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17-06-2008, 04:22 PM
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Vietnamese Centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes)
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The Vietnamese Centipede is a large, aggressive, and medically significant centipede that is not restricted to the country of Vietnam. It is found throughout the worlds tropical and subtropical regions, especially in Southeast Asia.There is alot of confusion with regards to centipede taxonomy. Besides the different species found throughout Southeast Asia, there are colour variations and there are around 5 subspecies of S. Subspinipes aswell. The Vietnamese Centipede is one of the less expensive centipede species in the hobby, and although it has a very bad bite, it is a fairly common first centipede in collections. This is probably because the Vietnamese Centipede is impressive, easy to obtain, and cheap. The Vietnamese Centipede is the only species that has a human death attributed to it. The only reported fatal case was in the Philippines; the centipede bit a seven-year old girl on her head, and she lived for another 29 hours. Even though death from a bite of the Vietnamese Centipede is almost unheard of, the venom is said to cause extreme pain often several minutes after the bite has occured some symptoms can take up to 18 months to dissapate if there is an alergic reaction to the venom Housing Alot of care should be taken when housing any centipede as they are great escape artists. they have been known to chew though soft plastic and some harder plastics of around 2-3 mm. another tip is to make sure the lid of the cage is higher then the length of the pede this will greatly reduce escape attempts. however they do have a nack of running up the adhesive joining glass together on tanks. substrate should be about 4 inchs deep to allow the pede to bury it's self. no decoration is required but some peices of bark or plastic plants will look nice in the enclosure. a water dish is required. other info size 7 to 8 inchs is normal with some reaching aroudn 10 inchs growth is fast with maturity reached around 4 years of age with some living as long as 10 years temperature 75 - 80 F humidity around 80% temperament is very aggressive, fast and active for this reason it is unsuitable for people new to keeping inverts and should be viewed as an advanced keepers pet. Food Scolopendra subspinipes will kill and eat any thing it can overpower. however in captivity large crickets, grass hoppers and locusts and the staple diet with some keepers choosing to ofter a pinky every once in a while. mating in captivity is difficult as one or but tend to get killed. in the wild a male will lay a sperm spore and possition a female over it before retreating. in captivity it generally cant retreat and gets killed by the female shortly after. Sexing of centipedes is very difficult withsome Sp.'s that cant be sexed at all this makes captive breeding even harder. pedelings will eat smaller crickets and should be removed from there mothers cage approx. 2 weeks after birth and moved to seperate cages as they tend to become food in the eyes of there mother and each other. for any cage maintainance a long pair of tongs is advised and the placement of the cage inside a larger container as a secondary barrier to escape.
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Only have 0.1.0 G. Rosea ?.0.0 P. Cambridgei ?.0.0 Augacephalus Sp. "Mozambique" 0.1.0 E. Vulpinus (Juvi) 0.1.0 H. Lividum 0.0.1 S. Crassipes 0.0.1 P. Fasicata 0.0.1 M. balfouri Must find P. Metallica!!! 
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17-05-2009, 12:12 AM
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good care sheet
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