Vietnamese Giant Centipede

[Grace18]

Hello! I have a Vietnamese Giant Centipede that I had gotten on the 6th of November. The seller said that he would need a few days to settle into his habitat before it would eat. It's been about 2 weeks and he still hasn't eaten. It has gotten used to its habitat and has been hiding out in log I put in there. I pour some water and mist his habitat daily for humidity. He doesn't seem stressed and I see him come out to drink out of his water bowl but he doesn't eat. Is there something else I should be doing? Does anyone have anything to share about their centipede's eating habits and frequency?

 

[Liquifin]

S. dehaani are quite good eaters which they have quite slow metabolisms so they don't when they're not hungry from what I've experienced. Also how fat is this pede? A well fed pede doesn't need to be fed for a while. A picture of the centipede would help.

 

[Grace18]

I don't think that it looks fat but I'll try to get a picture of it.

 

[mantisfan101]

Centipedes don't really need to feed as much, it could be in premolt or just not hungry

 

[fiendish foe]

When I got my first dehaani it ate right out of the cup and then wouldn’t eat for a fortnight. A lot of the time they come out to explore and roam about and then bury themselves again.

 

[Grace18]

Never mind, the centipede ate it. The only thing that remained of the cricket was a couple legs and wings. Too bad, I would've liked to see it in action!

 

[fiendish foe]

They’re fun to watch eat, but they leave very little behind.

 

[Teds ts and Inverts]

Hello! I have a Vietnamese Giant Centipede that I had gotten on the 6th of November. The seller said that he would need a few days to settle into his habitat before it would eat. It's been about 2 weeks and he still hasn't eaten. It has gotten used to its habitat and has been hiding out in log I put in there. I pour some water and mist his habitat daily for humidity. He doesn't seem stressed and I see him come out to drink out of his water bowl but he doesn't eat. Is there something else I should be doing? Does anyone have anything to share about their centipede's eating habits and frequency?

Most Scolopendra sp. are voracious eaters, but like many inverts, they can go off their food for a while. It’s likely that your pede just doesn’t feel the need to eat, and this is completely fine. Especially if he/she looks rather fat.

Premolt is another possibility, although they usually bury themselves when they’re in premolt. When I got my Scolopendra dehaani, it had an insatiable appetite. But recently, it stopped eating and disappeared for a while. Thankfully, it made a window on the side of it’s enclosure, and I saw that it had molted.

Until it buries itself, keep offering prey items to it once every week or so (or whatever your feeding schedule is), but don’t be alarmed if it continues to refuse food. Like my Mom always tells me, “Don’t get stressed about anything that’s out of your control.” Assuming that you’re keeping it correctly, his/her appetite is something you can’t control, so try not to get too stressed over it.

 

[Teds ts and Inverts]

Never mind, the centipede ate it. The only thing that remained of the cricket was a couple legs and wings. Too bad, I would've liked to see it in action!

Good to hear! If only I saw this before I wrote a book in my previous post....

 

[basin79]

Also you can just pop a prekilled food item on the surface near one of the enclosure sides. Take it out the morning after. That's how I knew my pede was actually still alive for quite a while. The prekilled cricket/morio was disappearing during the night.

 

[Grace18]

Most Scolopendra sp. are voracious eaters, but like many inverts, they can go off their food for a while. It’s likely that your pede just doesn’t feel the need to eat, and this is completely fine. Especially if he/she looks rather fat.

Premolt is another possibility, although they usually bury themselves when they’re in premolt. When I got my Scolopendra dehaani, it had an insatiable appetite. But recently, it stopped eating and disappeared for a while. Thankfully, it made a window on the side of it’s enclosure, and I saw that it had molted.

Until it buries itself, keep offering prey items to it once every week or so (or whatever your feeding schedule is), but don’t be alarmed if it continues to refuse food. Like my Mom always tells me, “Don’t get stressed about anything that’s out of your control.” Assuming that you’re keeping it correctly, his/her appetite is something you can’t control, so try not to get too stressed over it.

Thanks for the information! This is my first Vietnamese Centipede but I had kept a couple smaller species, like the Common Desert Centipede. Those species were very speedy, always disappeared into the dirt, and voraciously attacked its prey. I guess compared to the smaller, hardier, and more skittish desert centipedes this one seems a bit more laid back and not as quick.

 

[Ian14]

Thanks for the information! This is my first Vietnamese Centipede but I had kept a couple smaller species, like the Common Desert Centipede. Those species were very speedy, always disappeared into the dirt, and voraciously attacked its prey. I guess compared to the smaller, hardier, and more skittish desert centipedes this one seems a bit more laid back and not as quick.

My two scolopendra, dehaani and mutilans, are far from laid back. As soon as their enclosures are opened they are raised up waiting for food. Anything dropped in is grabbed instantly. You may have a docile one, or more likely its still settling in.
My dehaani was very slow and shy when it first arrived, after a couple of weeks it was as if it had been swapped with another one.
Don't underestimate yours. It won't try to disappear it will try to grab anything near it.

 

[Quetzalcoatl Nyarlathotep]

From my experience, desert species have been more skittish, but not nearly as aggressive as my asian species. Oddly enough tho, my piecoflava Queen Abraxas let's me give her back rubs sometimes, along with one of my Hainanums. Seems to me that every individual is unique in temperament, but is still predisposed to typical behaviors of the select species. I just need to start breeding them instead of buying them because they're very addictive and expensive to buy when you only look for the rare ones like me lol