new Haddie - feeding question

[BigBadConrad]

Got my first Desert Hairy scorpion (among other things) from Swift's yesterday. Awesome little animal. It's about 4.5, maybe 5" long when completely straightened out. In a 5 gal Kritter Keeper with a log and a broken flower pot hide, sloped sand/bentonite substrate and small water dish, 80-85F. After he acclimated for a couple hours I tossed in a tiny pinky that no one else seemed to want. It was small, but still nearly half the size of the scorp's abdomen. I was afraid it might be big enough to spook him but he was on it right away, stung it twice, and ate it all but the tail and a leg over the next 8 hrs. As soon as he was done he tucked partly under the log and to my surprise opened his claws like he was waiting for more prey. So I tossed in a noisy cricket my mantis hadn't eaten and he went right after it, too! By morning he had eaten it (I found part of a leg). What a voracious little monster. Question: how often/much to feed him? I've heard they can be overfed. Is a feeding like this once a week about right? Or am I better off to give him less food (maybe two crix), but twice a week?

And by the way, how do you tell the sex of H. arizonensis?

 

[neveragain]

I give mine 3 or 4 medium sized crickets twice a week. Sometimes I substitute the crickets for a superworm or the beetle that a superworm turns into though.

 

[Richard_uk]

I vary my feedings every week. Sometimes I might throw a couple of crickets in a week, the next only one. Occasionaly I might not feed them at all for a week ot two. Scorpions are used to grabbing food when it becomes available and this species in particular will eat whatever you can throw at it. There is nothing worse in my oppinion than an overweight scorp. They look ugly and its so uneccesary. If they start roaming the tank activley looking for food then that is a sign that they may need to be fed more, but if they are just waiting in ambush, let them wait!