[cacoseraph]

6:46 PM 7/26/2006
heh, a red legged emerald cent just chewed on me. i think they get more aggressive when they are thirsty and it is hot. it is like 96-97*F in my bug/bedroom now. when i opened this guy's cage it started to bite the top edge of it's container. this is what we experienced in the free handling end of the hobby call a "bad sign". so i was pretty sure if i tried to handle it that it would bite me. sure enough. it is interesting, when it is really hot the blue rings get bitey too. i've handled their particular fellow (my original Egyptian Emerald rubyleg morph) probably ~10 or so times. as i recall it's always been quick, but never bitey before. this individual is just shy of 4" (10cm) bodylength.

kinda savaged me. about 6-7 bites sll over my fingers, with about ~10+ seconds chew time in between them all.

initial venom pain negligible


6:51 PM 7/26/2006 pain increased to like 0.2 out of 5, and the pain grows much more noticeable if i apply pressure

7:33 PM 7/26/2006 pain has reduced to almost nothing (not that it ever got more than annoying anyways). i can't feel it, really, when i am not doing anything... even pushing on the bites barely raises any feeling

8:09 AM 7/27/2006 well, i'm at work, it's the next day, and i can type as well/fast as normal. i can definitely feel where i got bit but it just feels kind of weird, not painful at all... and only when i apply pressure.

as far as i can tell there was no systemic, lymphatic, or necrotic affects... not even any local swelling or reddening at any point that i saw :)

7:35 AM 7/28/2006 at around +36 hours i am almost postive the remaining sensations are from the mechanical damage as opposed to any venom effect

This post has been edited by cacoseraph: 28 July 2006 - 06:34 AM

[freddiemercury16]

dont you get tierd of getting bit???

one of these days you should bit them :rolleyes: ....ya know show'em how it feels

[cianvenom]

freddiemercury16, on Jul 28 2006, 10:22 AM, said:

dont you get tierd of getting bit???

one of these days you should bit them :rolleyes: ....ya know show'em how it feels

I must agree. That may be the only chance you have of replenishing the relationship.

[cacoseraph]

no, not tired yet. plus there is still much work to be done. my ~20th bite by bluering legs swelled up... was it secondary infection or venom effect? the first ~19 did nothing at all. the next bite might shed some light :)

my goal is to eventually be able to sort of make a five star system for venom effect for all the common pet species

so far what i've got going is:

FIVE stars:
Scolopendra subspinpes (not sure if all ssp/morphs/localities are the same or not... *those* should be some interesting tests!)

FOUR stars:
Scolopendra heros (?, i've never been bitten, but kind of like, interpolating from what i have read about all of them... and some heros (perhaps all) have cytotoxic components of their venom :))

THREE stars:
Ethmostigmus sp. possibly trigonopodus "YELLOW legs"

TWO stars:
Scolopendra polymorpha

ONE star:
Egyptian Emerald
Ethmostigmus sp. poss. trigonopodus "bluering leg"

maybe one or two more that i forgot for now

This post has been edited by cacoseraph: 31 July 2006 - 07:37 AM

[cacoseraph]

i was free handling and talkign about emeralds while my friend was videotaping me a few nights ago. the centipede was acting quite normal and uninterested in me (lots of antenna cleaning and sitting still)

all of a sudden it lanced me with its forciples... and then started eating my skin! i let this continue for a couple minutes but it started to get kind of uncomfortable so i stopped.

within 20 minutes i had extremely local redness and swelling, but i honestly can not tell if it was from the mechanical damage of being eaten or venom effect. the next day the local swelling, redness, and itching was gone and has not reappeared

if venom effect, it is the first time i can recall having ANY reaction to Egytpian Emeralds... from well over 50 bites

[jeroenkooijman]

cacoseraph, on Jan 30 2008, 03:19 AM, said:

all of a sudden it lanced me with its forciples... and then started eating my skin! i let this continue for a couple minutes but it started to get kind of uncomfortable so i stopped.

:omg: You actually let it eat you for a few minutes?

:blink:

[Parahybana3590]

cacoseraph, on Jan 29 2008, 07:19 PM, said:

i was free handling and talkign about emeralds while my friend was videotaping me a few nights ago. the centipede was acting quite normal and uninterested in me (lots of antenna cleaning and sitting still)

all of a sudden it lanced me with its forciples... and then started eating my skin! i let this continue for a couple minutes but it started to get kind of uncomfortable so i stopped.

within 20 minutes i had extremely local redness and swelling, but i honestly can not tell if it was from the mechanical damage of being eaten or venom effect. the next day the local swelling, redness, and itching was gone and has not reappeared

if venom effect, it is the first time i can recall having ANY reaction to Egytpian Emeralds... from well over 50 bites

Honestly, I really enjoy reading your bite reports. For one thing I learn about the toxicity and effects of different pedes, but then you go and throw things in like "I let it eat my flesh for a couple minutes..." and it makes it that much more intense. Do u still have the video?

[cacoseraph]

Parahybana3590, on May 2 2008, 12:20 PM, said:

cacoseraph, on Jan 29 2008, 07:19 PM, said:

i was free handling and talkign about emeralds while my friend was videotaping me a few nights ago. the centipede was acting quite normal and uninterested in me (lots of antenna cleaning and sitting still)

all of a sudden it lanced me with its forciples... and then started eating my skin! i let this continue for a couple minutes but it started to get kind of uncomfortable so i stopped.

within 20 minutes i had extremely local redness and swelling, but i honestly can not tell if it was from the mechanical damage of being eaten or venom effect. the next day the local swelling, redness, and itching was gone and has not reappeared

if venom effect, it is the first time i can recall having ANY reaction to Egytpian Emeralds... from well over 50 bites

Honestly, I really enjoy reading your bite reports. For one thing I learn about the toxicity and effects of different pedes, but then you go and throw things in like "I let it eat my flesh for a couple minutes..." and it makes it that much more intense. Do u still have the video?

hmm, if it isn't on youtube then i don't have it

however, rejoice, for i just got a new camera last week and will be filming all kinds of fun stuff :)

www.youtube.com/cacoseraph

This post has been edited by cacoseraph: 02 May 2008 - 01:55 PM

[greaser]

dude, you rock. I didn't know that was you in those youtube vids. I've seen them before and I remember thinking, "that guys is NUTZ!"

[greaser]

how big will a S.s get? 13"?

[cacoseraph]

greaser, on May 2 2008, 04:03 PM, said:

how big will a S.s get? 13"?

Scolopendra subspinipes?

that would probably be the extreme outside limit of body length for a perfectly grown specimen of one of the local morphs that has the potential to get that big

i would say you stand a reasonable chance of finding one that is 10"BL for sale if you look real hard. i have seen ~8-9"BL for sale before at expos and shows and what not

[cacoseraph]

a female bit me up probably around 7 times a couple weeks ago. nothing really happened. those are probably somewhere around the 100th bites i have taken from this species and locality morph