life span?

death66

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Messages
145
hello there, i just was at a local pet store and they had 2 "giant centipedes"for 8 of 9 bucks!!! they were over 6-7 inches !!! i am not sure as to what kind they are but they kinda resembled some pics of a Scolopendra sp. "Peruvian" that i saw. anyway i was wondering what kinda of life span these devils have? to buy or not to buy....
thanx
XdouglasX
 

Cooper

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 22, 2003
Messages
962
If it is the peruvian giant, BUY!!!!! If it isnt, BUY ANYWAYS!!!!
 

Arachnida

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Messages
69
Wow. At that size, 8 or 9 dollars is one hell of a good deal.
They are probably not Peruvian Giants...those are pretty hard to come by here in the US, though it's not impossible. About 5 years ago - before I got into this hobby - I was a local pet store and saw what I now believe was in fact a Peruvian Giant for sale for about $15.00.
A couple years later, while at Regal Reptiles, I told Pat Kane about this. Based on the description I gave him, he told me the thing was probably worth $150.00. He said that sometimes these really rare centipedes make it into the pet stores. The people working there have no clue what the things are really worth, so they sell them at ridiculously low prices.

I'm not sure what the lifespan of a centipede is. I assume it varies greatly by Order or even Family. My really crude estimate is that it probably takes a Scolopendra heros (and so possibly other Scolopendrae (sp?) as well) somewhere between 3 - 5 years to reach full length. So at the very least they live 3 years, though almost certainly they live at least a few years longer than this.
 
Last edited:

phoenixxavierre

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 9, 2002
Messages
1,293
Originally posted by death66
hello there, i just was at a local pet store and they had 2 "giant centipedes"for 8 of 9 bucks!!! they were over 6-7 inches !!! i am not sure as to what kind they are but they kinda resembled some pics of a Scolopendra sp. "Peruvian" that i saw. anyway i was wondering what kinda of life span these devils have? to buy or not to buy....
thanx
XdouglasX
That's a steal for that size centipede, no matter what species!! :D buy buy buy!!

;)

Peace,

Paul
 

Steven

pede-a-holic
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 18, 2003
Messages
4,022
as far as i know,... a scolopendra reaches adult size in between 2 years,... and grows his entire lifespan.
Most pedes die after 8-10 years or so.
 
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