S. mesaensis community

[nocturnalpulsem]

Ok, so I got a second S. mesaensis cuz I saw it at a shop for a decent price and I put it in with the other.

Larsen said he kept his communally, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The first few encounters were brief. Neither were aggressive, and they just sort of avoided each other. The new one is a pig. Took a crick and grabbed a superworm before finishing the crick. After that I was amazed to see it kill another crick with the uneaten worm still in its grasp.

To my surprise, it seemed to offer the newly killed crick to the original inhabitant. The recipient seemed a bit intimidated by the approach and made a warning strike. I know it was only a warning, because if he wanted to kill it, he certainly could have. Now they're sitting right next to each other not moving.

Do you think they'll play nice? I would imagine if they were going to be aggressive they would have by now. I ask because this is such a beautiful species that I wouldn't want to lose one of them. I read mixed reports about whether or not they were communal, so I figured I'd post.

Anyone with experience with keeping this species please reply.

N.

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

Update

Ok, they didn't want to play nice together...

The new one was very aggressive. It kept "picking a fight" with the original inhabitant. I know this was more serious because it was holding it's telson in a less-friendly position. My first one has terrible aim with its telson (I kid you not, this thing has terrible motor skills) and the new one is a killing machine, so my incredible powers of deduction told me to remove one before all I had was one.

Now the dilemma...what do I do with it?

I don't have a whole lot of room, so setting up an entire new tank for it isn't going to happen.

I can either:

A) Split the 10 gallon I was going to put my flat rock in, and keep it. This is a great idea, however, I have to wonder if keeping the tank that way would be too severe for either. Desert scorps need higher temps and lower humidity than flat rocks. Would this be a failure?

B) I can take it back, and get a refund/store credit.

Any suggestions before Wed. would be most helpful.

N.

 

[chau0046]

Well ,

This is an old Chiclid communal trick,

I would try seperating them for a day or two. Remove them and rearrange the whole enclosure. Make sure they both ate while being seperated. Reintroduce them into the new tank and they will both be out of place but will instantly hunt or even adult males will shake to see if there`s any females around. It is normal for a communal spp. to conflict each other upon first encounters. And it wouldn`t be such a quick kill if they fight. Usualy , anyhow. Just make sure things dont get too heated. My Centruroides often strike each other with their metasoma but never really with the telson.

Mat