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#scolopendra polymorpha are much easier to keep and like some humidity
organicmatter · 6 months
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Thanks for agreeing to help me :^)
I work at a cave. Recently in the breakroom they found a giant sonoran desert centipede. These are EXCEEDINGLY common in our area. Our boss regularly sprays human buildings with insecticide to keep kids from getting hurt (mostly at the risk of bark scorpions) and my coworkers decided to keep this enormous kitchen centipede and now he is our mascot. His name is real dalton. Problem is i dont know a goddamn thing about centipedes or how to care for one. Its kinda on me to make sure his enclosure is okay cuz i know my coworkers arent gonna give it as much thought as i will (despite honestly not really wanting a centipede. but i like milipedes. and i unfortunately am amazing friends w my coworkers. so like a bunch of kids asking to keep a feral racoon, i, father, said yes) and im wondering what it needs. Do these critters need enrichment???? What are the dos and donts?
i’m assuming you mean scolopendra heros - these are notoriously almost impossible to keep in captivity for long periods of time because they are extremely prone to mycosis (mold growing inside of them that kills them) I would probably release it. but if you do decide to keep it, you need to keep it in a VERY well ventilated container with a locking lid. a mixture of sand and dirt is fine for substrate. you can feed them bugs like roaches or mealworms once or twice a week. a shallow water dish is important but any moisture is a risk with these guys so it is up to you. and their venom is very bad so don’t get bit!
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