Scolopendra dehaani
Malaysian Cherry Red Centipede: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A large, fast, defensive centipede for advanced keepers only: adults reach 8-9 inches and more, one of the genus giants.
Group: CentipedesDifficulty: Spice 5: ExtremeSetup: Tropical fossorial centipedeHandling: NEVER
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | 75-85°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Ambient 70-85%, cross-ventilated at substrate level; dry refuge zone |
| Setup Type | Tropical fossorial centipede |
| Substrate | Deep moist soil/coco mix |
| Feeding | Prey weekly or biweekly |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 5: Extreme |
| Handling | NEVER |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- terrestrial burrow setup for secure juveniles
Warnings First
- MEDICALLY SIGNIFICANT BITE
- Painful venomous bite
- Extreme escape risk
- Fast and flexible
- Solitary housing only; never cohab centipedes
- The bite is genuinely medically significant: severe pain, local swelling, lymph-node involvement, occasionally systemic symptoms, and rare fatalities in young children are documented for Asian giant Scolopendra. Strict no-contact; double-locked lid.
- Ventilation is the husbandry priority, not an afterthought. Cross ventilation low on two opposite walls at substrate level keeps a humid burrow healthy; without it, saturated still air down there brings mold, mites, and failed molts.
Simple Care
- Deep substrate and locked lid.
- Cross ventilation low on two opposite walls, at substrate level. This is what 'moist but ventilated' actually means in practice.
- Keep moist but ventilated.
- Shallow water dish packed with pebbles so pedelings cannot drown.
- House singly; centipedes are cannibalistic.
- Never touch with hands.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Centipedes require more containment planning than display decoration. Lids must lock and ventilation must be bite/chew resistant.
- Deep substrate allows burrowing and reduces stress. Keep a moisture gradient, not standing water.
- Ventilation deserves the same weight as substrate depth on this species, and it has to be cross ventilation at substrate level to do anything useful. Vents low on two opposite walls pull air horizontally through the burrow layer. Venting through the lid alone dries the surface and leaves heavy, saturated air motionless down where the animal actually is, which is exactly the condition that produces cuticle fungus and mite blooms.
- Those low vents must be fine stainless mesh bonded in place, with every gap sized under the head width. This species is famous for flexing through openings that look far too small, so measure against the head rather than the body.
- Treat ventilation and ambient humidity as a single trade-off. Airflow dries the box, so you hold 70 to 85% by feeding moisture up from damp lower substrate and a water dish, not by restricting the vents. Sealing a centipede in to hold a humidity reading is the classic way to lose one that looked perfectly healthy on arrival.
- Judge substrate wetness by hand instead of by hygrometer. Bottom third should clump when squeezed and release no free water, middle cool and damp, top inch allowed to look dry. That vertical gradient is the choice you are offering the animal.
- Keep a shallow water dish in year round, packed with pebbles or flat stones so the water sits just under the rim. Small instars and pedelings drown in open dishes, and the stones let them climb out. It also releases humidity at floor level, which is why the open substrate can stay less wet than keepers usually make it.
- Mist under the cork or hide rather than over the whole enclosure. You get a genuinely humid pocket under cover where the centipede rests, while the open surface and the air above it keep drying and turning over.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Feed with tongs or drop prey carefully. Remove prey if the centipede is molting or uninterested.
- Never cohab centipedes. Use catch cups and tools for any transfer.
- Molting: a centipede stops eating and seals into its burrow to molt, staying soft and vulnerable for days. Leave it completely alone, keep all prey out, and don't excavate to check on it.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Thailand, or Indonesia region.
- Habitat translation: Deep humid but ventilated substrate with secure lid and minimal opening size.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Strict solitary housing. Centipedes are cannibalistic and escape-driven.
- Rehouse with tubs or catch cups only; never chase with hands or soft tools.
- Adult size 8-9 in+ (the genus runs to about a foot); lifespan ~5-10 years; formerly treated as a subspecies of S. subspinipes.