Hiya friends 
You might remember a while back (probably just under a year ago now) I purchased two Smeringus mesaensis, (better known as golden dune scorps), and housed them together in an 18x18x18" vivarium. Many people showed concern at me doing this due to their tendency to be cannibalistic in the wild.
However, like I say a year has passed with only minor skirmishes in which one or the other have retreated back to their scrape with no hastle. You may also remember that I reported a lack of a desire to eat shown by both specimens.
This morning I noticed one of them with its head under its scrape and its tail in full view. When i returned home from university it was in a similiar position, so out of curiosity I gently nudged it with a pencil with little response.. After repeating a few times eventually it revealed its head section and nearly gave me a heart attack; a crickets head, complete with antenae, was protruding from its mouth.
This is the first time I have seen either of my scorps eating - leading to a few questions I hope someone with a reasonable knowledge of these fantastic critters can answer.
1). Recently I introduced 4 crickets to the enclosure which I do every month or so, but usually end up fishing them out when they die. Last night i noticed 2 had died, but there were still 2 alive and crawling around. Do these scorps eat dead foodstuff or is it more likely to have caught one of the live crickets?
2). It appears that it has taken my scorp a whole day to eat (digest) the cricket upto its head section. Is this normal?
3). Could I have inflicted internal damage to the scorpion by inturrupting its feast?
Thanks in advance, Gav.
You might remember a while back (probably just under a year ago now) I purchased two Smeringus mesaensis, (better known as golden dune scorps), and housed them together in an 18x18x18" vivarium. Many people showed concern at me doing this due to their tendency to be cannibalistic in the wild.
However, like I say a year has passed with only minor skirmishes in which one or the other have retreated back to their scrape with no hastle. You may also remember that I reported a lack of a desire to eat shown by both specimens.
This morning I noticed one of them with its head under its scrape and its tail in full view. When i returned home from university it was in a similiar position, so out of curiosity I gently nudged it with a pencil with little response.. After repeating a few times eventually it revealed its head section and nearly gave me a heart attack; a crickets head, complete with antenae, was protruding from its mouth.
This is the first time I have seen either of my scorps eating - leading to a few questions I hope someone with a reasonable knowledge of these fantastic critters can answer.
1). Recently I introduced 4 crickets to the enclosure which I do every month or so, but usually end up fishing them out when they die. Last night i noticed 2 had died, but there were still 2 alive and crawling around. Do these scorps eat dead foodstuff or is it more likely to have caught one of the live crickets?
2). It appears that it has taken my scorp a whole day to eat (digest) the cricket upto its head section. Is this normal?
3). Could I have inflicted internal damage to the scorpion by inturrupting its feast?
Thanks in advance, Gav.
