Help! Arizona giant desert hairy mycosis

ArizonaAmanda

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I purchased a giant desert hairy last week. She was beautiful big and fat fat fat!! I noticed the enclosure they sold her in. ( Pretty much around Tupperware) was very very moist to the point of condensation on the walls... I thought that was incorrect but I wasn't the professional.. and simply decided when I got home I would put her in an enclosure with a much drier substrate... I started looking at her and I was fairly sure that a few of her feet and the joints on her legs on a few places were not her normal coloring ( too dark, actually black) and feared mycosis... I snap some photos and took them to the place I bought her... They agreed that it was mycosis... And offered me another scorpion per their warranty... I convinced them to let me keep her ( as I was kind of attached at this point, and wanted to give her a good rest of her life even if it's a short one) I don't know if they let me keep her because they saw I truly wanted her to have a good life or because I promised to buy a new enclosure and several other things lol... ( I'd like to think it's cuz they knew I wanted to give her a good home) I came back the next day and they had a new female for me ( I also noticed they corrected the over humidified enclosures of The Other Desert hairys) ... Anyway I'm babbling at this point, I have a new scorpion but I still have her... She's very fat and I'm assuming she's going to molt Soon... I've heard conflicting things... The one thing everyone agrees on is there is no treatment... however I have heard that some scorpions will molt.. and no longer have issues, as long as the mositure problem is corrected.... Is there any truth in this? I was given an Arizona bark with mycosis.. but I think she might be full grown, and not have a molt left... I have tried putting diluted antifungal cream on her... But stopped as the stress of treating her was very apparent, and I doubted it was going to help anyway... I guess what I'm asking is if anyone has had a scorpion with mycosis, molt, and come out cured??? I really care for this big girl... I know as long as I keep her dry, and it doesn't spread to the book lungs, she can live a while... But... I'd like to cure her... Though I am 99.9percent positive there is no cure.
 

NYAN

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I’ve not had scorpions with mycosis but I’ve had/ have a centipede with it. Best is to try to get them to molt out of it. With Pedes at least, when it’s on the legs it’s not as harmful as the body. I also read that hadrurus arizonensis has issues molting in captivity.
 

ArizonaAmanda

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Unfortunately I gave her another look over and I saw a bit on her first segment leading to her pencers, and a small amount right on the very front of her head ( what I consider her head.. in front of the eyes) so unfortunately it's on her body... I'm so sad they did this to her!!! She is really really fat, and her plates are very spread apart.. so I'd imagine a molt is coming... But I have no ideas when.. or how to tell if she is in pre molt... But from what you are saying... She should be ok if she can molt before it gets in her book lungs? Also... This is probably a silly question... But is there anyway to encourage a her molt? I was told there really weren't any signs that they are in premolt either... But I wish there was a way to make her molt asap?!!!!!
 

darkness975

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Unfortunately I gave her another look over and I saw a bit on her first segment leading to her pencers, and a small amount right on the very front of her head ( what I consider her head.. in front of the eyes) so unfortunately it's on her body... I'm so sad they did this to her!!! She is really really fat, and her plates are very spread apart.. so I'd imagine a molt is coming... But I have no ideas when.. or how to tell if she is in pre molt... But from what you are saying... She should be ok if she can molt before it gets in her book lungs? Also... This is probably a silly question... But is there anyway to encourage a her molt? I was told there really weren't any signs that they are in premolt either... But I wish there was a way to make her molt asap?!!!!!
Pictures would help.
 

ArizonaAmanda

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I tried to up load.. it says that my file is too big... Also.. I have her in a dry enclousure.. I'm told if she molts I need to up the humidity... I have no ideal how to tell... She is hudge... Large sections between her plates... I imagine soon... I hope she hurries... But also nervious as people say it's a problem in captivity???
 

darkness975

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I tried to up load.. it says that my file is too big... Also.. I have her in a dry enclousure.. I'm told if she molts I need to up the humidity... I have no ideal how to tell... She is hudge... Large sections between her plates... I imagine soon... I hope she hurries... But also nervious as people say it's a problem in captivity???
If it is not a fully grown gravid specimen then you may get lucky and get a molt. They can molt out of mycosis damage.

If it is fully grown, however, all you can do is do your best to stop it from getting worse for as long as you can.

Try candle lighting her, which means shining a flashlight through the body to see if you can see embryos inside.

Size is kind of a general way to guesstimate the age, specimens can mature at larger or smaller sizes.
 

ArizonaAmanda

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I downloaded a photo resizer.. in the one of her entire body.. if you look closely you can see it on her "shoulder" and in front of her eyes... Also you can see how far apart her plates are... She has to molt soon??? image.jpg image.jpg
Pictures would help.
 

ArizonaAmanda

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In the pet store.. I asked if she was gravid... They said they didn't think so as they did shine a flashlight on her belly.. they thought she was just over fed alittle a due a molt.. also.. any signs that she is molting? I'm told I need to increase humidity if she is.. but I want her bone dry untill then..
If it is not a fully grown gravid specimen then you may get lucky and get a molt. They can molt out of mycosis damage.

If it is fully grown, however, all you can do is do your best to stop it from getting worse for as long as you can.

Try candle lighting her, which means shining a flashlight through the body to see if you can see embryos inside.

Size is kind of a general way to guesstimate the age, specimens can mature at larger or smaller sizes.
 

darkness975

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I downloaded a photo resizer.. in the one of her entire body.. if you look closely you can see it on her "shoulder" and in front of her eyes... Also you can see how far apart her plates are... She has to molt soon??? View attachment 281063 View attachment 281064
Does not appear to be gravid, or even hugely close to a molt, just looks like she's a bit overweight like most of mine are. 20170427_211635.jpg 20170424_220648.jpg 20170428_071839.jpg

One of my juveniles showed signs of mycosis shortly after acquisition. That was around 4 years ago. It hasn't spread any further since. None of my adults show any discernable signs , probably because they came from reputable sources.

Due to the difficulty of these molting in captivity most of the ones you get are wild-caught. Sometimes they acquire it from the wild though it is far more likely that it happens in captivity as you experienced with them being kept in far too moist conditions.
 

ArizonaAmanda

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Does not appear to be gravid, or even hugely close to a molt, just looks like she's a bit overweight like most of mine are. View attachment 281068 View attachment 281069 View attachment 281070

One of my juveniles showed signs of mycosis shortly after acquisition. That was around 4 years ago. It hasn't spread any further since. None of my adults show any discernable signs , probably because they came from reputable sources.

Due to the difficulty of these molting in captivity most of the ones you get are wild-caught. Sometimes they acquire it from the wild though it is far more likely that it happens in captivity as you experienced with them being kept in far too moist conditions.
They are wild caught.. i have two now, as they gave me another per there warranty..and I heard the guy say he would go find me a new one.. and then they told me to come back tomorrow as they only had males, and I wanted a female, the other female is much smaller and her plates are very close together.. which is why I thought maybe a molt would be soon... Probably just wishful thinking... I have several bark scorpions.. but she was my first desert hairy ( I really wanted one!) And I became really attached really quickly.. I jumped up and down and ridiculously told her how awesome she was when I saw she dug a burrow.. lol... Ive only had her for weekish now. And the new gal is still in her container they gave her to me in because I'm waiting for the Eco Earth quartz sand substrate mix I mixed to dry.. as I'm terrified of mycosis now... I had one bark with it.. that was given to me by someone who caught it, and stuck it in a bowl, left it out side and dropped to much water in there thinking they were being nice... Sadly she died recently.. and I don't want that to happen again.. I did know that was coming. It was a pretty severe case, and the female was gravid.. sad sad sad... I am more worried as the mycosis is on the body.. hopefully if I keep it dry.. she will eventually molt before irreparable damage is done.. did you say weither or not there was a way to tell if they are in pre molt, so that I can slightly elevated the humidity? I'm told not, but just thought I'd ask as you seem to have experience with this sepecies... Sorry I wrote so much. I really care for these guys.. and I'm worried and want as much knowledge as possible. Thank you!
 

darkness975

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They are wild caught.. i have two now, as they gave me another per there warranty..and I heard the guy say he would go find me a new one.. and then they told me to come back tomorrow as they only had males, and I wanted a female, the other female is much smaller and her plates are very close together.. which is why I thought maybe a molt would be soon... Probably just wishful thinking... I have several bark scorpions.. but she was my first desert hairy ( I really wanted one!) And I became really attached really quickly.. I jumped up and down and ridiculously told her how awesome she was when I saw she dug a burrow.. lol... Ive only had her for weekish now. And the new gal is still in her container they gave her to me in because I'm waiting for the Eco Earth quartz sand substrate mix I mixed to dry.. as I'm terrified of mycosis now... I had one bark with it.. that was given to me by someone who caught it, and stuck it in a bowl, left it out side and dropped to much water in there thinking they were being nice... Sadly she died recently.. and I don't want that to happen again.. I did know that was coming. It was a pretty severe case, and the female was gravid.. sad sad sad... I am more worried as the mycosis is on the body.. hopefully if I keep it dry.. she will eventually molt before irreparable damage is done.. did you say weither or not there was a way to tell if they are in pre molt, so that I can slightly elevated the humidity? I'm told not, but just thought I'd ask as you seem to have experience with this sepecies... Sorry I wrote so much. I really care for these guys.. and I'm worried and want as much knowledge as possible. Thank you!
What you can do is provide it in area of the enclosure that's a bit more humid, in the form of a false bottom substrate underneath or a moister hide. But you don't want the entire enclosure to be moist. Basically, you want to allow it to choose how dry or moist it wants to be. In nature their Burrows are so extensive that the humidity varies depending on how deep they go.

the average person can't allot for a 5 foot deep burrow in an enclosure and even if they can it's not easy to replicate the varying humidity levels throughout the substrate layers. But if you give it the choice of dry area and moist area and let it choose it's probably your best bet.

I don't have the room to do that for mine, and the ambient humidity in the air does tend to be pretty high in the summertime, as my sinuses can attest to. They are much more hardier than people seem to give them credit for, a little bit of extra moisture is not going to suddenly spell Doom.

They don't require additional Heating in most environments, mine live in the mid-60s at night in Winter and they are fine. But, depending on where you are and how cold it is, if you are using an infrared bulb for heating or a heat lad (on the side , NOT the bottom) that will also contribute to keeping the environment within the enclosure dryer.

Humidity levels fluctuate even within the same room.

Try not to overthink it. Unless you are throwing it into a rainforest type environment you'll probably be fine. Mine have a small water dish, dry substrate , and they've dug some forms of burrows.

Give it a 70 / 30 mixture of sand / excavator clay substrate , let it burrow to its hearts content , feed it once a week or every other week, make sure the water dish stays full, and you're basically done.

And yes they do drink from dishes , always give them one.

 
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