Mastigoproctus
Centiman
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2015
- Messages
- 303
I don't know crap about centipedes, I will confess, but I've heard this same claim with millipedes many times. You mentioned centipedes are very prone to ingesting portions of their substrate...wouldn't this mean the substrate would be in their system whether it was the cause of death or not?
For example, I read a university study on millipedes, and 20 dead ones where cut open. They ALL had coco fiber in their stomachs. This would lead most people to think "Coco coir causes compaction and death". But when he dissected several that DIDN'T randomly die, they ALSO had it in their stomachs. This showed that the coco coir wasn't the causation necesarilly, it was present in 100% of the millipedes and therefore easy to assume thats why they all died. Its also worth mentioned the vast majority didn't die.
I know millies and centis can be night and day sometimes, just a thought.
These deaths where all fully and unmistakably due to the cocofiber impaction and there is indisputable evidence that I've personally found in a huge amount of cases. No strands found post-impaction or pre-impaction, just 1-3 strands at the exact impaction site with severe infection and advanced decomposition post impaction, while there was overly huge amounts of undigested or partially digested food pre impaction. The smell and decomposition state of the tissue was apparent even in ones that died minutes before the autopsy, and it's not mistakable for it just being in the digestive tract with the internal state of decay that's seen 100% of the time in these situations. In every autopsy I've done that showed the expanded center section and the deflated rear trunk indicative of centipede impaction, all results where entirely conclusive and identical; 1-3 simple strands that are not digestibleade made it deep into the digestive tract and killed them. These are not millipedes, they cannot process woods or plant based solid fiber strands like beetles and millipedes can, they are simply not the same especially in the diet/digestive area.
With that said, go ahead and use cocofiber if you want, it's more expensive then peat by a long shot, it helps mold grow where as peat doesn't allow mold growth, and it does kill centipedes and there is decades of proof, where peat is 100000% safe and has never killed a single specimen to my knowledge or that I have seen at least in my 2 decades+ of keeping.