Has anyone in AQ kept centipedes before? My son is considering keeping some of those sold in lfs as food for aros.
Most important question is what to feed? Any easily obtainable food?
Other information regarding tank setup would be useful.
I read that the venomous bit is at the anterior. I understand some keepers would snip off the venomous claws. Would that kill the centipede or affect its ability to hunt and feed?
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
you can feed them crickets... make sure they are of appropriate size.
simple question... if i cut off your hands.. would it affect the way you eat and defend yourself? it applies similarly to the centipedes. You make them safe by cutting their mandibles off and thus slowly "killing" them..or you leave them as they are and don't handle them once the are in the tank.
Make sure the tanks are secure... they are great escapees...
I have kept them a few times, and been bitten a few times. The ones they sell at LFS has been defanged, and would be willing to eat crushed crickets or mealworms, some people even feed them dogfood! After a few moults they will grow back their fangs, get ones with the undamaged antennae, those never grow back. They really need moisture so leave a dish of water for them and spray the leaf litter. I wouldn't say that they are very poisonous from my experience, but their bite strength is really hard. I prefer my pede whole.
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
Shai.. it really hurts doesn't it..haha..
i got bitten on my back when one escaped onto my chair..haha..
Many thanks for replies, especially Shaihulud. Son really enthusiastic, wife very much the reverse.
Shaihulud, my son did some research. He says their metabolism is rather slow so the smaller ones need feeding about 3 times a week of a small mealworm. Would that be correct?
Ouch! I got bitten on my finger, I thought it was amputated because of the blood. The rest of the bites were by smaller ones on the hand. I was young and stupid. Btw it is a bad example to handle them, people can die from allergic reactions, better not to test it.
3 times a week would just be right or even less if you mean those smaller black ones that you can catch locally? Those are quite safe, they don't really grow big enough to really bite through the skin. I feed those big red ones with a cricket or cockroach once a week, nearly set up a giant cockroach farm to feed them but after i saw one such facility, no more. Theres a shipment of those cherry legs centipedes at Aquastar, haven't seen those imported before. Btw the anterior claws are not poisonous, its the fangs at the front that bites.
Shaihulud, we were at Aquastar when he saw those. Kept in a tank where payment is made. Are those cherry legs? Now we know the species. Would you consider those big and to feed a cricket once a week?
Planning to buy long tweezers and perhaps wrap the business ends with sponge. Mum has agreed but only after his mid-year exams.
Its scientific name is scolopendra subspinipes mutilans, cherry legs is just the trade name. among the mutilans, they usually just sell the red headed ones.
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
I don't know what you consider big but they grow to about 20cm largest...do take note to have a tall enough tank so they can't escape.
The one that i got bitten with gave me random flash pains on the back shoulder blade that came back even after the wound healed...so please be careful.
These centipedes are burrowers so you may not see them that often.
Read on Arachnoboards that they give very painful bites:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=254
Good to learn that the bites are not fatal. Small blessing.
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