Unwittingly Bought a Pregnant Scolopendra Alternans, Now bearing eggs.

[Aidsmcgee]

I ended up ordering fine pipe screens for smoking, it was 2 dollars for 25 of them and they should be perfect for ventilating the tupperwares. Tupperwares seem perfect because I can keep one side dryish and the other side damp.
Flightless fruit flies (Drosophila hydei) are on the way so I can be ready when separation time comes.

I just remembered though, that there is significant mold growing on the surface of the substrate in the mother centipede enclosure. I assume centipedes are a little bit better at dealing with mold than say, tarantulas and scorps, due to them spending most of their time in the wild in places where mold is common. Does anyone know more about this? Is the mold a threat? Would it be worth it to carefully extract the top layer while trying not to disturb the mother down below, or is it fine?

 

[Scoly]

I just remembered though, that there is significant mold growing on the surface of the substrate in the mother centipede enclosure. I assume centipedes are a little bit better at dealing with mold than say, tarantulas and scorps, due to them spending most of their time in the wild in places where mold is common. Does anyone know more about this? Is the mold a threat? Would it be worth it to carefully extract the top layer while trying not to disturb the mother down below, or is it fine?

No, don't disturb her, it would be a shame to risk it at this stage! The mother will have been keeping the eggs clean of mould all this time. If you do get mould in the cage it needs better ventilation, but for now I wouldn't go messing with *anything* until they have crawled away from the mother at which point you should separate them. Only then deal with fixing the mother's set up and feed her.

 

[Scoly]

And yes, we make far too big a deal about mould. Mould in itself is not a problem, but may be an indication of poor ventilation, and that can be a problem in a humid cage.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Mold usually is not a problem.
I'm going to guess you may have a female Hemiscolopendra marginata due to size and the way the eggs are held. Scolopendra usually wrap around the eggs, but you pic is how H. marginata hold the brood.

 

[Scolopendra1989]

UPDATE!

It's been a month and a half, since posting this thread, and the pedelings have fully taken shape, are a few millimeters long, and respond very actively to the light from my flashlight I use to view them in my poorly lit bedroom where they stay. They are white and becoming less and less transparent as time goes on. The mother is still clutching and protecting them, even carefully putting strays back in the bundle with the others.

I'm concerned about the mother, who hasn't eaten since the beginning of august and i'm a little bit worried she might die from starvation soon, she doesn't seem very lively, like shes conserving energy, but I think she will make it.

I'm still thinking the best way to separate the pedelings from the container would be to remove some of the substrate, and carefully dump it into a large plastic container where i would capture the mother and then recover the pedelings from. I sure hope they wont be too delicate right at the point where they leave their mother, because I'm worried about waiting any longer than that, they have no food and their mother is probably very hungry.

I plan to keep 10 to raise myself, and attempt to sell the rest (for shipping costs plus a few dollars for the trouble) on here. In terms of housing for the pedelings I will keep, I'm thinking small rectangular tupperware containers that ill keep in a 10gallon glass terrarium, so as to keep it nice and tropical for them all winter. Flightless fruit flies might be one of the only viable options for feeding them, as i feel that newborn dubias from my colony are too large and hide too much/burrow in the dirt. Ill probably source these on ebay or something. Im concerned about putting air holes in the containers while making it impossible for them to escape, I might have to buy some fine mesh screen and hot glue it to the air holes, but im cheap so tempted to make a few hundred pinholes in the top of each tupperware.

If anyone has any ideas on separation from the mother's container, feeding, housing, and care please let me know.

I think you'll be fine with what you're doing, just keep the pedelings inside that ten gallon (make sure it's empty btw) and see if they'll escape.

 

[SDCPs]

Congratulations on the continued progress!!