stone centipedes

[john milstead]

hey, i might be getting some stone centipedes soon. i doubt they are, but i figured i may as well ask, seeing as how i cant find the answer on google - are stone centipedes communal at all?

 

[vyadha]

I see them in groups in the wild quite a bit. Never tried keeping them though

 

[Patherophis]

They live in my potted plants, millipede enclosures, beetle enclosures ..., always in groups.

 

[john milstead]

They live in my potted plants, millipede enclosures, beetle enclosures ..., always in groups.

thanks so much!

 

[john milstead]

I see them in groups in the wild quite a bit. Never tried keeping them though

thank you! ill keep them communally if i get them, then

 

[davehuth]

I also find them together, though never have tried keeping them. Please update here on your success!

 

[Scoly]

In my experience it's a bit of both. They are definitely communal, but will definitely cannibalise if food runs short too. In fact many Scolopendra fall into the communal-up-to-a-point category too (though not as communal as Lithobius) - we just never find out as we never keep them together!

The neat thing about a good colony of stone centipedes is that if you design the enclosure right, you're always bound to see one or two. I had set up a small aquarium with alternating layers of soil and cardboard, and you could always see a couple through the side walls. Unfortunately the cardboard disintegrated over time. I was going to rebuild it using wood chips from my snake viv mixed in with soil, as I reckon that will create lots of nooks and crannies visible through the walls.

 

[DreadMan]

I am not sure if anyone will respond to this, but a few days ago I lifted a rock in my stone centipede enclosure and saw that one had layed eggs and was curled around it. Today I went to check on it but i could not find it. I sifted through all the soil five or six times but could not find anything. All the centipedes in there were well fed and had not attacked each other once. I could not find any of the eggs either. Do you all think that the other centipedes ate it?