tergite hail damage

[Galapoheros]

Finally able to log onto Photobucket again to upload a couple of images. I've noticed that the tergites on centipedes are smooth and shiny when I see them in the wild. When I bring them home and keep them long enough for them to go through a couple of molts, their tergites lose their smoothness, they get little ripples and small warps on them. They just don't look as good. Here's an example. The smaller pic is of rippled tergites on a centipede I've had over a year now. The big pic is of a centipede I found last week. They are much more smooth on the newly found pede, as always. I know this doesn't have to do with age so I've ruled that out. I'm thinking maybe something to do with diet or maybe too much moisture in the sub I've got them in. I'm letting the containers dry a little. If anybody knows for sure what's going on here, that'd be great. If nobody knows for sure, I would like to hear any opinions, speculations, anything.

 

[hibludij]

i've noticed the same thing with my cingulata, im keping its container totaly dry for about two weeks now and i think its improving (although i dont know if thats possible without a molt) so it could be a moisture problem, but im not an expert so...

 

[Drachenjager]

is that the fat one u caught when i was down?

 

[Galapoheros]

Yea. It's got a pretty crazy attitude.

 

[spydrhunter1]

Invertebrate Medicine by Gregory A.Lewbart list several potential causes of wrinkled exoskeleton in millipedes including: Diet or external factors substrate or organic chemicals may interfere with production of the chitin. It may also result from humidity that is not at the proper level. The exoskeleton may not calcify properly because of excessive protein, lack of calcium or acidic substrates. Hope this helps.

 

[Galapoheros]

Very interesting! Thanks! My hunch was ph level. I was thinking that, like peat, coco fiber is acidic but I don't know that. Anybody know? All the S. h. castaneiceps I have ever come across were found in alkaline soil and limestone rocky areas. I really feel like this is the problem. I'm just going on hunches and speculation again but it's what I was thinking and then you mention acidity. I may try to make some changes. Anybody know of a slightly alkaline sub I could try? Hey, I could buy lime in powder form (not the bad stuff) at a nursery and add it to the coco fiber. But, I'm assuming the coco fiber is acidic in the first place so I would like to clear that up. I've thought that because of it's clean, sterile nature, like peat. Sound good or bad:? . I've added small limestone rocks in the past few months because of my hunch but I don't think that's going to do it even if this is the problem. Well, that's putting me in a direction to go, good enough, thanks a lot!

 

[chrispy]

I remember the coco being neutral PH at 7. Regular peat moss is like 4.5-5.5

 

[Drachenjager]

Very interesting! Thanks! My hunch was ph level. I was thinking that, like peat, coco fiber is acidic but I don't know that. Anybody know? All the S. h. castaneiceps I have ever come across were found in alkaline soil and limestone rocky areas. I really feel like this is the problem. I'm just going on hunches and speculation again but it's what I was thinking and then you mention acidity. I may try to make some changes. Anybody know of a slightly alkaline sub I could try? Hey, I could buy lime in powder form (not the bad stuff) at a nursery and add it to the coco fiber. But, I'm assuming the coco fiber is acidic in the first place so I would like to clear that up. I've thought that because of it's clean, sterile nature, like peat. Sound good or bad:? . I've added small limestone rocks in the past few months because of my hunch but I don't think that's going to do it even if this is the problem. Well, that's putting me in a direction to go, good enough, thanks a lot!

hmmm how about grabbing up some of that black gumbo and cookign it in the oven to kill all the baddies and then rehydrate it and use that ? thats what they are in in the wild .

 

[????josh????]

Just my guess, but do you think that maybe they get WORN smooth in the wild; from rough stones and other abrasive objects, or maybe coarse soil?