- Joined
- Aug 6, 2003
- Messages
- 359
OK, settle in with a beer or two for this one...
I got the surprise of my life today.
I hope I don't get banned from the board for this...but I gotta share.
About a year and a half ago I bought an adult Puerto Rican Giant (Freight Train):
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=22476&highlight=Freight+Train)
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=29090&highlight=Freight+Train
I got an adult Vietnamese at the same time, which seemed to be doing great for about two months, then started dragging its hind quarters around with limp legs and was dead a few days later. Seemed healthy, but maybe it was just old (9"). I saw the PR out in the open first time a couple months later; he was very reclusive. But he was a real digger and had filled up the water bowl with dirt and made new tunnels every night. Ate well, though I never saw it eat. I occasionally would see a couple inches of its body pressed against the glass when he was dug in. A couple months later I started seeing him out in the open more frequently and actually saw him feed a few times.
The last time it took a prey item was a mouse in June. Beginning in early August I never saw him again. The substrate had settled a good inch or two and there were no signs of digging, no dirt in the dish, nothing. I offered crix and an occasional mouse for the next couple of months and none were taken. I kept watering and offering food until early December but finally realized he was dead. I unplugged the stick-on heater and put the tank in the corner of the room to be cleaned out.
I finally got around to it this morning, three months later. I bought a baby kingsnake so I needed the tank. I put the tank on the porch last night but never got to it. It was in the 40s. This morning as I was dismantling the tank and was about to pour out the bone-dry dirt it dawned on me that I never did retrieve the body out of there. I wondered if there were any pieces left or if it had completely decomposed. Everything was out but the partially buried cork bark, and I lifted it up and THERE HE WAS! Darted under the dirt immediately. I thought I was seeing a ghost!
I absolutely cannot believe he is alive . It never even crossed my mind that that there was even a remote possibility, and I'm not sure why I never dug out the "body" sooner. I'm no expert (obviously), but I've been in the hobby for a couple of years now and have all kinds of inverts with very few problems. I think I'm pretty diligent in my care for them. Or at least I thought so. Geez. I have not put a drop of water in that tank for probably four months. I'm in Arizona, and let me tell you that tank has been bone dry for at least three months. Pure dust. And probably mid-60s most of the time without the heat pad. So that's 8 or 9 months with no food, and 3 months with no water, 0% humidity and temps in the 60s. That's one tuff bug. Unbelieveable.
The good news is I carefully replaced everything and put plenty of water down the tubes and filled the bowl. This morning he had mixed and fluffed it up pretty good and had a couple tunnels going, and I just went in there and he was out and eating a cricket! Dare I say he's going to be fine. Looks as robust and nearly as fat as ever. Hopefully he's on the way to a full recovery! :razz:
I guess he was molting when he disappeared and it just took far longer than I thought it would. Maybe by the time he was ready to come out it was too dry and he just stayed hidden away? Maybe because of how things went with the Vietnamese, I assumed this guy had just played out his hand too since he was so huge and at the end of the line, so I thought. I feel like an idiot (please don't pile on), but am humbled by this and will learn to never underestimate the survival ability of a mighty pede and, more importantly, ever think that I have its behavior all figured out. Damn.
Thanks for listening. I feel better now. Please don't revoke my Scolopendra card God bless the mighty Freight Train. I might have to rename him Ghost Train
-John
I got the surprise of my life today.
I hope I don't get banned from the board for this...but I gotta share.About a year and a half ago I bought an adult Puerto Rican Giant (Freight Train):
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=22476&highlight=Freight+Train)
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=29090&highlight=Freight+Train
I got an adult Vietnamese at the same time, which seemed to be doing great for about two months, then started dragging its hind quarters around with limp legs and was dead a few days later. Seemed healthy, but maybe it was just old (9"). I saw the PR out in the open first time a couple months later; he was very reclusive. But he was a real digger and had filled up the water bowl with dirt and made new tunnels every night. Ate well, though I never saw it eat. I occasionally would see a couple inches of its body pressed against the glass when he was dug in. A couple months later I started seeing him out in the open more frequently and actually saw him feed a few times.
The last time it took a prey item was a mouse in June. Beginning in early August I never saw him again. The substrate had settled a good inch or two and there were no signs of digging, no dirt in the dish, nothing. I offered crix and an occasional mouse for the next couple of months and none were taken. I kept watering and offering food until early December but finally realized he was dead. I unplugged the stick-on heater and put the tank in the corner of the room to be cleaned out.
I finally got around to it this morning, three months later. I bought a baby kingsnake so I needed the tank. I put the tank on the porch last night but never got to it. It was in the 40s. This morning as I was dismantling the tank and was about to pour out the bone-dry dirt it dawned on me that I never did retrieve the body out of there. I wondered if there were any pieces left or if it had completely decomposed. Everything was out but the partially buried cork bark, and I lifted it up and THERE HE WAS! Darted under the dirt immediately. I thought I was seeing a ghost!
I absolutely cannot believe he is alive
. It never even crossed my mind that that there was even a remote possibility, and I'm not sure why I never dug out the "body" sooner. I'm no expert (obviously), but I've been in the hobby for a couple of years now and have all kinds of inverts with very few problems. I think I'm pretty diligent in my care for them. Or at least I thought so. Geez. I have not put a drop of water in that tank for probably four months. I'm in Arizona, and let me tell you that tank has been bone dry for at least three months. Pure dust. And probably mid-60s most of the time without the heat pad. So that's 8 or 9 months with no food, and 3 months with no water, 0% humidity and temps in the 60s. That's one tuff bug. Unbelieveable.The good news is I carefully replaced everything and put plenty of water down the tubes and filled the bowl. This morning he had mixed and fluffed it up pretty good and had a couple tunnels going, and I just went in there and he was out and eating a cricket! Dare I say he's going to be fine. Looks as robust and nearly as fat as ever. Hopefully he's on the way to a full recovery! :razz:
I guess he was molting when he disappeared and it just took far longer than I thought it would. Maybe by the time he was ready to come out it was too dry and he just stayed hidden away? Maybe because of how things went with the Vietnamese, I assumed this guy had just played out his hand too since he was so huge and at the end of the line, so I thought. I feel like an idiot (please don't pile on), but am humbled by this and will learn to never underestimate the survival ability of a mighty pede and, more importantly, ever think that I have its behavior all figured out. Damn.
Thanks for listening. I feel better now. Please don't revoke my Scolopendra card
God bless the mighty Freight Train. I might have to rename him Ghost Train -John
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