Pedigree kivsyak, known species and their features, advice on keeping at home and feeding, purchase and price. If you are in search of an original pet, turn your attention to such an amazing creature as kivsyak. At first it may seem to someone that he is not very suitable for the role of a pet, but after getting to know him better, you will understand that this is just a find - original features of appearance, peaceful nature and ease of maintenance, and this is all in one small animal.
Home territories and origins of kivsak
Until the not so distant 1833, no one knew about the existence of such a representative of a large diverse kingdom of fauna as kivsyak. Maybe someone had to meet him somewhere in his native habitats, but they simply did not know him by sight, or is it still a completely new, just emerging species of original living creatures. Over the years, people who are engaged in science have carefully studied this miracle of nature and finally reached a general consensus. Scientists have classified the kivsaka to the arthropod type, the two-legged class and the kivsyaki order of the same name.
If we talk about the native areas of this extraordinary living creature, then it is quite widespread in most of the territories of the African continent. Depending on the type of invertebrate, its exact geographic coordinates of residence differ.
The most famous types of kivsak and their characteristic features
In general, in the world fauna, there are over 30 of the most diverse varieties of these peculiar "creepers", but who knows, perhaps on our large planet, hitherto unknown and unexplored species of these wonderful creatures are hiding somewhere.
Red-footed African kivsak
Ephibolus pulchripes is perhaps the most popular species among the entire kivsak fraternity, both because it is the most studied, and because it is bred as a pet more often than its other relatives.
This centipede lives mainly in the countries of the eastern part of hot Africa, such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, it is also possible to meet this eccentric in the lands of Somalia, beloved by pirates.
Kivsaki prefers to choose tropical wooded areas as a permanent place of residence, where they feel not only cozy and quite comfortable, but also quite safe. After all, these craftsmen, although they are not famous for their ability to conquer the impressive tops of trees and shrubs, and spend their whole lives on the earth's surface, they still manage to remain unnoticed by other inhabitants of the forest. And no, they do not have the ability to change the nature of the color, depending on the conditions of the external environment, such as chameleons. The solution to this secret of disguise is very elementary, the whole point is that they spend almost their entire life period in a thick layer of fallen leaves, in the forest floor they construct special underground passages and labyrinths along which they move. So they should be afraid only of the fact that someone big and heavy will step on them, and they will simply crush them, because they do not risk being caught and exposed.
They, like all the inhabitants of the forests, and just all living things, need a cozy nest for living or at least rest. Here kivsaki are no exception, as their shelter they most often use burrows previously built by other animals, but they could not find such ones or they are already occupied by someone, then they are quite content with small depressions under the thickness of stones or crevices of old, fallen trees.
By their nature, these original creatures are completely harmless and not predatory, they do not eat anyone and do not hunt anyone. Their daily diet consists mainly of the same fallen leaves in which they spend all their time, and if they are lucky, they can feast on various fruits that they find along the way. As for the external appearance of this African invertebrate, this is a rather large representative of the world fauna, the length of their body ranges from about 12 to 17 cm. Mother nature has decorated these eccentrics quite gracefully. As the main background, I picked up beautiful dark brown tones, even closer to a chocolate shade, or black with a slight brownish tint. The small limbs of this centipede are presented in a beautiful bright red color scheme.
Sexual dimorphism in this species of arthropods is noticeable almost at first glance, in male kivsyaks the delightful shine of the skin immediately catches the eye, they seem to be covered with some kind of artificial substance with a metallic sheen. The female sex cannot boast of such beauty and grace, their color, in comparison with the color of the male, looks much simpler and even dimmer. The skin does not have that gloss, usually they are more matte.
Red madagascar kivsyak
Based on the name of this arthropod, it is not difficult to guess where to get a ticket to meet on the territory it occupies.
The body length of this native of Madagascar reaches about 12-14 cm, usually both females and males are the same in size. Although he was called “red”, the color of his little body is completely heterogeneous, usually the basic background is red or sometimes even brown, the entire surface of the body consists of rings, the edges of which have a beautiful bright edging of yellowish color. There are small black dots on the sides of the body, but these are not at all decorations of the Madagascar centipede, but quite a good weapon in the form of holes in protective glands.
Their main activity falls on the daytime, then these inhabitants of the litter of tropical forests are busy looking for food. This type of kivsyak usually chooses old, almost rotten trees as its personal house, because they feel very well in places with a sufficiently high air humidity.
When the mating season begins, both males and females begin to actively search for each other in the thickness of the fallen leaves, stomping with their many limbs along the hidden passages laid by them. Before proceeding with the direct process of mating, the representatives of the stronger sex remove the seed from the genital opening, which is placed in the projection of the second ring of the body and carefully folds it into the seed box. When mating begins, the male strongly holds the female with all his legs and starts injecting the previously deposited seed. This process can continue even throughout the day.
When it is necessary to lay eggs, expectant mothers carefully dig into the earthen soil and stay underground for several days. When the time comes, the larvae emerge from the eggs and new inhabitants are born, the length of the bodies of which does not exceed a few millimeters. With each new molt, the larvae are transformed and at the end of the final one - these are no longer larvae, but a fully formed specimen of a kivsyak.
The period of "wardrobe renewal" in adult specimens occurs in a rather peculiar way. In order for this phase of the life cycle to pass faster and painlessly, these arthropods dig out special burrows in order to sit out molt there. There they do nothing, they just sit motionless, waiting for the end of the cycle, when the new skin becomes firm enough. The harbingers of the beginning of this process are a kind of numbness of animals, a noticeable decrease in appetite and, most importantly, that the skin of the kivsyak loses its shine and characteristic color, gradually becoming gray and rough.
Giant kivsyak
This is probably the largest representative of its kind, the length of its not quite miniature body reaches approximately 27-30 cm, and the diameter is almost 3-3, 5 cm. The color of the body is usually presented in darker shades of red, depending on sexual characteristics the skin is either matte or glossy with a noticeable metallic sheen. Between each segment of the body there is, albeit a conditional, but clearly visible border of orange, closer to brick, color. This invertebrate giant is widespread in East Africa, in particular in tropical and subtropical locations.
Desert kivsyak
This is a medium-sized creature, it grows no more than 13-14 cm in length, females do not differ from males in body parameters. He respects the southwestern part of the United States and the north of Mexico as his homeland. By nature, this native of North America is still an extreme lover, because he usually settles in those territories that other animals try to bypass. So he is quite comfortable and even feels great in desert soils, on which several types of shrubs grow. They use the bark and sometimes the leaves of these desert shrubs as their daily food. He can live without water for a very long time, no one knows whether his body has adapted so much to such unfavorable living conditions, or he is naturally so hardy and undemanding.
The color of the body is usually brown or brown, in some individuals, individual segments of the body are painted in pale brown or yellowish colors, it all depends on the geographical origin of the kivsyaks.
These small inhabitants of desert regions are most active during the period of heavy rains, they usually go to the fishery either early in the morning or already in the late afternoon, probably, their biological clock is set this way. Similar to the hibernation of other animals, the kivsak living in deserts can sometimes plunge into the so-called "summer sleep". The thing is that no matter how hardy he is, even he cannot survive the temperature closer to 40 degrees, so he looks for deep holes or rocky heaps and sleeps there until the next decrease in the temperature of the external environment or at least a little rain.
In addition to the fact that they feed on the elements of shrubs, these invertebrates can afford to eat an arthropod that has already died earlier, maybe he would not mind trying it live, but it is unlikely that the kivsyak will be able to catch someone. When it is very tight with food in the middle of the desert, then this cunning man can dine with fine sand or pebbles.
Olive kivsyak
One of the largest representatives of the small world of arthropods, the length of its ringed body ranges from 22 to 25 cm, in diameter is about 7-9 mm. The color of the skin is not uniform, on the main saturated olive background, brownish-red lines are clearly visible, which serve as a delimitation between the rings of the body. The total number of segments on the body of an adult individual of the olive millipede varies from 65 to 75. The populations of such living creatures inhabit the tropical forests of the southern part of the African continent, preferring more humid terrain.
Rainbow kivsyak
If we talk about this native of the southeastern area of Asia, then if for someone he is not the most beautiful and graceful of all his relatives, then the fact that he is the most vivid and memorable is already a fact. And indeed, we can say that when nature picked up colors to paint this living creature, then at that moment a muse came to visit her, and perhaps not alone, as soon as this handsome man gets under the sunbeam, his body begins to simply fabulously shimmer in different colors. … In the shade, you can more closely examine the color scheme of this two-legged. The main tone of the skin is bluish-gray, between the segments there are neat even stripes, dark brown, less often black, in contrast. And on the dorsal part of the body of the rainbow eccentric, a relatively wide line is drawn, painted in a bright red tone. The limbs, antennae and "face" are also like a decoration on the back, painted in red shades. In the projection of the tail end, you can see a small process of red color, resembling a thorn in shape - this, in addition to a bright color, is also a kind of visiting card of this species. The length of their iridescent body is on average 9-13 cm.
Keeping kivsyak at home
In addition to its very original and extravagant appearance, such a native of the wild as this arthropod has another very positive feature in its arsenal, it is the ease of keeping such a pet. Many may think that since he has protective glands, he can, without any need, shoot back not quite fragrant substances, but this is not so, more precisely, not quite so.
This rather calm and phlegmatic pet by nature has a friendly disposition, therefore, if you do not cause him any harm, that is, do not try to squeeze it in your hand, grab it sharply or turn such a centipede in different directions, then, of course, it will not start attacking you with your poison. The poison of kivsyak is not dangerous to human life, the only thing is that in people with a burdened allergic history, if the substance gets on the skin, a hypersensitivity reaction may occur. However, after contact with an arthropod, it is still better to wash your hands thoroughly.
If your pet feels that you are his friend and do not pose any threat to his life, then after a while he will be able to feel calm with you under one roof and even walk into your arms.
As his personal dwelling, a horizontal type of terrarium is perfect, about twice the maximum body length of a kivsyak. Since this wonderful arthropod really loves to bury its little body in the ground, the substrate in its house is simply necessary, and a fairly wide layer can be poured into it, it is desirable that the soil is always moistened.
In order for your new friend to live a long and happy life next to you, be sure to mix lime with the substrate - this is a natural hardener for the carapace shell, if this is not done, then the life of your exotic can end very sadly and painfully for him - there is a possibility, that he will fall apart alive into small pieces and this is not an exaggeration at all.
If you started to plant beautiful plants in the terrarium, then remember that your kivsyak is not a very big fan of bright light, which is so necessary for these green interior elements. We can say that his favorite pastime is to sit immobilized in some secluded dark corner of his house and only occasionally show outbursts of physical activity, despite the fact that the number of his legs allows him to run long distances.
It is not at all difficult to feed such an exotic friend, as main dishes you can offer him vegetables, fruits, mushrooms and berries, from time to time you can bring foliage from the garden, including fallen and even, as strange as it may seem, rotten wood. We must not forget about periodic feeding, especially calcium.
Acquisition and price of kivsyak
It is not at all difficult to buy such a friend on the territory of our Motherland, perhaps the most difficult thing is to decide on the type of centipede. The average cost of one specimen of kivsak ranges from 200 to 5,000 rubles.
What an olive kivsyak looks like, see the video below:
