picking up my scorp

Longbord1

Arachnoprince
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Mar 13, 2003
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I just got a scorp and i don't know how to pick it up or move it without pinching me.
P.s. emporer scorp:? :?
 

jwb121377

Arachnoangel
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Originally posted by longbord1
I just got a scorp and i don't know how to pick it up or move it without pinching me.
P.s. emporer scorp:? :?
Well anytime time your hand comes near a scorpion you may get pinched or stung, however when I hold mine I just reach in and scoop them up.
 

XOskeletonRED

Arachnodemon
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Jan 6, 2003
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Longbord1,

For future reference, you can edit posts by clicking the edit button on the right side of the post you choose to edit, rather than having to post a reply to the initial post of your own. Just so you know.

As for picking up a scorpion, you can use the deli-cup method and scoop them up in it carefully or place a cup in front of them and scurry them into the cup by use of a long object, other than your hand. I do not recommend picking up a scorp because many people will attempt to continuously hold the scorpion in the same manner they picked it up. Emps, having extremely heavy body weight and claw weight in comparison to their strength levels, are still capable of folding themselves midsection and coming up for a good pinch. They are commonly picked up by the bulbous part of the tail in which the stinger is attached with two fingers and from the sides. This way, they can not sting (or at least, in theory). They can rotate and flip their tails and can make contact with the stinger quite well! The reason some scorpion keepers will pick them up very quickly and lower them onto their other hand is because any scorpion can raise it's claws up enough to pinch as long as they have enough time. I would go with the deli cup method as it has successfully worked for me for a long time and I have yet to be stung or bit by anything I ever kept or caught. Scurry them into it and slide the lid on the cup to prevent escapees.

Sexing is commonly done by appearance of the pectines and other "givens" that certain species and genus' carry. The "givens", for instance, would include items such as these...Opistophthalmus scorpion male's claws aren't as thick as female's (some are difficult to distinguish, because if they are younger, they may not be developed enough, as would be needed to easily define this characteristic, and some species are difficult to identify this anyway because it's not a major difference in some). Many Centruroides scorpion males have longer tail segments than female's (some species, again, are difficult to identify). Then, of course, there's the pectines. The male scorpions will have longer pectines (the feather-like appendages underneath the body) with long folicles (the small bristles on the pectines which aim towards the scorpion's rear) in smaller numbers, while the female will have shorter pectines and short folicles in larger numbers (this method is NOT known to always be correct). If I had to put a percentage on it, I would have to say, with an uneducated guess of the topic, it's about 70-85% accurate. It can not be assumed that because the overall length of the pectines on one scorp are longer than another, that one is male and one is female. This is an assumation made by quite a few scorpion keepers I have met or spoken with in the past. I personally count the folicles on one of the pectines, if the scorps are large enough and in a good viewing container for seeing through the bottom. The scorps with more folicles that are smaller, is more than likely, the female, other being the male. Then, for the untrained eye, there is also the guess of sexes, because both scorps are the same sex! *lol*


adios,
edw. =D
 

Longbord1

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i have a black lite and i read that fter a while they lose their glow is this true explain
 

XOskeletonRED

Arachnodemon
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Well, I don't believe that anyone can completely and truthfully explain the entire fluorescue ability which scorpion exoskeletons possess. But from my experience, the lack of fluorescue appears to be caused by a scorpion nearing a molt or a scorpion in very old age having the disability to do such. Obvioulsly a scorpion which has already shed this exoskeleton during molt, will not fluorescue. I do not keep blacklights on scorpions and merely use them to quickly view feeding and breeding processes at night. I currently have one scorpion which has only a slight fluorescue left and she is also gravid. So, I just hope she makes it long enough to give me the little ones.


adios,
edw. :D
 

Reitz

Arachnobaron
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Feb 12, 2003
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I have heard that black lights tend to blind scorpions. I have never seen any empirical evidence to support this, but I can say that I used a black light as the main heat source for about a month when my red light burnt out. The scorpions stayed in their burrows the entire time. When I changed back to red they came out again.

Keep in mind, it was a black light bulb, so it wasn't pure UV light, and therefore probably had some bleed. That being said, my red light is not pure red spectrum either, so there's bleed there too. At any rate, I only use red except for brief viewing at night.
 

XOskeletonRED

Arachnodemon
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Scorpions bodies are designed to sense heat as well as light. Blacklights have no visible light, however, and scorps can probably only determine the light being on by the signature of the heat coming from above. They would, therefore, probably interpret it as sunlight or as the sun was coming up but still had no visible light. The UV rays which I had mentioned could cook from the inside out, may have the same effect on scorpion's eyes, but many scorpions stay away from blacklight and many get closer to it from what I've seen. Accordingly, I have read studies on blacklights, which have the same effects on humans as the older suntanning bulbs and am pretty positive constant use would cause some damage and possibly death and only use them when I must. I'm sure, on that note, it would be highly debatable, however.


adios,
edw. :? =D :?
 
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