Vietnamese Giant Centipede bites?

[Scoly]

He was sexing the specimen. It waked up too fast and latched onto him. Couldn't detach it fast enough
That's why I always have someone with me when sexing a pede, to make sure I can have some backup if needed! (not talking about harming the pede but, for example, using the angular part of some tongs so as to keep the pede's head in place on the table if you know what gesture I'm talking about )

One thing I do when sexing is to slide the front end into a narrow glass tube, like a test tube (I have strange cigar-shaped bottles from a set of cognacs made to look like a cigar box) and only leave the tail end sticking out so it can't turn on you if it wakes up. I got the idea from a documentary I saw ages ago where they were studying island varieties of Fer de lance snakes. They had transparent plastic tubes that they would slide the front half of the snake into and it was too tight for it to turn around, so they could safely pop them and take samples etc... (Just as well because they found that the island varieties of Fer de lance have even worse venom because they prey on birds).

 

[Scoly]

As for the dehaani bites, you need to think beyond just the risk of accidents while feeding. Who else lives with you? (if the answer includes young children, then I'd say don't even think about a dehaani) What happens if you leave the lid open? Or the dog knocks over the cage? etc...

In WW2 the Americans kept getting bitten by centipedes in the Philippines, and the medics found that dentist anaesthetic (whatever that was at the time) injection at the site of the bite was the most effective treatment. The general consensus is that pain management is the cornerstone of treatment of centipede bites (and it goes without saying, treating for any secondary infection as you would with any puncture wound).

As for the size factor, yes 9" has a lot of wow factor, but 6" nothing to belittle either, especially when there's decent girth (at least that's what I get told every night).

 

[LawnShrimp]

One thing I do when sexing is to slide the front end into a narrow glass tube, like a test tube (I have strange cigar-shaped bottles from a set of cognacs made to look like a cigar box) and only leave the tail end sticking out so it can't turn on you if it wakes up.

This. Is. Brilliant. I have a bunch of clear plastic tubes from something or other (piping maybe) that I could use for this!

 

[SonsofArachne]

If anybody wants to watch someone let a Scolopendra heros arizonensis bite him here's a youtube link.

I own one of these and this vid gave me added respect for a animal I already had a lot respect for.

 

[Smelted Duck]

I'm a Vietnamese and giant Vietnam centipede can send you to the hospital for medical treatment

 

[Staehilomyces]

That Giant Desert Centipede bite is heavily exaggerated. None of the bite reports associated with this species mention the victim hunched on the ground in pain.

 

[SonsofArachne]

That Giant Desert Centipede bite is heavily exaggerated. None of the bite reports associated with this species mention the victim hunched on the ground in pain.

He may have been playing it up for the camera, but I'm not going to find out the hard way. I don't handle my inverts unless absolutely necessary, and the more dangerous ones not at all.

 

[Godzillaalienfan1979]

He may have been playing it up for the camera, but I'm not going to find out the hard way. I don't handle my inverts unless absolutely necessary, and the more dangerous ones not at all.

precisely the reason I don't handle any of may animals either. I just get the willies when something hard-shelled and many-legged is creeping over my hands, even if its super chill (the reason why Goliath plummeted to his unfortunate demise)

 

[SonsofArachne]

precisely the reason I don't handle any of may animals either. I just get the willies when something hard-shelled and many-legged is creeping over my hands, even if its super chill (the reason why Goliath plummeted to his unfortunate demise)

I'm not freaked out by handling any inverts, it's just I'm mostly worried about them. At best it stresses them, and at worst they end up dead. But even if I did handle it wouldn't be anything that could send me to the hospital. Though I did lightly touch my Scolopendra heros arizonensis on the back - when it was half way down it's burrow. It didn't even react.

 

[Godzillaalienfan1979]

I'm not freaked out by handling any inverts, it's just I'm mostly worried about them. At best it stresses them, and at worst they end up dead. But even if I did handle it wouldn't be anything that could send me to the hospital. Though I did lightly touch my Scolopendra heros arizonensis on the back - when it was half way down it's burrow. It didn't even react.

yeah, you make a good point, the human body is crawling with stuff that would easily gunk up an invert's well-being

 

[SonsofArachne]

yeah, you make a good point, the human body is crawling with stuff that would easily gunk up an invert's well-being

Well, you make a good point, because when I wrote about stress and possible death I was thinking of the act of handling itself. When I got my first T - G. pulchra, considered one of the most docile T's, I opened the container she was in and put my hand in front of her. She put one leg on the palm of my hand - and then backed up into the container. It made me believe these animals really don't want to be held.

 

[Godzillaalienfan1979]

Well, you make a good point, because when I wrote about stress and possible death I was thinking of the act of handling itself. When I got my first T - G. pulchra, considered one of the most docile T's, I opened the container she was in and put my hand in front of her. She put one leg on the palm of my hand - and then backed up into the container. It made me believe these animals really don't want to be held.

Yeah. If I were a tarantula or what have you, my first choice would NOT to be held high into the air by a colossal, pale organism

 

[mpaseler]

Yeah a guy at the local pet shop was holding trying to make people more comfortable around inverts he got tagged by a adult female vietnamese. He said imagine a bear gnawing on your hand for a few hours