tips on finding scolopendra heros arizonensis in Arizona?

[mellow]

I already have a scolopendra heros arizonensis but I want to find one in the wild myself, does anyone know where when and how to find a scolopendra heros arizonensis in Arizona? Thanks in advance.

 

[Smotzer]

I’m assuming like finding other centipedes under rocks, logs, leaf litter, but I would do this on colder cloudy days as IME more centipedes are out and not burrowed on those types of days( I read this somewhere once and it has worked pretty okay for finding centipedes and millisecond). They are in my area too big haven’t gone out to look for them yet. Their range covers my area but not sure if they are restricted to certain types of habitats. But how I described them is how I would go about trying to track one down.

 

[mellow]

I’m assuming like finding other centipedes under rocks, logs, leaf litter, but I would do this on colder cloudy days as IME more centipedes are out and not burrowed on those types of days( I read this somewhere once and it has worked pretty okay for finding centipedes and millisecond). They are in my area too big haven’t gone out to look for them yet. Their range covers my area but not sure if they are restricted to certain types of habitats. But how I described them is how I would go about trying to track one down.

Thanks for the reply! What was the size of the biggest centipede you did find? Was it a polymorpha?

 

[Smotzer]

Thanks for the reply! What was the size of the biggest centipede you did find? Was it a polymorpha?

Well I just moved down here to Texas, so I haven’t found any really big ones yet. The stuff I found was smaller species in New Jersey( nothing special) , but I did once find a giant, around 5-6in millipede that was extremely thick( I hadn’t ever seen anything like that before in my area). I put it in a plastic bag, that’s all I had was a plastic bag on me, to bring it home to ID and keep it but it chewed through the bag while I was bouldering outside, so I never got a photo or ID on it.

but I will be looking for that species your looking for, my grandparents have a big wood pile that I want to check out soon for them as soon as we get a really cloudy day.

 

[mellow]

Well I just moved down here to Texas, so I haven’t found any really big ones yet. The stuff I found was smaller species in New Jersey( nothing special) , but I did once find a giant, around 5-6in millipede that was extremely thick( I hadn’t ever seen anything like that before in my area). I put it in a plastic bag, that’s all I had was a plastic bag on me, to bring it home to ID and keep it but it chewed through the bag while I was bouldering outside, so I never got a photo or ID on it.

but I will be looking for that species your looking for, my grandparents have a big wood pile that I want to check out soon for them as soon as we get a really cloudy day.

Alright.

 

[Smotzer]

Alright.

Are they any other species you are looking to find?

 

[mellow]

Are they any other species you are looking to find?

Maybe a whipspider or vinegaroon.

 

[Smotzer]

I know Scolopendra heros has at least two other subspecies

 

[Smotzer]

Maybe a whipspider or vinegaroon.

I’ve never really thought about it but how do you go about locating a whipspider in nature? They didn’t exist where I lived before so never looked into it.

 

[ReignofInvertebrates]

Vinegaroons are very active at night and spend the daytime in burrows if I remember correctly. Actually that might be the best time to find Scolopendra heros as well.

 

[mellow]

Is there a time of year that I would be more likely to find a scolopendra heros arizonensis?

 

[NYAN]

Is there a time of year that I would be more likely to find a scolopendra heros arizonensis?

During monsoons.

 

[mellow]

During monsoons.

so do I look at night during monsoons while it's still raining or the night it stops raining? Have you ever found one in the wild? And if so how did that go?

 

[Bill S]

I find Scolopendra heros every once in a while - but not usually in a way I can recommend to you. I got one last week as I was making breakfast. Opened the cabinet to get a couple dishes, and there was a heros sitting next to them. My wife caught one that had climbed up into a mop she had leaned against the outside wall of the house. One morning as I was checking my e-mail I felt something crawl across my bare foot. I looked down and saw it was a heros, so I stood up and hopped on the other foot to where I had a 5-gallon bucket I could shake my foot into. Still another one showed up once on a laundry counter as we were folding laundry.

More practical though, look at night during the monsoons (late summer) along roads. They are big enough to see on the road, and a friend of mine caught one that was feeding on a road-killed snake. And as people above have said, turn over rocks, boards, etc.

 

[mellow]

I find Scolopendra heros every once in a while - but not usually in a way I can recommend to you. I got one last week as I was making breakfast. Opened the cabinet to get a couple dishes, and there was a heros sitting next to them. My wife caught one that had climbed up into a mop she had leaned against the outside wall of the house. One morning as I was checking my e-mail I felt something crawl across my bare foot. I looked down and saw it was a heros, so I stood up and hopped on the other foot to where I had a 5-gallon bucket I could shake my foot into. Still another one showed up once on a laundry counter as we were folding laundry.

More practical though, look at night during the monsoons (late summer) along roads. They are big enough to see on the road, and a friend of mine caught one that was feeding on a road-killed snake. And as people above have said, turn over rocks, boards, etc.

Thanks for the excellent reply! Do you ever find them when it's raining or mostly soon after it stops? And is it still cloudy when you find them?

 

[NYAN]

so do I look at night during monsoons while it's still raining or the night it stops raining? Have you ever found one in the wild? And if so how did that go?

I personally wouldn’t recommend going out at night during the rain. You can find them normally at night during the season and during the day underneath debris after the rain.

I have yet to find one in the wild, and I’ve searched in 3 states that have them.

 

[Bill S]

Thanks for the excellent reply! Do you ever find them when it's raining or mostly soon after it stops? And is it still cloudy when you find them?

I have seen them out during the day as well as at night, even on sunny days if it isn't too hot. But that's not predictable at all. I've seen them mostly in damp conditions - in my greenhouse when I water the plants, when the road is damp (but as Nyan suggests don't look for them while it's still raining). I've seen them in caves (I've spent a lot of time in caves). My choice of the best place to look for them would be under boards or pieces of wood on fairly rocky ground not far from an area that gets water (stream beds in southern Arizona frequently are dry most of the year, but run briefly after rains). If you plan to be in an area for more than a day or two you might even place some boards in an appropriate area for a few days and water the ground under them.

 

[mellow]

I have seen them out during the day as well as at night, even on sunny days if it isn't too hot. But that's not predictable at all. I've seen them mostly in damp conditions - in my greenhouse when I water the plants, when the road is damp (but as Nyan suggests don't look for them while it's still raining). I've seen them in caves (I've spent a lot of time in caves). My choice of the best place to look for them would be under boards or pieces of wood on fairly rocky ground not far from an area that gets water (stream beds in southern Arizona frequently are dry most of the year, but run briefly after rains). If you plan to be in an area for more than a day or two you might even place some boards in an appropriate area for a few days and water the ground under them.

Thank you so much for another great reply!