Scolopendra dehaani
Identity confidence: provisional. This is a genus, group, or trade name rather than a confirmed species. Treat it as the closest match we can stand behind, and use the more conservative end of any range.
Vietnamese Yellow Leg Centipede: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: The yellow-legged colour form of the giant Vietnamese centipede - same animal as the Cherry Red and Cherry Head forms, just wearing different legs. Deep packed substrate, cross ventilation low on two opposite walls, a locking lid, and a shallow pebble-packed water dish. This is a medically significant bite on a fast, flexible animal that will find a gap you did not know existed, so it is tongs and a catch cup, every time, no exceptions. Know where it is before the lid comes off. Keep it spicy. - Big Z
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 (6 in+) packed, moisture-retentive soil/coco mix |
| Feeding | Roaches or crickets no longer than half the body |
| 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
- Baby Buddy for pedelings
- Burrow Buddy grow-out
- Large custom terrestrial for adults
Warnings First
- MEDICALLY SIGNIFICANT BITE
- Severe pain, local swelling and lymph-node involvement are documented for the large Asian Scolopendra. Strict no-contact, double-locked lid.
- Extreme escape risk. Fast and flexible; it passes through any gap its head fits through.
- Solitary housing only. Centipedes are cannibalistic; never cohab.
- Cross ventilation low on two opposite walls at substrate level is the top husbandry priority. Stagnant saturated air in the burrow kills captive Scolopendra well ahead of any temperature or humidity number.
- Trade-name caution: yellow-legged Scolopendra are sold under several names and the dehaani / subspinipes split is muddled in the hobby. Match against the animal in front of you rather than the label on the box.
Simple Care
- Deep packed substrate and a lid that locks. Not a resting lid, not a taped lid.
- Cross ventilation low on two opposite walls, at substrate level. This is what 'moist but ventilated' actually means.
- Keep a vertical moisture gradient, not standing water.
- Shallow water dish packed with pebbles so pedelings cannot drown.
- House singly.
- Feed with long tongs and pull uneaten prey within a day.
- Locate the animal before opening the enclosure, every single time.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Standard deep-substrate dehaani setup applies. This is a colour form, not a different care profile - the Cherry Red and Black Flame guides describe the same husbandry.
- Put vents low on two opposite walls, at or just above the substrate line, so air travels sideways through the burrow layer rather than only across the top. Lid-only venting dries the surface while saturated air stalls down in the burrow, and that stagnant pocket is where cuticle fungus, mite outbreaks and stuck molts start.
- Fine stainless mesh, bonded flush, over every low vent. Size the openings against the head: if the head passes, so does the centipede.
- Airflow and ambient humidity are one setting, not two. Hold 70 to 85% by keeping damp lower substrate and a water dish underneath good ventilation, never by sealing the box to trap moisture.
- Read wetness by hand, not by hygrometer. The bottom third should hold its shape when squeezed and release no free water, the middle stays cool and damp, and the top inch can look dry. That gradient is the choice you are offering the animal.
- Keep the shallow water dish in permanently, packed with pebbles or flat stones so the waterline sits below the rim. Pedelings drown in open water and the stones give them a climb-out.
- Mist under the hide rather than over the whole enclosure, so there is a damp dark pocket where the animal actually rests while the open surface keeps drying and turning over.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Feeding: roaches or crickets no longer than half the body length, every 4-7 days for juveniles and every 10-14 days for adults. Judge by body condition rather than the calendar.
- Molting: the animal stops eating and seals into its burrow, staying soft and vulnerable for days. Remove all prey, leave it completely alone, and do not excavate to check on it.
- Maintenance: pull uneaten prey within a day. Every transfer is a tongs-and-catch-cup job over secondary containment.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Vietnam and neighbouring Indochina; the wider species ranges across Southeast Asia.
- Habitat translation: Tropical forest-floor burrower: deep humid substrate with real airflow, a dark covered refuge, and a secure minimal-gap enclosure.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Big Z's house ruling (ZZ, 2026-08-12): the Cherry Red, Cherry Head, Black Flame and Yellow Leg animals are colour morphs of one species, Scolopendra dehaani. Scolopendra subspinipes is a separate species under the same genus and keeps its own guides. This guide exists so the morph name on the product matches the morph name on the card; the husbandry is the shared species husbandry.
- Formerly treated as a subspecies of S. subspinipes, which is why hobby sources use the two names interchangeably and why trade labels on yellow-legged animals are unreliable.
- Strict solitary housing. Rehouse with tubs or catch cups only; never chase with hands or soft tools.
- No sex, locality, or measured size was supplied for this arrival.