Centipede Care Sheets

Food:

Centipedes are carnivorous arthropods that hunt for their food.  They will eat anything that they can overpower.  Staples of the Scolopendra diet include crickets, roaches, and mice.  Small centipedes can be fed on micro crickets, fruit flies or other appropriately sized insects.  For the larger full grown species of centipedes, you can try fuzzy rats, or lizards (such as anoles).  Food does not have to be live and you can try to feed your centipede using a long pair of tweezers or forceps.  A rule of thumb is to not feed your centipede anything longer than half it's body length.  You should not feed your pet wild caught prey as the prey may have been exposed to pesticides that can potentially kill your pet.  Uneaten prey should be removed from the tank within 48 hrs as they may unduly stress your centipede or harm it if it molts.  If you are lucky enough to see your centipede molting or believe that your centipede has molted remove any uneaten prey items from the enclosure immediately as the centipede is vulnerable until its exoskeleton sclerotises (hardens).  A good habit to get into is cleaning up any remains the day after feeding your centipede as decaying organic matter commonly attracts mites, fungus, mold and other potentially harmful organisms into the enclosure.

Water:

Although centipedes get much of their moisture from the prey they eat, a source of water should be present in the centipedes enclosure.  This can be from daily misting or for larger centipedes, a water dish in the enclosure.  A source of water is very important as centipedes can desiccate (dry out) very quickly due to moisture loss through their spiracle openings (this is very important if you use any artificial heating sources).  You can use anything from bottle caps to actual water dishes bought at a pet store for this purpose.

Substrate:

Good results have been reported with substrates made of a combination of potting soil/peat moss or peat moss/vermiculite.  Both of these substrates hold moisture well and support burrowing.  An added bonus is that the high acidity of the peat moss retards the growth of fungus and mold.  Be sure to use pesticide free ingredients in your substrate as they can quite easily kill your pet.  Sand is not recommended as it goes stale quickly in the high humidity environment that centipedes need.

Housing: 

Housing can be as cheap or as expensive as the individual keeper wants.  Anything from plastic Rubbermaid containers (with plenty of air holes drilled in of course) to 20 Gallon aquariums with screen lids can be used to house your centipede.  The enclosure should be twice as long and at least as wide as the centipede.  Above all, the one thing that you must remember is to have a secure lid on the enclosure.  Centipedes are escape artists.  The last thing you need is to be awoken in the middle of the night by your prized centipede chewing on your nose because you forgot to close the lid properly or because there was a space between the lid and the enclosure that you ignored because "There's no way the centipede can fit through that."  For the sake of safety, your centipede enclosure should have sides higher than the centipede is long.  This is because although they can not climb glass, they can push themselves up from the floor of the enclosure.  If using an aquarium, centipedes have been know to climb the silicon sealant used in the corners of the tank.  Ideally, your centipede should be given 2 to 3 inches of substrate and somewhere for it to hide such as cork bark, a half log or a rock.  If you wish to disallow burrowing, you can put an inch or less of substrate in the enclosure, but should then definitely place something in the enclosure for it to hide under.  A centipede without a hiding place is a stressed centipede.  Also remember that anything placed in the enclosure is a potential starting point for the centipede to explore the top of its surroundings and you should take that into consideration when deciding on the height of the enclosure.

Climate: 

Most centipedes can be safely kept at 75 to 85° F.  This is an approximation and you should see what temperature works best for your centipede.  Being moisture dependant creatures, at higher temperatures (80° +) desiccation is a major problem and you must be sure that your centipedes humidity needs are being kept.  Centipedes should be comfortable with a humidity of 75 to 85%.  This can be accomplished by a number of things.  One is a shallow water dish with a wide surface area to increase evaporation.  You may also cover the enclosure (if you have a screen top) with saran wrap.  If you're using a sealed container (such as Rubbermaid) as long as you do not have too many air holes in the enclosure, your humidity should be fine because of the closed nature of the environment.  If you do have a sealed environment you must make sure that there is sufficient ventilation as high humidity and no ventilation creates a breeding ground for mold, fungus and mites.  Daily misting or keeping the substrate damp can be used as well.  This is not recommended for the same reasons that you may have problems with sealed environments without adequate ventilation.  There are also other problems with misting and keeping the substrate damp.  With misting, you may be stressing the centipede and with moist substrate you have a prime egg laying ground for adult crickets.  If possible, you should try to increase the ambient humidity of the room that the centipede is in with the use of a humidifier.