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Ugly Critter


Gary A

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Yep, It is indeed a Scolopendra and it has occassionally caused fatalities. I sell them in my shop www.viperandvine.com in Manchester UK. The guy I employ as manager got hammered by one of these and spent five days in hospital - worse than a bee sting ... yep indeed. Can it cause fatalities ... yes it can, but unlikely to. Some prize specimens at my place in Buriram. We feed them small mice and the bigger ones will tackle a nearly full grown mouse (frozen of course).

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yeah - it is Scolopendra.... I am always fascinated by these creatures! :D

but I'm not sure I'd risk to keep one as a pet as many do :o - and willing to pay quite big money to get some Giant species !

Chilopoda

The larger Scolopendrids may take small vertebrates including Mammals, Birds and Reptiles. Though some species are easily get in captivity, their basic carnivorous lifestyle can lead to cannibalism if many are kept together

BTW - some interesting facts are that they are deadliest enemy of Tarantualas !

and as I know - they can't kill humans

Larger centipedes can cause a painful bite, but the poison is not powerful enough to cause death in humans

The largest species, Scolopendra gigantea, may reach 12 in. (30 cm) in length

Scolopendra gigantea

GIANT !!! world's largest !

Scolopendra_gigantea.jpg

Scolopendra gigantea is the only scolopendra that could kill a human being.....

Females are more poisonous therefore more dangerous than the males. There’s even a Trinidad song saying “a male scolopendra–bad, a female scolopendra–worse” but some facts about their poisoning effect are very exaggerated ....

The scolopendra poison has been known to people since ancient times. It was highly valued by the Chinese folk medicine as a cure for rheumatism, kidney stones, some skin diseases and severe scars. Scolopendras have found one more inbelievable(bearing in mind their outer appearance) application in people’s life: they are used in the Tailand's and some parts of Africa’s cuisine. Bon appetit!

The spider enemy

Another enemy is the scolopender, an arthropod that is searching constantly for food on the forest floor. The largest species, Scolopendra gigantea, gets around 40 cm in length.

Re using in Chinese medicine - yeah, I saw with my own eyes on Mae Sae border in some shop they sell bottle of wisky - and inside one such huge babe ! :D

therefore actually the bigger some species and more intense red color - the more good price they can fetch from some Chinese medicine shop.

so, since this S. gigantea is native only to S. America - local Thai species are not lethally dangerous for humans.

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I had,

a 4-5 cm long "Daa Kaab" just walking over my big footfinger - not even bite! It burned like a Beesting!

Thinking about a 30 cm one will bite you (and as Meea told me, they can bite you many times with the same effect, not like a bee or the most snakes, only once) THIS MUST BE REAL PAAIIN!!!

Pain, and this is proven, can kill you, so why insisting on the vermon is not lethal :o ?

Some people die from eating strawberrys, allergical shock, me think, chances that you react allergical to the vermon of a centipede is thousandfold higher.

Patex

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[quote name=Buff-horns' date='2005-12-24 03:54:50

After all, Isan IS home to a few varieties of cobra, I'm told.[/quote]

I'm new here.

If I go into the bush to do some camping and fishing, what are chances of

encounters with venomous snakes?

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Lot's of chances bret - maybe not a cobra because they are very rare but if you go into any hospital outside Bangkok you'll see a poster on the wall showing the varieties of snakes that are native to Thailand.

A simple google search will show you which ones are there. My late father in law was very quick to get me away from the bamboo thicket because it was home to a really nasty one!

Snakes here are more the run away type and you need to corner them or annoy them in some way before they bite but they are around and even in the cities you will find them.

It does depend on where you go for your camping and fishing -maybe this link will help -

http://www.siam-info.de/english/snakes_poisonous.html

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It does depend on where you go for your camping and fishing -maybe this link will help -

http://www.siam-info.de/english/snakes_poisonous.html

WOW! I had heard about the Cobras, but had no idea you had so many species of vipers and elapids. I've heard the Russells Viper and Krait are very nasty.

I can see that I'll have to be very careful while camping and fishing at dusk.

We have Timber Rattlers along the Mississippi River, but they are shy.

However one took a strike at me while I was trying to photograph it.

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It's possible that the bite is said to be more dangerous than it really is but when the Thais are more scared of this creature than they are of a cobra I have to think that the bite is serious. The local Thais have told me that some people die and that is good enough for me. I refuse to let them kill snakes on our property but they can feel free to kill all of these ugly creatures that they see. I have seen that all the snakes are VERY shy and as long as they are not cornered or antagonized they WILL try to avoid people. That ugly centipede is too stupid to run away and easy to step on or accidentally touch.

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It's possible that the bite is said to be more dangerous than it really is but when the Thais are more scared of this creature than they are of a cobra I have to think that the bite is serious. The local Thais have told me that some people die and that is good enough for me. I refuse to let them kill snakes on our property but they can feel free to kill all of these ugly creatures that they see. I have seen that all the snakes are VERY shy and as long as they are not cornered or antagonized they WILL try to avoid people. That ugly centipede is too stupid to run away and easy to step on or accidentally touch.

Wow, who's worried about Lethal? 2-3 days of agonizing pain is enough warning for me.

Now that we're all familiar with these, what's the story with the attached millipede? Any issues with these?

post-25148-1136529685_thumb.jpg

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...Now that we're all familiar with these, what's the story with the attached millipede? Any issues with these?

Not dangerous, only ugly :o

Patex

Good to know. My girlfriend crouched down to give it a nudge and try to get it to curl into a ball. I figured she wouldn't have done this it were nasty, but just wanted to check. If you see me do something stupid, however, you can't assume I don't know it's stupid.

I've heard that all centipedes are venomous to some degree but few millipedes are. Hope that's a good rule to follow.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 12 years later...
On 1/6/2006 at 1:48 PM, Carmine6 said:

Wow, who's worried about Lethal? 2-3 days of agonizing pain is enough warning for me.

Now that we're all familiar with these, what's the story with the attached millipede? Any issues with these?

post-25148-1136529685_thumb.jpg

 

 

Millipedes are highly dangerous to dead variegation  but harmless to people.

 

There locomotion reminds me  of railroad trains for some reason.   They   all seem to grow to 15 cm.

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