Something i saw on animal planet?

Bug collecter

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Messages
32
Hi Guys

I was watching a programme about london zoo and they were speaking to the guy in charge of the inverts and he said that centipedes were too dangerous for people to keep as pets my question are centipedes really that dangerous?. Also he says there has been one reported death due to a centipede bite is this true also? thanks guys. :)
 

MilkmanWes

Arachnobaron
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Jul 9, 2004
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Sounds to me like he wanted to make himself seem more manly for doing something too dangerous for us common folk.
 

fatbloke

Arachnoangel
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Bug collecter

i dont think that centipedes are to dangerous to keep as pets if you know what your dealing with but there has been talk going around for the last couple of years that they want them added to the DWA list :(
yes there has been one reported death from a centipede it was from a s.subspinipes that bit a 7yr old girl in the head area and she died about 24hrs after the bite

john
 

danread

Arachnoprince
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Dec 5, 2002
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There is no doubt they are one of the more advanced inverts to keep in terms of speed and aggressiveness, but it terms of toxicity, they are well down the list compared to many of the venemous scorpion and true spider species. Considering how common Scolopendra are in some parts of the world, and the fact that there has only ever been one recorded death, it shows how harmless they really are. To put it in perspecitve, thousands of people die every year from wasp and bee stings, but none from pede bites. Having said that, a bite is no doubt very painful, but as it it not life threatening, they definitely shoud not be on the DWA list. If i was a pede dealer, i probably wouldnt sell to anyone under the age of 16 due to the potential for accidents, but there shouldn;t be restrictions on what responsible adults can keep.

Cheers,
 

thedreadedone

Arachnoknight
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MilkmanWes said:
Sounds to me like he wanted to make himself seem more manly for doing something too dangerous for us common folk.

i happen to know the bug staff at london zoo, and that is not the attitude they have
there are many many irresponsible people that want bugs as pets or have bugs as pets
they were probably trying to discourage that sort of person
 

misfitsfiend

Arachnobaron
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fatbloke said:
Bug collecter


yes there has been one reported death from a centipede it was from a s.subspinipes that bit a 7yr old girl in the head area and she died about 24hrs after the bite

john
But thats only what the parents, and media say, the doctors dont really know what killed the girl, so we have no proof that it was the pede. Alot off people get bitten by spiders or stung by scorpions and die, but that doesnt mean it could ONLY BE because they were bitten or stung.
 

fatbloke

Arachnoangel
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danread said:
they definitely shoud not be on the DWA list. If i was a pede dealer, i probably wouldnt sell to anyone under the age of 16 due to the potential for accidents, but there shouldn;t be restrictions on what responsible adults can keep.

Cheers,
Dan
i agree they shouldnt be put on the DWA list as for the age of selling them i would make the age limit 18

john
 

Melmoth

ArachnoSweetTalker
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Oct 7, 2003
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Dan,John,
I agree with what you are saying.The reason that most scorps are on the DWA licence list,in the UK,is because of the number of idiots per capita that we hav here.In the US,people seem to havea more responsible attitude (on the whole)to venomous inverts.I mean,you aren't always hearing reports of people being bitten, and considering the number of Buthidae scorps kept in US. I have a nagging fear that some Richard Head will act irresponsibly here,soon,with regard to a large pede and they will add them to DWA list.It's only a matter of time. :mad:

Sir George Melmoth
 

Wolvie56X

Arachnobaron
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Apr 9, 2004
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sorry you UK guys gotta go through this, i live in Connecticut, USA, and in my state no tarantulas, scorpions, centipedes or even millipedes are allowed, so i can really feel for you if they stop allowing certain inverts, cause we get none at all

all it takes is one moron and then the whole trade can get ruined, in the last year since ive been keeping inverts regularly, i have only heard of 2 people getting stung by a life threatening scorpion, one was a member of these boards and thank god hes ok, and the other was a pet shop worker, dry stung by an A Australis

i honestly believe there should be some kind of regulations for keeping potentionally life threatening species, like age requirements and basic knowledge and so forth

last thing i wanna hear about is some dumb 15 year old kid, whos oblivious parents, allowed to keep a deathstalker and then gets stung and then dies from it, all over the news, know what that does to us? nothing good at all, i guarantee it

pedes are by far the most advanced inverts on the market, their speed, strength and pure aggressiveness is unparralelled, but their weak - mild venom makes them pretty ok, still an extremely painful bite i hear, but in NO WAY a pet for a minor, at least in my mind, there are some exceptions, as some of our younger board members show some pretty good maturity for their ages and have no desire to hold their pets, well cept for some T's and Emps

hope everythnig works out for you guys, FIGHT THE POWER!! hehe
 

Professor T

Arachnodemon
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Apr 11, 2003
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Bug collecter said:
Hi Guys

I was watching a programme about london zoo and they were speaking to the guy in charge of the inverts and he said that centipedes were too dangerous for people to keep as pets my question are centipedes really that dangerous?. Also he says there has been one reported death due to a centipede bite is this true also? thanks guys. :)
IMO centipedes are for advanced keepers and not as a casual invertebrate pet. The escape factor is significant. When you move a centipede it should be done in a bathtub. A pet shop worker had multiple bites from a centipede in a single errant transfer in Florida last year. Centipedes take some special handling skills and respect. Ever since I placed two in a pillow case while collecting them in a Kansas field and took out one and a half back at the lab, I've understood their furiocity.
 

Amurtigermaster

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 1, 2003
Messages
18
wonderful idea those of you in the US heard of the patriot act it says that government people with any suspicions about your house can enter your home and search (ransac) your home for evidance which any one in hydroponics or advanced aquariums and invert keepers are a major red flag to police because we use special equitment such as light bulbs and heat mats, filters, chemical so on an so forth wich all can be missused to produce dangerous weapons and such stuff so with out a warrent a police person could see you and see you with heat lamps and a heat mat and assume that we are doing something illegal and say good by to all your equitment and animals no to mention the human societys they will turn you into a media story of how they save the comunity from a insane person who was keeping dangerous animals and creatures that could spread disease trust me when I say media because they will have you in the paper and news all from some one who thought that it should be recomend that a policy be in place to protect people from criminal intent like potential criminals the same as

there should be some kind of regulations for keeping potentionally life threatening species

age limit

also the animal person at the zoo has to say that stuff to save his rear from a legal reprocusions and he wants to protect the industry by discouraging the majority and the minority of us that are able will do enough counter research to see that these animals are not as hard to take care of if you use commmon sense and have some respect

sorry for this rambling I get wound on this type of thread
 

Randolph XX()

Arachnoprince
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Aug 10, 2004
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i had 10 Scolopendra when i was 14, local wild caught ones
multilans and also subspines. i used to hanlde them barehands, also brought some of them to school for my presentation. i had never get bite when i was under 18
 
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