# Scorpion "blood"



## scorpionguy77 (Apr 13, 2011)

Does anyone know what color P. imp "blood" is?  I have a female I re-housed back with a male after she, sadly, lost an entire brood of babies.  When I first put them back together, he came from his hide juttering and they went into, what I thought was a fight, but they didn't show any aggression other than clasping claws and pushing each other around the enclosure for about 30 minutes and letting go and going about their business.  I let it go as a possible mating.  They never showed aggression again, but this morning I noticed the female had an odd spot behind her dorsal eyes that look like a crushed spot on an eggshell.  I let it go as perhaps the light playing tricks on my eyes or just the position she was sitting.  But tonight I observed a full out brawl between the male and female and it definitely was an act of aggression on both parts, which the female won and he scurried back into his hide like a scalded dog.  But after observing this I became more concerned about the spot, not knowing if they had been fighting at night when I am in bed or not looking, so I took the screen top off the tank and looked closer at the crushed-looking spot.  Up close it doesn't look so bad but there IS a rust-colored liquid coming out of it, it looks thick and dried now, to be honest it looks like (both in color and viscosity) BBQ sauce.  Now they both have their own hide and she isn't acting any different, in fact she hunted down a cricket and is eating it as I type this, and I also know both scorpions are well fed.  When I had them housed together while she was gravid, there was never a sign of aggression from either of them until she began birthing, at which time I got the male his own enclosure.  His enclosure is the one I put the female into after losing the babies since it was cleaner and nicer as far as the set up.  I know territorial disputes happen and will continue to happen, so I accepted that much of it, but is she in fact injured and is/was bleeding and should I be concerned despite no obvious lack of behavior change?  Any advice would be great.


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## scorpionmom (Apr 13, 2011)

Scorpion "blood" is hemolymph, and I believe (but not completely certain) that the body fluids are a thick brownish color. If there is a liquid coming from her there is most likely a split in her intersegmental membrane. That is really bad, you might just try to leave it and hope for the best or seal it up with a drop of nail polish or the human "bandage", "human skin." It could have been hurt, I don't know.

The fights may be happening because the female becomes more aggressive when she is gravid and has babies. Stress from the male might have caused her to cannabalize her young, the male could have eaten them as well. If the female is gravid, the best thing to do is seperate her from the male and try to keep humidity, temperate, water and food at the normal levels so she is comfortable and is able to give birth and still do well. The best I can say is, good luck.


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## Michiel (Apr 13, 2011)

Healthy scorpion haemolymph is light blueish colored...


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## scorpionguy77 (Apr 13, 2011)

scorpionmom said:


> Scorpion "blood" is hemolymph, and I believe (but not completely certain) that the body fluids are a thick brownish color. If there is a liquid coming from her there is most likely a split in her intersegmental membrane. That is really bad, you might just try to leave it and hope for the best or seal it up with a drop of nail polish or the human "bandage", "human skin." It could have been hurt, I don't know.
> 
> The fights may be happening because the female becomes more aggressive when she is gravid and has babies. Stress from the male might have caused her to cannabalize her young, the male could have eaten them as well. If the female is gravid, the best thing to do is seperate her from the male and try to keep humidity, temperate, water and food at the normal levels so she is comfortable and is able to give birth and still do well. The best I can say is, good luck.


Yeah, this is a thick brownish color, but its not coming from the memebrane its is just on the exoskeleton right behind her eyes.  And I think I was confusing when I explained it in my original post, but the female and male _were_ in separate enclosures during both her birthing process and while she had the young.  The babies died from molt problems and the ones that survived, I separated from mom because it didn't seem as if they were eating, at which time they died one at a time (which I totally take the heat for because I may have pulled them too soon and didn't let things play out on their own).  I think the fighting is/has occurred because the male had his own tank for about a month and didn't want to give up his bachelor pad, lol.  As far as her "injury" I will just let things play out, right now she is acting completely normal and she's not bleeding profusely, it just looks like she got poked real good and it bled for a minuted and stopped.  For all I know it may just be funky looking substrate stuck to her back.  Thanks guys!


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## Galapoheros (Apr 13, 2011)

Their blood is like what was mentioned, it is bluish color, it looks like the cleaner "Windex", it's clear.  I've had a lot of scorpions survive a leak, you have to make sure they don't stress out and tighten their bodies for a while, while it heals.


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## scorpionmom (Apr 13, 2011)

Michiel said:


> Healthy scorpion haemolymph is light blueish colored...


Hmmm, maybe I'm wrong. The only thing is, when I had emperors, I had one that died from a small hole in ventral mesosoma (don't know how it happened) and the liquid oozing out was a thick brownish liquid. Can you explain this?


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## Galapoheros (Apr 13, 2011)

They rest with the substrate/dirt against their ventral side, so you may have seen dirt mixed in with blood.


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## scorpionmom (Apr 13, 2011)

Galapoheros said:


> They rest with the substrate/dirt against their ventral side, so you may have seen dirt mixed in with blood.


True, very true.


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## Irene B. Smithi (Apr 13, 2011)

from my experience it's very very light blue almost clear.


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## Michiel (Apr 14, 2011)

scorpionmom said:


> Hmmm, maybe I'm wrong. The only thing is, when I had emperors, I had one that died from a small hole in ventral mesosoma (don't know how it happened) and the liquid oozing out was a thick brownish liquid. Can you explain this?


That's why I added the word "healthy".....I also have seen brownish drab oozing from a dead scorpion, when I dissected a dead scorpion....The brownish coloration may also because of other fluids mixed with the haemolymph....


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