Giant Centipede Care, Feeding, Supplies...and Warnings!

[Beardo]

Any of the centipedes in the S. heros family would be a good sized species with less-than-high toxicity. But, again....levels of toxicity mean nothing if you......don't.....get.....bit. lol

Sorry if I sound like a broken record.....but keeping venomous animals and getting bit are NOT always hand-in-hand.

[Truffs1178]

I know, I know but it's just in case.

I cant ant seem to find any Scolopendra Heros.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but these are the pedes I could get. Could you list them in order of how dangerous the bite is? Again sorry for asking something so dumb.

Scolopendra Dehaani
Scolopendra Mortisans
Scolopendra Subspinipes dehaani
Ethmostigmus trigonopodus
Scolopendra polymorpha
Hemiescolopendra platei
Rhysida longipes

[Beardo]

Honestly, if you go into the situation mentally prepared to take a bite or thinking you will......I believe you are setting yourself up for failure. This may sound weird, but I never not once thought about what would happen if I got bit. I simply kept the thought out of my mind & focused on doing things intelligently. And its not like I kept furry pet rocks like Rose Hairs and Emperor Scorpions......I worked with everything from Giant Centipedes, to Israeli Deathstalker Scorpions, African Assassin Bugs, Poecilotheria species, and even kept Sicarius for a while (google them if you're not familiar.....the TRUE "most toxic" spider on the planet)......I had stuff that would RUIN someone's day.....but it was never an issue because I was careful and I kept them because I enjoyed interacting with and observing them. Nothing more.

[findiviglio]

Honestly, if you go into the situation mentally prepared to take a bite or thinking you will......I believe you are setting yourself up for failure. This may sound weird, but I never not once thought about what would happen if I got bit. I simply kept the thought out of my mind & focused on doing things intelligently. And its not like I kept furry pet rocks like Rose Hairs and Emperor Scorpions......I worked with everything from Giant Centipedes, to Israeli Deathstalker Scorpions, African Assassin Bugs, Poecilotheria species, and even kept Sicarius for a while (google them if you're not familiar.....the TRUE "most toxic" spider on the planet)......I had stuff that would RUIN someone's day.....but it was never an issue because I was careful and I kept them because I enjoyed interacting with and observing them. Nothing more.

Trust someone with more years in the world's leading zoos and museums, and the field, than many net-experts have on earth, and quite a bit of time working for the leading supplier of wildlife to zoos, back when there were few regs....it is an issue! I suggest you subscribe to a prof journal, i.e. Toxicon, if you wish an accurate understanding of the status of our knowledge on venoms, treatment, etc.

[Beardo]

Just wondering.....since we seem to be straying off topic a bit and I'm not trying to have an argument on the justification of keeping venomous animals in captivity, but exactly how much personal experience do you have with keeping centipedes, findiviglio?

[findiviglio]

Just wondering.....since we seem to be straying off topic a bit and I'm not trying to have an argument on the justification of keeping venomous animals in captivity, but exactly how much personal experience do you have with keeping centipedes, findiviglio?

I'm not going to go into this any further...no offense, hopefully you are careful and will be fine. I mainly commented not to change your views, but because less experienced people might be unduly influenced. Good luck with all, Frank

[Beardo]

I'm not going to go into this any further...no offense, hopefully you are careful and will be fine. I mainly commented not to change your views, but because less experienced people might be unduly influenced. Good luck with all, Frank

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you probably have never kept centipedes before, based on that response. I have been keeping centipedes for 15 years. I base my statements on real-time personal experience, rather than what someone *else* did. That, IMO holds more weight when talking about husbandry advice....but again thats just MY opinion.

Jack, I would rank those species you listed in potency in this order from weakest to most potent:

S. polymorpha
E. trigonopodus
H. platei
R. longipes
S. mortisans
S. suspinipes