Okay, i'm feeling like a really bad pede mom right now. i got this great pede from Andrew at the Bar-Bug-Que and there is something inside his house. i used damp peat moss for substrate. When i looked in there today i saw what i first thought was a tiny worm but on closer inspection there were too many of them... They are under his bottle cap water dish. The worms are maybe 0.25" and white. i'm afraid they might be some sort of maggot which means they came from eggs laid in the last 48 hours. i drilled air holes myself and they're not very big because i read about pedes being such escape artists.
i never had any intention of handling this guy. Definitely didn't plan on having to rehouse him so soon but obviously i will tonight. i just don't know what could have laid eggs in there. Could these be from those tiny black fruit fly/gnat fly bugs? The holes aren't big enough for anything else to get through and i use this same source of substrate for tons of stuff with absolutely zero problems... Any idea??
What
Can you get a picture of the worm like things?
NBond1986
oh dont worry....
ive had them before in my pede enclosures..... there wasnt a problem.
be careful not to let go of the pede when handling, or you might loose it. if you decide to handle it, do it over a plastic tub or something, so that if it falls, it won't get away.
it takes a bit of practice handling pedes. at least a bite from these guys isnt so bad. thats the good thing. doesnt hurt very much.
Jules
NBond1986 wrote:
oh dont worry....
ive had them before in my pede enclosures..... there wasnt a problem.
be careful not to let go of the pede when handling, or you might loose it. if you decide to handle it, do it over a plastic tub or something, so that if it falls, it won't get away.
it takes a bit of practice handling pedes. at least a bite from these guys isnt so bad. thats the good thing. doesnt hurt very much.
Did you leave them in the enclosure or change out the substrate?
Trust me i have no desire to handle the pede just for the fun of it. This is my first and only one. It's way cool. i will be very, very careful and use your tips if i need to rehouse him though!
i thought about a pede for quite a while before actually deciding to get one. i don't know why they intimidate me so much more than the T's. Maybe because i had T's when i was a kid. Even rehousing my mature P. pederseni last night was no biggie. She's fast but usually compliant and has never been defensive or put up a threat pose. The MM OBT i traded David was a little too insane for me. i hope that one doesn't get loose in his apartment. That sucker would bite any object in front of him! Thanks again for the pede tips.
Jules
What wrote:
Can you get a picture of the worm like things?
They are so tiny, my crappy point and shoot camera would never focus on them... sorry.
What
No problem, just figured I would ask as it would be easier to tell you if they were a problem or not....
Your pede should be fine with them in there, but one question. How humid are you keeping it? Sounds like you have a bit too much but it wont hurt the pede either way.
cacoseraph
this is one annoying thing about smaller centipedes... you have to be utterly scrupulous when watering them... or you need to leave the substrate kind of damp. damp substrate + messy eating centipedes = more maintenance then most any tarantula. tarantulas are amazingly neat eater, with web and external digestion leading to remains in the form of a bolus. cents are kind of basically the opposite of that... they rip stuff up and kind of dive in with their head... they almost always leave good stuff and juice all over when they eat a large-ish prey item. if you feed them somewhat small prey items somewhat infrequently then they will do a better job of not leaving left-overs... but there will still be *some* digestible organic goop left on their prey items' exo's.
there are a number of different flies that will lay eggs like that, with almost all being harmless, if unsightly. in a certain sense, they are almost slightly beneficial, as they are eating prey remains that could like, fester and possibly make your centipede ill.
Jules
cacoseraph wrote:
this is one annoying thing about smaller centipedes... you have to be utterly scrupulous when watering them... or you need to leave the substrate kind of damp. damp substrate + messy eating centipedes = more maintenance then most any tarantula. tarantulas are amazingly neat eater, with web and external digestion leading to remains in the form of a bolus. cents are kind of basically the opposite of that... they rip stuff up and kind of dive in with their head... they almost always leave good stuff and juice all over when they eat a large-ish prey item. if you feed them somewhat small prey items somewhat infrequently then they will do a better job of not leaving left-overs... but there will still be *some* digestible organic goop left on their prey items' exo's.
there are a number of different flies that will lay eggs like that, with almost all being harmless, if unsightly. in a certain sense, they are almost slightly beneficial, as they are eating prey remains that could like, fester and possibly make your centipede ill.
Okay, cool. i will just leave everything as it is. i just felt like i messed something up since i had never seen this in a T house. However, it obviously makes sense considering the different way they eat. Is it likely to expect the same thing to happen with the Emp Scorp? That thing is so cute when it eats. It just holds it's still wiggling prey in it's huge pincher and munches away - ::lol::!
NBond1986
Jules wrote:
i don't know why they intimidate me so much more than the T's. Maybe because i had T's when i was a kid.
oh.......they intimidate me a bit more than T's and scorps as well.....
Pedes, are in my opinion, the ultimate predators and fighting machines......they are just wildly tough.......mentally, at least (they're pretty easily injured)
its like little dog syndrome, with these S. polymorpha.......::lol::
I'm a 185 lb human being......and they are......what.....one ounce bugs?
Hey, they've got my respect!!! ::lol::
it helps to know that the bite will only cause pain and minor swelling......not death.
cacoseraph
Jules wrote:
cacoseraph wrote:
this is one annoying thing about smaller centipedes... you have to be utterly scrupulous when watering them... or you need to leave the substrate kind of damp. damp substrate + messy eating centipedes = more maintenance then most any tarantula. tarantulas are amazingly neat eater, with web and external digestion leading to remains in the form of a bolus. cents are kind of basically the opposite of that... they rip stuff up and kind of dive in with their head... they almost always leave good stuff and juice all over when they eat a large-ish prey item. if you feed them somewhat small prey items somewhat infrequently then they will do a better job of not leaving left-overs... but there will still be *some* digestible organic goop left on their prey items' exo's.
there are a number of different flies that will lay eggs like that, with almost all being harmless, if unsightly. in a certain sense, they are almost slightly beneficial, as they are eating prey remains that could like, fester and possibly make your centipede ill.
Okay, cool. i will just leave everything as it is. i just felt like i messed something up since i had never seen this in a T house. However, it obviously makes sense considering the different way they eat. Is it likely to expect the same thing to happen with the Emp Scorp? That thing is so cute when it eats. It just holds it's still wiggling prey in it's huge pincher and munches away - ::lol::!
the emp doesn't seem to be as messy. scorps seem to eat more shell than centipedes do... like there are maybe wing cases left after the emp would eat an adult lobster roach... with cents, even larger sized ones there would be wing cases, lengs, heads, etc left randomly around the cage.
i am experimenting with collembola to help with cage maintenance but they don't seem to eat very much at all. i guess it will be up to my isopods, once i get their numbers up and get them into my cages
