Desert Milipede (warning creepy crawly pics)

[Kali]

you know it is summer when these guys come above ground on cloudy days.

[Kali]

1. 53 views and no comments??!!!

not even a :scared: or a :puke: ?





:evilgrin:

[Deja Q]

2. Do they bite? If you shoot the head off do you get 100 points?

[Kali]

4. no but if you aren't gentle they will "pee" on you

and it can be an irritant, especially if you get it in your eyes


ha - my slow dial-up didn't shot your pic until I was doing this reply - I just saw it now

[petronius]

15. How do you know about the pee/eye issue?

I'd think that would just naturally be something to avoid - unless centipedes are built like firehoses...

[Kali]

23. observation and a couple great local guide books

Smith, Robert L.
1989 Venomous Animals of Arizona. Tucson: University of Arizona, College of Agriculture.
An excellent reference for identification of venomous arthropods and reptiles and plus informaion about the animals often mistaken for being dangerous.

Learning About and Living With Insects of the Southwest: How to Identify Helpful, Harmful and Venomous Insects (Paperback)
by Ph.D. Floyd G. Werner (Author), M.S. Carl Olson (Author)

[mix]

3. what's it doing with that quarter?

i love the little bugger !
:hi:

[Kali]

5. it got it off of Deja Q

:P

it was for scale then I thought oh I need to pick it up and get a shot to post on DU

[newcriminal]

6. My boys had giant African millipedes for pets.

They are very gentle and rather cute.

[Kali]

7. my boys never fell for having wierd pets

guess they knew it was really me that wanted 'em:rofl:

I haven't seen African millipedes - what did they eat?

[newcriminal]

10. anything, apple cores, lettuce, celery, any vegetable or fruit that was going bad.

[Kali]

11. d'oh, of course!

were they active?

[newcriminal]

16. Pretty active. When they got use to us they would crawl all over you.

The cats would scare them and they would curl up in a ball. We would coax them to unroll themselves by petting them, and they would crawl all over us again.

[newcriminal]

17. They look like this.

or like this when they are rolled up:


They really are very sweet little pets.

[Kali]

18. wow those are a bit bigger

maybe I'll try to keep one of ours around next time I see one. Just never thought of it although I have kept centipedes - they eat crickets and it is pretty cool to watch them feed. They drink water out of a dish too, like a cat or something.

[sasquatch]

8. Milipedes aren't as creepy as Centipedes

:scared:

[Kali]

12. those are more dangerous and they sure can move fast!

I've kept them before - they make an impressive terrarium display! We get some big ones around here.

[NewJeffCT]

9. cool pic

thanks for posting it

[Kali]

13. thank you!

[NJmaverick]

14. Who is the one bold enough to hold that thing?!?!

[Kali]

19. me

:hi:
they are pretty harmless

[NJmaverick]

20. I thought centipedes were venomous

[Deep13]

22. It's not a centipede. nt

[Kali]

24. even the big 6 to 7 inch desert centipedes we have out here are pretty safe.

The books say thier bite is mild (bee?) and I have actually seen video and pix of people handling them. They can move REALLY fast and they scare me. I have kept them as pets but have never quite had the nerve to handle them. The milipedes are quite harmless. Their bodies are hard shelled like a beetle's back and they travel with all those legs going at once - 2 pairs per segment.

The OP is a milipede, here is a centipede:

[Pool Hall Ace]

21. Not as gross as I was expecting.

But of course, I'm only viewing photos. If I saw one live and in person, I may flee in terror! :wow:

[mike_c]

25. nice!

Does it smell fruity when you disturb it?

[Kali]

27. if you handle them rough it is kind of medicinal or iodine-y

they secrete this brownish liquid, but you really have to prod them. The really cool thing about them is they are the prey of a glow worm (beetle) and the quote in the book is they are so voracious the lab has never been able to keep them fed to maturity! Yikes. I remember seeing the glowworms back in the 80's when it was wetter but not in YEARS. I didn't see any of these last year, but I may not have gone down where they are as much, as we didn't have any cattle there then.

[LeftyFingerPop]

26. I give you a lot of credit for holding it...

I'm not so sure that I would.

[Kali]

28. they are a creature of my childhood

as your poem illustrated, we are often quite brave as children