Good beginner/display pede

[spider_mike]

Hello,

Does anyone have suggestions for a good beginner pede that gets large and will display ok? Not hide all the time.

Thanks,
Mike

[Taryllton]

Originally Posted by spider_mike

Hello,

Does anyone have suggestions for a good beginner pede that gets large and will display ok? Not hide all the time.

Thanks,
Mike

Pedes are awful as display animals, generally speaking. I don't think there's a ton of difference in relative preference for hiding between species, they're just built to burrow/squeeze into tight spaces. It's their nature. Maybe someone will correct me if I'm wrong, though...

[spider_mike]

Don't they come out at all? My scorps and T's venture above ground but usually at night. The scorps are out every night and i can click on the black light for some viewing. Are the pedes nocturnal also?

Mike

[VesAn]

Originally Posted by spider_mike

Don't they come out at all? My scorps and T's venture above ground but usually at night. The scorps are out every night and i can click on the black light for some viewing. Are the pedes nocturnal also?

Mike

My personal experience is that my s. polymorpha is out all the time, and my s. subspinipes is out maybe half the time, with the other half spent hiding. If I stay up late I can usually see the s. subspinipes out wandering his terrarium after 12:00 at night.

[JDeRosa]

My old Malaysian Cherry Red was out most of the time.

[SAn]

Every pede will spend most of its time borrowed or hidden if enough substrate or a good hide are provided.

[BrysonCJ]

Saw my E. trigonopodus above ground once: the day I got it. Since then, if I want to see her I have to observe from the bottom of the terrarium- sometimes I can see her belly nestled against the bottom pane of glass. There's some evidence that she comes topside now and then, but I have yet to observe this.

I see my S. subspinipes daily...however, he's always under his cork bark. I only see him because the bark is oriented in a way that if I get my eyes right up against the glass and shine a light I'll see a few segments and legs (sometimes a head!).

My animals are damn cool....but make HORRIBLE showpieces. I'm hoping that with warm weather next year they'll come out a little more.

As for the polymorpha I owned 8 years ago- I seem to remember it being out all the time...but I also used just regular dirt from the backyard for substrate and can't remember having any hides for it. It ended up getting attacked by little black ants while I was on vacation. There weren't nearly as many resources for pede husbandry back then as there are now, unfortunately.

Millipedes, on the other hand, have made great showpieces for me...you just lose fearsome points.

[spider_mike]

Millipedes you say? That might not be bad. I have the scorps and T's and variose snakes, pitbull mutt so...... fearsome points should be covered. Looking for odd with this piece.

What types of milli's would you suggest?

[cacoseraph]

i found giving them well ventilated cages really makes them hide more, but if you give them really low vent cages they will come out more

[BrysonCJ]

Hmmm, interesting. I'll experiment with ways to limit ventilation. All except my flat rock scorps and b. dubias have mesh tops (all second-hand tanks...beggars can't be choosers). I placed a large plastic shopping bag over 70% of my s. subspinipe's tank, leaving only a rectangle of mesh large enough for the heatlamp. It's a really large tank for just one pede (29-gal tall)...but I wanted to make sure it couldn't escape. We'll see if that makes a difference this week. If not, I'll try some other configurations.

Saw my E. Trigo's antenna today! It was where one of its tunnels runs against the glass.

After the demise of my S. polymorpha, my parents got me an African giant black millipede. Very cool pet- docile and always out in the open. Never excreted poison. Only had to worry about it pooping on me when I took it out of its tank. Easy to feed, too (fresh veggies). Got to be about 23 cm or so. Just ordered another one and a couple of its red-banded cousins to live with my hissers. Hopefully they'll be exhibitionists, too. It's nice to know that my room is full of inverts...I just want to see them!

A mantis might be a good way to go, too. The wild-caught one I have is always fun to watch. It will even take a dubia from my fingers. It's just unfortunate that their life spans are so short. When it dies I might consider getting one of the African giants. Active, ferocious, visible, and non-venomous...they're almost perfect.

[SAn]

IF you want a display animal buy a fish. Centipedes are not.
Any measure to prevent their borrowing abilities reduces lifespan or leads to a sick pede.
Pedes have some long periods of their life that they stay out in the open and then they borrow for even longer.

[Moltar]

I picked up a 3" S. alternans "haiti" a couple of months ago for my first centipede. I've heard they come out more than most and that seems to be true. I can catch it out walking around just about every evening. I can even gently pick up it's container to get a better look without it running for cover. (Sometimes)

[cacoseraph]

i'd be careful with that heatlamp... you probably do need to use some kind of heatinng for at least winter in MD... but overall, heating is somewhat risky. centipedes have the crappiest moisture retention of most of the pet bugs and thus can dry out the easiest

as long as your temps are not staying beneath 50*F you don't really need to heat centipedes. mine did quite fine chilling out to 48-50*F for parts of winter

as a bonus they don't need to eat (and probably can't) at that level of temp

[peterbourbon]

Hi,

Originally Posted by cacoseraph

i'd be careful with that heatlamp... you probably do need to use some kind of heating for at least winter in MD... but overall, heating is somewhat risky. centipedes have the crappiest moisture retention of most of the pet bugs and thus can dry out the easiest

Centipedes live in different parts of the world that have at least differing temperatures. Their microhabitate is usually influenced by the climate outside, so that it depends on the species if heating is necessary or not (though most of them are robust and don't show clear signs of preferences, especially most of subspinipes - I don't wonder why they inhabit most parts of the globe).

Giving advices that focus on most maintainable setups does not mean it's good for pedes. If you heat up an enclosure you must surely fill the waterbowl a little bit more often, but why not? In their natural habitate they sometimes experience very dry and very wet days, changing quickly - they can choose between different temp zones what they actually can't do in a jar.
Keeping pedes in a non-ventilated small enclosure may work for some pedes and a certain period of time, but it's obviously nothing that resembles nature in any way.

as a bonus they don't need to eat (and probably can't) at that level of temp

What does "bonus" mean in this case? Less expenses for food? I had to read it twice to believe.

Of course there are some pedes who obviously "hibernate" in some ways (like most of the mediterranean species), but considering the tropics I doubt they stop eating in "winter".

Again: Pedes should not be overfed and some species even die faster if too much food is provided - but that has obviously something to do with natural conditions (enemies, the big fight for food - all things a pede will never occur in captivity). Spending less energy in our terrariums forces a modified diet to keep pedes in good conditions.

I always wonder why tarantula hobby is so established, making all unbelievable efforts to keep species alive and pedes are still kept in crappy conditions.

Passing by the last years in my mind I must sadly say that nothing has changed in the hobby: Pedes die of unknown reasons and people still guess it has something to do with wild-caught animals and import conditions - threads pile up with people asking what's wrong with their centipede - and finally no one makes just simple efforts to look at climatic diagrams in origin habitate. Are centipedes not worth the whole effort?

What we haven't considered for years as well is their digestive system with food and nutrition preferences. I don't expect people to come up with good concepts and I don't blame all the beginners, but experienced keepers like you who give antiquary advices always scare me, to be honest.

For years there has been a strange rumour around, like a "general care sheet" for ALL pedes. No one ever doubted it and nowadays still people adapt those general care sheets, as if all centipede species live in the same part of the world.

I can only motivate beginners not to believe anyone and make their own experiences by looking up the natural habitate of the species they want to keep. If no one starts to work on that topic and still picks up the most effordable and less time consuming answer, then I can't help.

Please keep back in mind: If you want an active, healthy and long-living animal of what kind ever, then you should simulate their habitate conditions as good as possible. If you only want a display object for a certain time then go to Wal Mart and buy your jars.

Regards,
Turgut

[cacoseraph]

except that my pedes generally live for years and i had tons of babies, so the theory is sound. i got babies from equatorial, tropical and temperate species. i expect there are some species that need more closely maintained conditions, but i sure didn't find them out of the 20 or so that i kept


i don't understand what is antiquary about my advice. i have better success with centipedes than oh... ~95% of keepers, so it seems like there is probably some merit to what i say



oh, and the bonus is that you are basically extending the lifetime of the pede by the period in which they don't need to eat. i would consider moderately to massively increased longevity as something of a perquisite