are resilliant and persistant, and yes, I too believe the adults are hiding from you.
 

Elytra and Antenna

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You were trying to breed those recently though weren't you?
No, I put them on my list a while back which is probably what you're thinking of. Of course nobody is buying stone centipedes.

I too believe the adults are hiding from you.
That's a given since they are still hatching after many months but the problem is they're not in the cages (it is multiple cages in a small area) bit it's highly unlikely they could live outside them. The incredible numbers and near continuous production is the stranger part.
 

Treynok

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Post numerous pictures, maybe someone will see something you overlooked or missed. I'm interested to see your setup now. Did you set all the tanks up around the same time using the same batch of substrate?
 
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