subspinipes is expelling something weird (help asap plz)

maxident213

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Hello (forgive the crudeness of this post)

My big S. subspinipes has been attempting to crap something out all morning and seems to be having a hard time of it. Right on the end, underneath the division between the terminal legs, where I assume a centipede's butt is, he keeps trying to pump something out that won't come out. It's a cream-coloured mass about the size of an adult cricket, I mean it really looks like the centipede is just taking a poop. BUT, the "mass" won't come out, it just keeps "prairie-dogging." And, this mass has two little spikes sticking out of it, one on each side, small like the spikes on a cricket's butt. It looks like it COULD be some kind internal organ, or sexual organ? This is kinda freaking me out, the centipede is really straining here, I'm kinda worried. I'm trying to take pics but my camera is horrible close-up. Do pedes get fecal impactions or something similar? Is there some kind of organ located there that could be, like, expelling itself? Is it normal for a pede to take all day to poop? Would appreciate any help here, thank you.

edit - The blobby organ/mass appears to have a couple strands of silk on it. ???
 
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mindlessvw

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there was a siniliar thread concerning something along these lines...perhaps a search will help...if i find it i will post
 

maxident213

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Please do.... I searched for impactions and poop problems but didn't really find anything. And I am unable to get a good picture. The pede has been healthy up to this point, acting normally apart from this, eating fine, cleaning itself, etc. Then every so often it will go sit in the corner and start trying to squeeze this thing out again. Never seen it before today.
 

cheetah13mo

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Do the two prodruding points change in size or move at all? If they do, I'm inclined to think it's a parasite. Something that size, where it's at, and how your describing it's actions just fits the parasite description. Pics would be a big help.
 

maxident213

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Didn't notice the points moving on their own at all. The pede has now crawled into his burrow, if he emerges and starts up again I will try again to take some pictures.
 

edesign

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maxident...I hope it's not the same thing that happened to my E. trigonopodus a short while ago:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=89299

the pictures are quite blurry as all I had was my web came...but it did appear somewhat as you describe, creamyish colored like a cricket, doesn't move. Check your pede closely to see if any segments appear swollen/bloated. The symptoms mine gave are in that thread...it didn't make it (it's still in my freezer in a zip loc until I stop being lazy and put it in a jar to preserve it)
 

edesign

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lol, man...i didn't even see your reply, i just read the original post and jumped back to the forum to dig mine up. good memory!
 

maxident213

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maxident...I hope it's not the same thing that happened to my E. trigonopodus a short while ago:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=89299

the pictures are quite blurry as all I had was my web came...but it did appear somewhat as you describe, creamyish colored like a cricket, doesn't move. Check your pede closely to see if any segments appear swollen/bloated. The symptoms mine gave are in that thread...it didn't make it (it's still in my freezer in a zip loc until I stop being lazy and put it in a jar to preserve it)
I read through your thread, and it sure sounds like it *could* be the same thing. It's definitely coming out of the same area. I haven't noticed any weird swelling in the pede, but I will look more closely once it comes out again. Today I saw it chewing on its rear end, trying to pull this thing out I think (or push it back in???). It's fairly heartbreaking. I'm going to offer a bigger bowl of water tonight if it wants to submerge itself, and I may try to nudge it in tomorrow if it hasn't done so. Apart from this weird problem, the pede is looking good & acting normally as it has for the eight months I've had it. I will look more closely for swollen body segments. Thank you guys for your help.
 

maxident213

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Hey, how is your pede?
Chilling out in his burrow for the last day or so. I got him to crawl through a bowl of water a few times, but he's not interested in soaking. I don't see any swollen areas on his body but it's been tough to get a good look. The humidity is way up there now, hopefully it helps, but I haven't seen anything in the tank that looks like what I saw before...... I'd feel a lot better if I saw him eat, or drink, or poop, or something..... :eek:

Probably the most frustrating thing about keeping invertebrate pets: when they have medical problems, there's quite often nothing we can do to help. :(

Thanks for asking though. :) Still hoping he's okay....
 

maxident213

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These are the best pictures I have been able to get. And they suck.

you can kind of see it nudging out here:

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/492/new001zm9.jpg

and you can kind of see it here:

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3415/new004xq5.jpg

and sort of here:

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/1517/new005jd5.jpg

These are the best I've been able to get, not much good I know, I am waiting for him to come out of his burrow and maybe I can get some more. I described the problem as well as I could, I'm hoping someone can help me based on that. Nice smilies though.
 

edesign

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i don't know how long my trigonopodus was having trouble before I noticed...it spent a lto of time buried as well (most pedes do :D). One day after a heavy mist it came topside and kept trying to scrabble out of the KK...for hours and hours. I thought it was odd but couldn't figure out what it was doing. after 24 or so hours of that it dug out a sort of pit and I found it motionless and reluctant to move if touched. It was twitching a little bit and would slooooowly move a little bit but would immediately stop if the nudging stopped. After another 24-36 hours it was kind of upside down and twitching it's antennae and a few legs...at that point I decided to euthanize it by putting it in the freezer. Surprisingly, I was really sad to have to do that to it...Toby was one of my favorite specimens, even if I rarely got to see it

hope yours pulls through man!
 

Texas Blonde

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Hey, how is the pede doing still? Alive?

This totally fascinates me. I know nothing about centis, but love them to no end. And it seems like such an unusual occurance. Have you dug through the substrate, to see if perhaps there is something the pede did manage to ejaculate?

I cant help it, since reading Ebola in 5th grade I have been fascinated by rare diseases, lol.
 

maxident213

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Hey, how is the pede doing still? Alive?

This totally fascinates me. I know nothing about centis, but love them to no end. And it seems like such an unusual occurance. Have you dug through the substrate, to see if perhaps there is something the pede did manage to ejaculate?

I cant help it, since reading Ebola in 5th grade I have been fascinated by rare diseases, lol.
The pede *seems* okay, he's been his usual self for the most part, though I haven't seen him eat or drink in at least a week, and I still catch him struggling with this unusual protuberance. It's gotten quite warm here and I have been keeping humidity extra-high but I don't think he's, uh, ejaculated anything. :p I really hope he's healthy and this isn't just the beginning of a gradual turn for the worse. If anything notable happens with him I will post up about it here.
 
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