Desert Hairy / Beetle Setup

[Xaratos]

For anyone that keeps their Desert Hairy with Death Feigning Beetles, does anyone see interaction between them? Every night when my lights go out the scorp comes out from under his rock and stands on top of it and waits -- the 2 blue beetles come out and stand directly behind him and then they walk together and don't leave his backside, he parades them around the tank for a while and eventually when morning comes they follow him back to his hide and when he tucks in they head back over and hide under some leaf litter. Is it normal for these beetles to treat a scorpion like their king? Or is it a defensive thing? (Cant see me, cant eat me)

Thanks guys!

 

[Buthoscorpio]

Do you think this is a good idea? Either the beetles will stress the scorpion or the scorpion will stress/eat the beerles.

 

[AnimalNewbie]

For anyone that keeps their Desert Hairy with Death Feigning Beetles, does anyone see interaction between them? Every night when my lights go out the scorp comes out from under his rock and stands on top of it and waits -- the 2 blue beetles come out and stand directly behind him and then they walk together and don't leave his backside, he parades them around the tank for

Do you think this is a good idea? Either the beetles will stress the scorpion or the scorpion will stress/eat the beerles.

I’ve heard of many setups like this and have yet to hear anything negative about them. How ever I don’t keep the two species so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Alex99]

I feel it's a Commensalism type of relationship or possibly even a mutualism type of thing because your scorpion has the awareness to know they are there without a doubt and if he was stressed he'd just stress kill the beetles and leave them for you to pick up.

 

[Xaratos]

Yeah the only reason I kept them together was because several breeders at reptile shows have told me they kept them together with no issue, Have never seen aggression from anything. The beetles don't even play dead near the scorpion but they do if I put my hand in the tank.

 

[Alex99]

Yeah the only reason I kept them together was because several breeders at reptile shows have told me they kept them together with no issue, Have never seen aggression from anything. The beetles don't even play dead near the scorpion but they do if I put my hand in the tank.

is there anyway you can get a photo of it ?

 

[Smokehound714]

They dont have a symbiotic relationship, they just waltz in unafraid because they're virtually invincible.

nothing but birds and grasshopper mice can really prey on these, everything else has to put up with them barging in with impunity.

 

[pannaking22]

For anyone that keeps their Desert Hairy with Death Feigning Beetles, does anyone see interaction between them? Every night when my lights go out the scorp comes out from under his rock and stands on top of it and waits -- the 2 blue beetles come out and stand directly behind him and then they walk together and don't leave his backside, he parades them around the tank for a while and eventually when morning comes they follow him back to his hide and when he tucks in they head back over and hide under some leaf litter. Is it normal for these beetles to treat a scorpion like their king? Or is it a defensive thing? (Cant see me, cant eat me)

Thanks guys!

They're probably waiting for him to frass so they can eat it. They're basically indestructible from a scorpion view, so they don't need to care.

 

[darkness975]

For anyone that keeps their Desert Hairy with Death Feigning Beetles, does anyone see interaction between them? Every night when my lights go out the scorp comes out from under his rock and stands on top of it and waits -- the 2 blue beetles come out and stand directly behind him and then they walk together and don't leave his backside, he parades them around the tank for a while and eventually when morning comes they follow him back to his hide and when he tucks in they head back over and hide under some leaf litter. Is it normal for these beetles to treat a scorpion like their king? Or is it a defensive thing? (Cant see me, cant eat me)

Thanks guys!

I wouldn't worry about it. If they were stressing the scorpion out it would be clearly trying to deflect them.

 

[Wayne D]

I had 3 (now 2) blue death feigning beetles. Tonight I was checking on them and noticed my desert hairy scorpion eating one of the beetles. He had eaten its entire head by the time I intervened.
I feed the scorpion once a week and have never had an issue with the two species living together.
Anyone have any issues like this before?

 

[sschind]

No one has issues...until they have issues. I know many people keep setups like this but to me keeping a bug in a cage with another bug that has evolved to eat bugs is just tempting fate.

Sorry, I'm not intending to be judgmental or snarky at all. I'm not as anti mixing of species as this sounds its just predator/prey thing that stood out to me.

 

[pannaking22]

I had 3 (now 2) blue death feigning beetles. Tonight I was checking on them and noticed my desert hairy scorpion eating one of the beetles. He had eaten its entire head by the time I intervened.
I feed the scorpion once a week and have never had an issue with the two species living together.
Anyone have any issues like this before?

I wonder if the beetle was already dying so the scorpion decided to take a crack at it and won a meal.

 

[Wayne D]

I wonder if the beetle was already dying so the scorpion decided to take a crack at it and won a meal.

That is what I too was wondering. I only saw after the scorpion was already eating the beetle. I have never heard of a scorpion eating one but I know anything is possible. I thought the beetles exoskeleton was too tough, guess not.