Questions on Hadrurus arizonensis?

[Scorpionluva]

It's a shame that people don't want to pay more money for CB animals and prefer WC because they are cheaper . I always prefer CB if possible, and I have no problem to pay more for them. Breeder have a lot of work with raising this little guys, that has to be honored.
WC are good for starting to breed a species, and to refresh the gene pool. It shouldn't become usual. My thoughts.

Yeah i agree id rather buy captive born specimens than keep WC also and id also like to add that it wasnt about the money nearly as much as it was the fact i was getting overran with hadrurus as i refused to sell out to cheaper prices. I sold all my custom tanks and hadrurus to a local friend who in turn had very little success with them. Before i could help him get turned in the right direction - he sold them cheap to a pet store and used the tanks for bearded dragons. My tanks were 20 gallon super longs ( essentially 2 10 gallon aquariums joined on the short sides) that were made by another friend who was a boss at a custom glass shop

 

[darkness975]

I think H. arizonensis is probably my favorite species. They have all the features I like but without the potentially lethal venom of Leiurus spp. or Androctonus spp. I have several of the "normal" and "pallidus" color morphs of H. arizonensis. I will not be attempting to house them together, though. I have 0% confidence that it would not end in a blood bath (metaphorically speaking).

 

[keks]

Yeah i agree id rather buy captive born specimens than keep WC also and id also like to add that it wasnt about the money nearly as much as it was the fact i was getting overran with hadrurus as i refused to sell out to cheaper prices. I sold all my custom tanks and hadrurus to a local friend who in turn had very little success with them. Before i could help him get turned in the right direction - he sold them cheap to a pet store and used the tanks for bearded dragons. My tanks were 20 gallon super longs ( essentially 2 10 gallon aquariums joined on the short sides) that were made by another friend who was a boss at a custom glass shop

That sucks .
Could you make something like a summary of your experiences and post it here at AB? Maybe the one or the other want to try it again. Sometimes it is only a tiny difference of housing conditions and it suddenly runs. Anyway, it would be very interesting.
I remember that a special turtle was "almost impossible to breed", but a man in china bred them like rats. No idea what he did, I was then out of this hobby by illness.
As @darkness975 says, they are a great species. I don't want "hot" species too, for some reasons. But looking at offers there are almost only hot species or humid species as CB.

 

[DubiaW]

I kept this species communally for a long time but eventually each communal ended with only one inhabitant. The casualties aren't frequent but it seems inevitable in the long run. I accidentally told everyone this was a good idea because of my initial success and kept mine communally out of stubbornness after that. Eventually I have to admit to being wrong on the issue. The other piece of information that I put out there is that they are most active during the monsoon. This is also incorrect. I have previously done most of my herping in the late monsoon season and they are prevalent during that time. However having spent the entire summer hiking at night before, during and after the monsoon I can correct this information. H. arizonensis are most active before the monsoon season and during the late rainy season. Their activity peaked while the rainy season started and there were scattered showers every night. They were absolutely everywhere giving me a glimpse of how dense their population really is. What I had previously considered a lot of scorpions per acre (hectare) was a low estimate. As soon as the monsoons officially started (humidity over 50% for an extended period of time) their activity sharply dropped off and no scorpions were present for several weeks (the ground was wet everywhere during this period). After several weeks freshly molted scorpions started to surface and over the remainder of the season the numbers steadily but slowly increased but never reached that of pre-monsoon scattered rains. Another collector that has done this for a long time has attributed this drop off to binge eating and he may be right. I suspect that extremely high humidities over 50% make them go dormant as well as extremely high temps (humidity stabilizes the desert night temps and keeps them higher). After the recent cold snap their numbers have sharply increased. If it were a case of simple binge eating they wouldn't just disappear overnight, there would be a few stragglers that haven't gotten their fill. From field observations they molt during this summer dormant period. It might be of some use to keepers to try high humidity in conjunction with higher temps 80-85°F [27-29°C] for molting troubles. Humidity for this species is not a bad thing. They go through periods of extremely high humidity and that is when they molt.

I hope this information is helpful and I wished to correct the record even though I couldn't find the original post.

 

[Dcertalic]

I kept this species communally for a long time but eventually each communal ended with only one inhabitant. The casualties aren't frequent but it seems inevitable in the long run. I accidentally told everyone this was a good idea because of my initial success and kept mine communally out of stubbornness after that. Eventually I have to admit to being wrong on the issue. The other piece of information that I put out there is that they are most active during the monsoon. This is also incorrect. I have previously done most of my herping in the late monsoon season and they are prevalent during that time. However having spent the entire summer hiking at night before, during and after the monsoon I can correct this information. H. arizonensis are most active before the monsoon season and during the late rainy season. Their activity peaked while the rainy season started and there were scattered showers every night. They were absolutely everywhere giving me a glimpse of how dense their population really is. What I had previously considered a lot of scorpions per acre (hectare) was a low estimate. As soon as the monsoons officially started (humidity over 50% for an extended period of time) their activity sharply dropped off and no scorpions were present for several weeks (the ground was wet everywhere during this period). After several weeks freshly molted scorpions started to surface and over the remainder of the season the numbers steadily but slowly increased but never reached that of pre-monsoon scattered rains. Another collector that has done this for a long time has attributed this drop off to binge eating and he may be right. I suspect that extremely high humidities over 50% make them go dormant as well as extremely high temps (humidity stabilizes the desert night temps and keeps them higher). After the recent cold snap their numbers have sharply increased. If it were a case of simple binge eating they wouldn't just disappear overnight, there would be a few stragglers that haven't gotten their fill. From field observations they molt during this summer dormant period. It might be of some use to keepers to try high humidity in conjunction with higher temps 80-85°F [27-29°C] for molting troubles. Humidity for this species is not a bad thing. They go through periods of extremely high humidity and that is when they molt.

I hope this information is helpful and I wished to correct the record even though I couldn't find the original post.

Hey! What part of AZ are you in? I have been hunting for some desert hairies for a while but have had no luck at all catching any... I am in Maricopa city pinal county (Sonoran desert) so I in theory should be in prime territory but alas I have only caught C sculpturatus thus far. Although I think i have seen 1 DH. I've gone out at night with blacklight... someone the other day said to flip stuff so I'll be trying that. Any other advice?

 

[DubiaW]

Hey! What part of AZ are you in? I have been hunting for some desert hairies for a while but have had no luck at all catching any... I am in Maricopa city pinal county (Sonoran desert) so I in theory should be in prime territory but alas I have only caught C sculpturatus thus far. Although I think i have seen 1 DH. I've gone out at night with blacklight... someone the other day said to flip stuff so I'll be trying that. Any other advice?

You are in the right spot. I would try getting away from the fields (pesticides) in that area and getting out into some open desert and flipping trash in the flats. They are more abundant in the rocky hills. Blacklight for them in the hills as they are more likely to be in burrows as opposed to under debris if they have a hillside to dig into. If all else fails PM me and I will take you hunting. I live in Florence, Pinal County, AZ. Just about 30 minutes away from you. I'm going hunting this Saturday, you're invited.

 

[Dcertalic]

You are in the right spot. I would try getting away from the fields (pesticides) in that area and getting out into some open desert and flipping trash in the flats. They are more abundant in the rocky hills. Blacklight for them in the hills as they are more likely to be in burrows as opposed to under debris if they have a hillside to dig into. If all else fails PM me and I will take you hunting. I live in Florence, Pinal County, AZ. Just about 30 minutes away from you. I'm going hunting this Saturday, you're invited.

That makes sense about the pesticides... there is a lot of agriculture over this way. We are definitely close. I'll have to see what I have going on this weekend. Ty for the invite as well. I'll let you know Friday if that's cool.

 

[darkness975]

I kept this species communally for a long time but eventually each communal ended with only one inhabitant. The casualties aren't frequent but it seems inevitable in the long run. I accidentally told everyone this was a good idea because of my initial success and kept mine communally out of stubbornness after that. Eventually I have to admit to being wrong on the issue. The other piece of information that I put out there is that they are most active during the monsoon. This is also incorrect. I have previously done most of my herping in the late monsoon season and they are prevalent during that time. However having spent the entire summer hiking at night before, during and after the monsoon I can correct this information. H. arizonensis are most active before the monsoon season and during the late rainy season. Their activity peaked while the rainy season started and there were scattered showers every night. They were absolutely everywhere giving me a glimpse of how dense their population really is. What I had previously considered a lot of scorpions per acre (hectare) was a low estimate. As soon as the monsoons officially started (humidity over 50% for an extended period of time) their activity sharply dropped off and no scorpions were present for several weeks (the ground was wet everywhere during this period). After several weeks freshly molted scorpions started to surface and over the remainder of the season the numbers steadily but slowly increased but never reached that of pre-monsoon scattered rains. Another collector that has done this for a long time has attributed this drop off to binge eating and he may be right. I suspect that extremely high humidities over 50% make them go dormant as well as extremely high temps (humidity stabilizes the desert night temps and keeps them higher). After the recent cold snap their numbers have sharply increased. If it were a case of simple binge eating they wouldn't just disappear overnight, there would be a few stragglers that haven't gotten their fill. From field observations they molt during this summer dormant period. It might be of some use to keepers to try high humidity in conjunction with higher temps 80-85°F [27-29°C] for molting troubles. Humidity for this species is not a bad thing. They go through periods of extremely high humidity and that is when they molt.

I hope this information is helpful and I wished to correct the record even though I couldn't find the original post.

Question: How do you know they were freshly molted? I would think most of them would be instinctual enough to remain hidden until their Exoskeletons hardened sufficiently to protect them properly.

 

[Smokehound714]

Hadrurus prefer slopes, undisturbed soil. they generally burrow amongst the base of plants

 

[DubiaW]

Question: How do you know they were freshly molted? I would think most of them would be instinctual enough to remain hidden until their Exoskeletons hardened sufficiently to protect them properly.

Lighter color of the mesosoma than normal, still slightly milky, fresh clean look without dry scratched appearance.