H. Swammerdami Care

[Jeffrey Swei]

Can someone help me with how to care for h. swammerdami. Currently they are 3i but can you also give advice for when they are adults? For example, substrate (Mixture of what substrate, how much needed), humidity and temperature (good humidity and temp, how to get it to that amount, tools to check/show), housing (how big for 3i, and later on how many gallons or dimension for adult) also food (now 3i and later on as it grows). Thanks in advance!

 

[AnimalNewbie]

Well I keep my adult in a 10 gallon live vivarium with a lot of substrate for it to burrow as well as always having the substrate moist enough to the point that I can squeeze it and water leaks out and ideal temps are in the 70s- low 80s. Are you sure it an H. Swammerdami, there are a lot of heterometrus species that look similar.

 

[Jeffrey Swei]

thanks for responding. Can you tell me what substrate you use? Some say coco brick others say a mix of exo clay and coco husk. Also they were sold to me as h. Swammerdami so now I would assume so.

 

[AnimalNewbie]

Coco brick

 

[Marc Immanuel]

So my H. Swammerdami is 3i and he likes to burrow under the substrate yet I worry that maybe he isn't eating right. I mean, it's been weeks to a month since he last ate and I don't know if that's normal. I've transferred him to a terrarium that is of a smaller nature than normal and I dropped two roaches in with him so he won't go hungry but still he hasn't touched one of them. Please advise! This is my first time owning a scorpion so you get my anxiety and frustration.

 

[THR]

coco for lower instar, laterite for higher. In natural habitat they dig burrows in clay.

 

[Marc Immanuel]

coco for lower instar, laterite for higher. In natural habitat they dig burrows in clay.

Do I really need to change the substrate as he grows up? I mean, I'm using coco peat as his substrate. I'll send a pic so you'll have a gist of my "set up".

 

[Marc Immanuel]

This is a bird's eye view.

 

[THR]

Do I really need to change the substrate as he grows up? I mean, I'm using coco peat as his substrate. I'll send a pic so you'll have a gist of my "set up".

Wouldn't be necessary, but experiments showed that hard substrate result in larger claws and stronger body.

 

[THR]

It's totally up to you, and here are some pics of H. swam in natural habitat. U can see the ground is quite consolidated.

 

[mantisfan101]

Wouldn't be necessary, but experiments showed that hard substrate result in larger claws and stronger body.

Harder substrate requires more strength to burrow through it, which also requires larger claws.

 

[Marc Immanuel]

It's totally up to you, and here are some pics of H. swam in natural habitat. U can see the ground is quite consolidated.

Wow. Those are some amazing arachnids! Haha anyway, is it normal for my scorp not to eat? I mean, as I stated, it's been almost a month now since he last ate and they said it's an indicator of premolting but so far, no molting has occured so what do I do? He just keeps on hiding between rocks and/or vegetation or burrows himself underground.

 

[ArachnoDrew]

Wow. Those are some amazing arachnids! Haha anyway, is it normal for my scorp not to eat? I mean, as I stated, it's been almost a month now since he last ate and they said it's an indicator of premolting but so far, no molting has occured so what do I do? He just keeps on hiding between rocks and/or vegetation or burrows himself underground.

Could go a year without eating if it wanted to

 

[Galapoheros]

I saw a wide angle view of their natural habitat, it looked like central Texas, rocky limestone bedded creeks with some rocky outcrops. I use flat rocks, coco fiber mixed with coarse sand I found locally.

 

[Marc Immanuel]

Could go a year without eating if it wanted to

So you're saying I shouldn't worry for him? I peeked at his burrow and he seems fine to me. What should I do then? Just continually place 2-3 B. Lateralis roaches on his enclosure?

 

[ArachnoDrew]

Try offering a roach once a week of every 2 weeks if it doesnt get eaten over night then leave it be... make sure your temps are in the upper 80s

Warmer temps = better feeding responses

 

[Marc Immanuel]

Try offering a roach once a week of every 2 weeks if it doesnt get eaten over night then leave it be... make sure your temps are in the upper 80s

Warmer temps = better feeding responses

I don't know about the rest of my countrymen but I don't use heat mats or anything related to that nor do I check the temp of my enclosure. I live in the Philippines so I guess the temp here and humidity is at least almost equal to their natural habitat but that's just me. I don't know haha. As of now, my scorp is holed up in his burrow and seems to have no plan on popping out anytime soon while the two roaches I placed on his enclosure are roaming and hiding about haha.

 

[THR]

I don't know about the rest of my countrymen but I don't use heat mats or anything related to that nor do I check the temp of my enclosure. I live in the Philippines so I guess the temp here and humidity is at least almost equal to their natural habitat but that's just me. I don't know haha. As of now, my scorp is holed up in his burrow and seems to have no plan on popping out anytime soon while the two roaches I placed on his enclosure are roaming and hiding about haha.

Well, I think your enclosure is too big for a 3i, a small cup will just be enough. You can simply use a shield-like wood for it to hide. To much things is difficult for it to catch the prey and isn't necessary. And I don't know how big the prey you give them is. Crickets also a good choice. Last, temp around 28 °C, mosit 70~90 %. The enclosure better be put in a dark environment.

 

[THR]

I always prefer wood to stone.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

I don't know about the rest of my countrymen but I don't use heat mats or anything related to that nor do I check the temp of my enclosure. I live in the Philippines so I guess the temp here and humidity is at least almost equal to their natural habitat but that's just me. I don't know haha. As of now, my scorp is holed up in his burrow and seems to have no plan on popping out anytime soon while the two roaches I placed on his enclosure are roaming and hiding about haha.

The outside temps are probably fine, but I assume the temperature inside your house is way cooler than outside. In that case you should still use heating, if it stays above 25C that would be fine, I'd prefer it a bit warmer though. H.swammerdami is a very slow grower and without heating it will hardly grow. And are you sure it really is a swammerdami? Here in Europe they're not very common and are very expensive. There are a lot of Heterometrus sp. but swammerdami can be recognized by the shape of the pedipalps, it's quite unique.