T man's considering a scorp.

[nocturnalpulsem]

Ok, I'm having a hard time working out the heating thing. I really don't think I can deal with lighting in my current room, so I'd like to do the heating pads.

Should I:

a) use the one for a 10 gallon tank (which is what size it is), and hope it keeps it warm enough?

b) get the one that's supposed to keep it around 90 or 100 degrees constantly?

Would the latter be far to warm? It is summer, and the house is typically around 75.

thanks again

N.

BTW- I'm buying everything I need little by little and should have a setup and scorpion by the end of next week

 

[Diao]

90-100 degress is way too hot. I would say the max you would ever want your scorpion be kept at is 85 degrees. In the summer, I sometimes just leave the heat lamps off just because the house has enough heat to keep them warm. You don't want to overheat the guys, they will cook if you aren't careful.

As far as Asian Forest Scorpions go, I have a female that recently had babies, and she does sting. I've had her for aobut 3 months, and she is obnoxiously tempermental. I've been stung, and it's not fun, and she's not afraid to do it.

Using peat for a substrate can pose problems. I've used soil and such that you would use for your lawn, and I always end up with parasites. I used peat moss and got mites, and I used gardening soil and ended up with a few hundred centipede. I personally use the Bed-A-Beast. It's a brick, and when you submerge it in water, it breaks up and becomes this great substrate that hold humidity and allows the animal to burrow. I strongly recommend that. Best wished to you and your upcoming scorpion!

 

[chuck]

i havent used any heating devices this summer, and i have the AC on at night, it never dips bellow 70 on their side of the room. i use the bed-a-beast as well. its a real pain to get off your hand when its wet

 

[skinheaddave]

Unfortunately, I have to disagree with pretty much everything Diao said.

First of all, heating: Provided they can escape it (i.e. the entire enclosure isn't that temp), a good area in the high 90s to 100 is prefered by myself and some other keepers. There has been some speculation that they can use that temp to self-medicate to some degree and I have occasionaly found my scorps "basking" for lack of a better term. I prefer my forest scorps to have access to a gradient from the mid 80s to the high 90s, both in terms of degrees F and percent relative humidity.

Peat is the best substrate by far I have found. It has never moulded, never led to any invasions and has kept all the animals I use it with healthy and happy. The theory is that the acidity helps to retard the growth of moulds/fungi etc. It also holds moisture well, but not too well.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

Well, I started working on the tank tonight. I had some potting soil left over from my other tank, but i'm out of peat. I like to use a mixture of both. I have tried the shred-a-beast and don't really are for it. If the scorp or T lives in dirt in the wild, then I guess dirt is good enough for it.

I've never had mites. I've had ants and I've had a wicked mold a month ago, but nothing in the realm of mites. Actually, I don't even know what they look like LoL

Currently the setup is a 10 gallon with not near enough substrate, and a half flowerpot. I still need some peat, some nice mossy stuff for the top, and one black pinchy thing

Is it a good idea to do the gravel thing underneath the substrate to humidify from below like in the enclose posts I saw earlier? I keep the humidity up in my Ts tank by keeping a damp towel on top of part of the lid. Would this suffice?

N.

 

[skinheaddave]

The gravel thing is probably easiest. Unlike Ts, some of the scorps like it genuinely damp.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

Thanks Dave. As usual, you are quite helpful.

N.

 

[Diao]

Originally posted by skinheaddave
Unfortunately, I have to disagree with pretty much everything Diao said.

First of all, heating: Provided they can escape it (i.e. the entire enclosure isn't that temp), a good area in the high 90s to 100 is prefered by myself and some other keepers. There has been some speculation that they can use that temp to self-medicate to some degree and I have occasionaly found my scorps "basking" for lack of a better term. I prefer my forest scorps to have access to a gradient from the mid 80s to the high 90s, both in terms of degrees F and percent relative humidity.

Peat is the best substrate by far I have found. It has never moulded, never led to any invasions and has kept all the animals I use it with healthy and happy. The theory is that the acidity helps to retard the growth of moulds/fungi etc. It also holds moisture well, but not too well.

Cheers,
Dave

Nuts. Looks like I have a lot to learn.

 

[skinheaddave]

Diao,

No worries. Tommorow someone else will come along and tell me that I'm wrong and have evidence to boot.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Kugellager]

I'll back Dave up on what he said...I keep my H.spiniferthe same way...remember that malaysia and the area around it is almost totally thick jungle relatively close to the equator and thus has very warm and humid weather most of the year.

Check out the avg temps for Kuala Lumpur Malaysia at this link..it is a coastal city and temp would be mitigeted some by the ocean...Aeas inland would be more extreme....

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/climatology/monthly/MYXX0008

Bangkok Thailand

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/climatology/monthly/THXX0002

Anyway you get the Idea.

Also I swear by 100% peat for the humid enclosures..never get any mold...though I do heat before using in oven if I get a batch that has mites.

John
];')

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

Ok, so those with seniority recommend I get the heater that stays between 90 and 100 F all the time, then?

I'm going to hit the peat today or tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have my scorp this weekend. Woo hoo!

I was at the shop last night, and unlike all the other times the emps were very active. Do they "know" when it's night, even if the lights are on? I swear they get a bug up their arse right around dusk =D They had this one that was HUGE. It was cool. I think I'm going to get the smallest of the group, though. Let the little bugger get used to me.

And on a slightly off-topic note, my mealworms are starting to pupate *does the "god I hate chickets" dance* ;P

N.

 

[skinheaddave]

Don't dance too hard. I have multiple mealworm colonies and I never ever use them. A lot of my animals just don't seem to like them. I'm going to try roaches as my next substitute.

And yes, scorpions have a highly developed circadian rhythm that generaly starts them up about an hour before sunset. In the case of the store, the lights going off at night is sunset as far as the scorpion is concerned.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Kugellager]

You don't have to keep it at those temps all the time. I use one 60watt lightbulb(just a regular 4 for a dollar bulb) to light and heat one end of my H.spinifer 20 long tank in the winter to keep the hot end 90- 100 and the cool end 80-85 during the day. Right now because my bug room is warm I am only using a 14 watt compact fluorescent to keep the warm end at 95-105 during the day. At night the room drops to 70-72 by morning in the summer and 65-67 in the winter.

The H.spinifer enclosure has plexiglass covering all of the top except where the reflector lamp is...the plexiglass helps keep the heat as well as the humidity up... and holds it in better at night.

Another note...As I have mentioned previously...my lights/heat/fan is on from about 7 am to 10:15 every day. the amout of time is not too important but I prefer to have a somewhat normal day-night cycle...the lamps are on so late bec that is what I need them to be on for the temps to not dip too low in the winter...I just don't change the timer for the summer...though you could...



John
];')

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

Originally posted by skinheaddave
Don't dance too hard. I have multiple mealworm colonies and I never ever use them. A lot of my animals just don't seem to like them. I'm going to try roaches as my next substitute.

And yes, scorpions have a highly developed circadian rhythm that generaly starts them up about an hour before sunset. In the case of the store, the lights going off at night is sunset as far as the scorpion is concerned.

Cheers,
Dave

My B. smithi loved superworms for a long time and ate them almost exclusively, but my A. seemanni never liked them at all. Then, my smithi stopped eating them, and then stopped eating all together

I'm hoping the beetles will be better enjoyed by both Ts and the new scorp.

A thought did cross my mind a few minutes ago, though. I have all my tanks next to eachother; will the heat from the pads bleed across, or does the heat pretty much stay in the tank? I ask because I don't think my seemanni will take to the kind of heat the emp will be living in.

N.

 

[Kugellager]

I use Aluminum foil on the sides of the tank to keep heat in the appropriate tank...also allows me to use lower wattage bulbs...helps save on the electric bill...You could use foil to prevent the bleed over or just reduce the heating for the Spiders in the adjacent enclosure...If you work your collection up with some thought you can heat all of them without a lamp/heat source for every single enclosure which cna get very $$.

I have a digital thermometer with a probe on a wire that allows me to test the effects of changing the heat sources or to measure the temps at burow entrance or inside the burrow as well. The themometer is one of those $10 indoor/outdoor things with the probe on the wire that is meant to go out throught the window...it a great little useful tool for spot checking temps.

John
];')

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

Interesting idea. Especially after I just spent $25 on a heater, because the ones I have aren't that warm. Oh well, I don't have the money or room to do anything like you suggested. A certain someone I live with doesn't know about my critters...=D

N.

 

[Kugellager]

Here, take a look at my bug closet setup...in the enclosure thread in this forum.

http://www.arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?threadid=1126

The lamps I use are the $5 ones from Home Depot and various wattage lightbulbs and compact flourescents for various heating requirements and time of the year. All the lighting/heating I use has set me back only about $30 total. This setup manages to keep the room warm in the summer and I close up the closet in the winter with the curtains.

The closet is much more packed now so hold the heat even more efficiently.

John
];')

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

I had already seen that (and nice setup BTW), but as I said before, I'd really rather use a pad than a light.

I'm going to borrow my boss's camera and post a pic of what I've done so far and you and Dave can comment on it.

N.


**edit**
Couldn't snag the camera

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

I'm debating a name...help me decide.

A) Lobster Magnet- because they sort of resemble lobsters, and because of this

http://people.brandeis.edu/~bheath/... N. And, yes, I'm a dork...:rolleyes:

 

[chuck]

how about something like Caesar, people use that as a real name and well its also a title similar to emperor