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Scolopendridae

Aquatic / Waterfall Centipede

Scolopendra cataractaตะขาบน้ำ

Narrower than the page we cite. The source we cite, read on 10 Aug 2026, gives a wider range than the one above. The narrowing is ours and nobody here has written down why. en.wikipedia.org

Photograph: https://zookeys.pensoft.net · CC BY-SA

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/scolopendra-cataracta

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Temperature22–26 °C
Diet5–10 days

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
22–26°Ambient

One ambient band, 22–26°C. This sheet states no warm side, no cool side and no night figure, so none are shown. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet states22-26°C

Enclosure
Paludarium with land + water sections, tight lid
Humidity
Very high; needs land + clean flowing/still water access

Identity

Adult size

1.75 m20 cm
1520100400 cm
20 cmNose to tail, adult

The size the sheet states for a grown animal.

Why

Two drawings, because they answer two questions. The silhouette is at true scale against a 1.75 m person: it says how big this animal actually is, which no number does for someone who has never seen one. The bar under it is logarithmic and shared by every sheet here, so a 2 cm isopod and a 4 m python both stay readable on the same axis and two species can be compared at a glance.

Order / Family
Scolopendromorpha
IUCN / CITES
Not evaluated; very rare, few specimens known
Difficulty
Advanced
Commonality
Essentially not in trade: scientific rarity
Adult size
~20 cm
Lifespan
Unknown (est. 4–7 yrs)
Growth rate
Unknown
Activity & niche
Amphibious: runs stream beds and swims with eel-like undulation
Temperament
Defensive, fast; enters water at night to hunt
Venom / defense
Venomous, painful bite – experts only, no handling

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
22–26°C
Humidity
Very high; needs land + clean flowing/still water access
Min. enclosure
Paludarium with land + water sections, tight lid
Substrate
Riverbank soil/gravel, moss, submerged retreats
Hides / decor / water
Rock slabs, driftwood, open water section

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 5–10 dAs the sheet states
5Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesAquatic & amphibious invertebrates, feeder insects · Every 5–10 days

Staple food
Aquatic & amphibious invertebrates, feeder insects
Feeding frequency
Every 5–10 days
Supplements
None; gut-load prey

Behaviour and handling

HandlingNone – experts only; venomous
CommunalNo – solitary
Defense / stress signsFlees into water, coiling, striking

Reproduction

Life course

Day 0Hatch
4–7 yrLifespan in care
4 yrMinimum commitment
Sexual maturityNot in our data

Read from the lifespan and maturity the sheet states, for animals in care and not in the wild.

Why

The minimum commitment is the low end of that lifespan, and the reproductive window is what is left after maturity: both are subtractions on stated figures, not figures of their own.

Reproduction
Presumed maternal egg-guarding (unstudied in captivity)

Common health problems

Common health issues
SignsPoorly documented; drowning/hygiene risks in bad setups
Red flags / quarantine
SignsWild-collected only; strong quarantine, likely CITES-free but check export rules

Good to know

  • First described amphibious centipede: it swims like an eel and is waterproof.
  • First described amphibious centipede — it swims like an eel and is waterproof.

What it needs

A thermometerbecause temp22-26°C
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Paludarium with land + water sections, tight lid »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

Others in this group

What this sheet states

54%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 4 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: humidity instrument and audit, enclosure size audit, day/night engine and awake count on the globe. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.