What to use to block cord ports on Zilla tank?

[Brandon G]

Hello everyone, I recently became the happy owner of a Scolopendra Dehaani. I had prepared a jar for my pede (one of those huge plastic cheese-puff jars about half-filled with substrate) but I decided I wanted to give it a larger home so I purchased a 10-gallon zilla critter cage.

I have this filled about 3-3 1/2 inches with substrate with a couple of hides available. My concern with it is the two cord ports at the rear end of the sliding top. I don't believe they are large enough for my pede to squeeze through, but I would rather put something into those gaps as a caution.

I guess I should mention that the pede is easily a 7"-8" specimen, while these gaps are pretty tiny, probably around 1/8". What are the chances s/he could shove through that? The lid does lock when slid into place, and s/he would be pushing against that, so maybe I am just being paranoid, but then again I believe a little paranoia dealing with a dehaani is a good idea.

My question is what would be good to use as a filler? In the event that my pede figures out how to climb the silicone in the corners, then scales across the mesh to those gaps, what would be a good failsafe? Duct tape? I don't want something that is going to be potentially harmful to my pede.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sdsnybny]

A centipede can almost stand up on the last 2-3 body segments so that's about 5-6" tall for yours. You can use a razor to cut out the silicone out of the corners so it cant grab it and climb up easily. Post a pic of the holes you need to fill for better ideas but you could just fill it with hot glue. or a rubber plug/grommet.

 

[Brandon G]

Thanks for the reply sdsnybny. Since it's a new day and I've gotten a good night's rest I've looked at the gaps again and decided that I was indeed being overly paranoid. I'll probably take your advice and put a bit of hot glue or epoxy or something in there since I don't need them, but looking again I doubt very much the pede could get through there. Pic below, the coin I've used for scale is a US dime. The gap is around the thickness of the dime as well, with just a little wiggle room.

http://imgur.com/a/744ur

 

[Brandon G]

Just as a follow-up question, to avoid making a new thread, when I put the substrate into this tank, I tried to set it up so that it goes from a damper side (where the water dish is) to a drier side so that my pede, "Skittles", can decide where it feels most comfortable. However I am noticing that the humidity is around 50%. My Hygrometer lists this as 'tropical' range but I still feel it's probably too dry. Should I be trying to get it to ~75-80% for a Dehanni? Or is it enough to make sure the substrate is damp? Skittles tends to stay burrowed so it's probably okay, right?

I overflow the water dish every couple of days, and have misted a bit, but when is it too much? Not enough?