WC centipedes in the hobby

[Matts inverts]

I was reading an old thread a while ago and I started to realize that almost all centipedes in the hobby are WC or rarely bred. The labels are captive bred but if you ask the seller, they would say it was the babies from an imported centipede. I was wondering why the imports or ones collected in a local area are still the biggest part of the hobby. I was going to get a captive bred tiger centipede but these are barely offered in the hobby. There are centipede farms in Asia that produce tons of centipedes which probably aren’t the best for the animals but still not catching a ton in the wild and selling them for super cheap. I was wondering if anyone knew why or if people just aren’t breeding or offering them in the hobby.

 

[Tarantuland]

I was reading an old thread a while ago and I started to realize that almost all centipedes in the hobby are WC or rarely bred. The labels are captive bred but if you ask the seller, they would say it was the babies from an imported centipede. I was wondering why the imports or ones collected in a local area are still the biggest part of the hobby. I was going to get a captive bred tiger centipede but these are barely offered in the hobby. There are centipede farms in Asia that produce tons of centipedes which probably aren’t the best for the animals but still not catching a ton in the wild and selling them for super cheap. I was wondering if anyone knew why or if people just aren’t breeding or offering them in the hobby.

One reason I have read is that they are extremely difficult to determine sex. I have heard to tell you often have to anesthesize the pede, then you have a very short window of determining it. This is causes lots of bites to humans and deaths to centipedes. I don't know how accurate this is, but I read it on this site. I've never kept one though

 

[Matts inverts]

Yeah, that’s probably part of it. Unfortunately, my first centipede is a WC dehaani and I felt horrible for buying it. I love it but I try to buy CB always. I found tiger centipedes and always released them after I looked at them really quickly but I thought I would like to breed this species so I asked the local reptile shops and they said they only offer WC centipedes so I started questioning it. When I start my reptile shop, I’m going to try to specialize in centipede breeding so I can spread some CB pedes into the hobby.

 

[Ian14]

A lot of CB are actually captive hatched from eggs laid by recently captured females.

 

[scolopendra277]

I don't think you need to anaesthetise the pede. I remember reading something where you could sex them from a molt, if you can get it. I'll try to find it for you guys.

Edit -
I found it!

Centipede Sexing