Baby Florida Bark

Gillian Pajor

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Hey! I bought two of the small Florida Scorpions and I didn't realize until just as I was about to buy then that they had just had their first molt and brought have been off the mothers back for about a week or two. I have never taken care of ones so young before and I would love if anyone could answer some questions for me!

What do I feed them and should the food be dead or alive?
How often do I feed them?
When's the soonest I can sex them? (I know how to sex but I dont know if its safe this early in their life)
Do they need a water dish this young?
 

Dave Jay

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Being 2nd instars the biggest threat is desiccation, they will need more moisture than adults. And they will also need somewhere moist to hide when they need to moult, they'll need to be able to seal themselves in so the substrate needs to be deep enough to allow a burrow under some cover. It's best to add water to one end or side of the enclosure so they can choose their moisture levels. I would add a small water dish such as a bottle top and have small aquarium gravel or sphagnum moss in it. Even if they don't drink they may stand in or near it.
Pinhead crickets are okay , but hard to deal with and hard to keep alive. A lot of baby scorpions will take a 'cricket drumstick' or a piece of cut mealworm, it's worth trying both as it makes life much easier if they'll accept it.
If they disappear and block their burrow or scrape don't give into the temptation of lifting the cover, if they're moulting the loss of humidity may be fatal.
 

Gillian Pajor

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Being 2nd instars the biggest threat is desiccation, they will need more moisture than adults. And they will also need somewhere moist to hide when they need to moult, they'll need to be able to seal themselves in so the substrate needs to be deep enough to allow a burrow under some cover. It's best to add water to one end or side of the enclosure so they can choose their moisture levels. I would add a small water dish such as a bottle top and have small aquarium gravel or sphagnum moss in it. Even if they don't drink they may stand in or near it.
Pinhead crickets are okay , but hard to deal with and hard to keep alive. A lot of baby scorpions will take a 'cricket drumstick' or a piece of cut mealworm, it's worth trying both as it makes life much easier if they'll accept it.
If they disappear and block their burrow or scrape don't give into the temptation of lifting the cover, if they're moulting the loss of humidity may be fatal.

thank you! I have only ever dealt with sub-adults and adult scorpions before so I am not confident in my ability for taking care of babies just yet but I really wanted them and they were cheap. I just dont want them to die, I want them to live a long happy life
 

Dave Jay

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To be honest I find some baby scorpions to be pains in the bum! Particularly lychas babies, so tiny! Even the adults are sometimes just over a centimeter long in the body.
Best of luck with your babies ! :)
 

Gillian Pajor

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To be honest I find some baby scorpions to be pains in the bum! Particularly lychas babies, so tiny! Even the adults are sometimes just over a centimeter long in the body.
Best of luck with your babies ! :)

thank you!
 

darkness975

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@Gillian Pajor Centruroides gracilis are arboreal. They rarely "burrow." They require vertically oriented bark to hide/climb/molt in.

And give them a water dish. Don't use gravel or moss in it. All that will do is attract mold/bacteria. As long as they can get back out of the dish it's fine.


Feed them appropriately sized (live) prey. Easiest to use would be crickets.
 

miss moxie

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Here is an example of the cork bark they need. Cork bark is pretty easy to break into small pieces. Mist these guys often. I do mine every other day.




Sexing C. gracilis is easy-- when they're big enough. I'm not sure what instar they become visibly sexually dimorphic, but males have longer, skinnier segments making up their tail.



Here is a female, and a male. The female is holding her cricket with one pincher, the male is holding his with both pinchers and eating it like a 'corn cob'.
 

Gillian Pajor

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Now I'm having trouble with the one. The first one eats everyday no problem but the second has not touched any of the food I put in there since I got it 2 days ago. I don't know why it won't eat
 

InvertAddiction

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Sometimes the babies can be picky when they eat. You'll have some that eat like piggies and others that seldom eat. Can you post pictures of the two with their enclosure(s)? As long as you're misting and have water for it, you shouldn't have much of an issue in raising these guys.
 

Dave Jay

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I apologise, I'm confusing a couple of species, I should have checked the species before commenting, last time I gave advice I thought it was this species and a foraging scorp, but was told it was an obligate burrower, this time it is the one I thought the other was so I messed up again . In Australia we have different species, but the care is the same for each ' group' of scorps so I tried to help . I will butt out now because I know there'll be a difference in opinion regardless of whether we talk about the same scorp or group of scorpions. I apologise .
The 'cricket drumstick' feeding is not just something I made up though, live food is always better imo, but it is widely accepted practice.
 
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Dave Jay

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Wow, I must have confused the common names, reading back, the op didn't give Latin.
 

InvertAddiction

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You'll want to remove uneaten prey out of the one who just molted's enclosure so it doesn't mold or anything. Congrats on getting to witness something I've never been able to with my communal tank :) it'll take a few days to a week before it will eat again. Other than that both look quite plump and healthy ^_^
 

Gillian Pajor

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Both of mine have now stopped eating. The one who had molted ate 1 meal since he molted. What can I do to get them eating again?
 

Scorpionluva

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Both of mine have now stopped eating. The one who had molted ate 1 meal since he molted. What can I do to get them eating again?
They will eat regularly once they harden up completely
They really shouldn't be eating every day though if that's your concern
Feeding them 2 times a week is normal when they are younger instars but once adult some males especially will go a month or more without eating
 

Gillian Pajor

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They will eat regularly once they harden up completely
They really shouldn't be eating every day though if that's your concern
Feeding them 2 times a week is normal when they are younger instars but once adult some males especially will go a month or more without eating



Well both are harden and it's been about 2 weeks since one ate and the other one who went through a molt and harden ate 4 days ago
 
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