# H. Swammerdami Care



## Jeffrey Swei (Apr 11, 2018)

Can someone help me with how to care for h. swammerdami. Currently they are 3i but can you also give advice for when they are adults? For example, substrate (Mixture of what substrate, how much needed), humidity and temperature (good humidity and temp, how to get it to that amount, tools to check/show), housing (how big for 3i, and later on how many gallons or dimension for adult) also food (now 3i and later on as it grows). Thanks in advance!


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## AnimalNewbie (Apr 12, 2018)

Well I keep my adult in a 10 gallon live vivarium with a lot of substrate for it to burrow as well as always having the substrate moist enough to the point that I can squeeze it and water leaks out and ideal temps are in the 70s- low 80s. Are you sure it an H. Swammerdami, there are a lot of heterometrus species that look similar.


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## Jeffrey Swei (Apr 12, 2018)

thanks for responding. Can you tell me what substrate you use? Some say coco brick others say a mix of exo clay and coco husk. Also they were sold to me as h. Swammerdami so now I would assume so.


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## AnimalNewbie (Apr 12, 2018)

Coco brick


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## Marc Immanuel (Mar 28, 2019)

So my H. Swammerdami is 3i and he likes to burrow under the substrate yet I worry that maybe he isn't eating right. I mean, it's been weeks to a month since he last ate and I don't know if that's normal. I've transferred him to a terrarium that is of a smaller nature than normal and I dropped two roaches in with him so he won't go hungry but still he hasn't touched one of them. Please advise! This is my first time owning a scorpion so you get my anxiety and frustration.


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## THR (Mar 28, 2019)

coco for lower instar, laterite for higher. In natural habitat they dig burrows in clay.


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## Marc Immanuel (Mar 29, 2019)

THR said:


> coco for lower instar, laterite for higher. In natural habitat they dig burrows in clay.


Do I really need to change the substrate as he grows up? I mean, I'm using coco peat as his substrate. I'll send a pic so you'll have a gist of my "set up".


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## Marc Immanuel (Mar 29, 2019)

This is a bird's eye view.


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## THR (Mar 29, 2019)

Marc Immanuel said:


> Do I really need to change the substrate as he grows up? I mean, I'm using coco peat as his substrate. I'll send a pic so you'll have a gist of my "set up".


Wouldn't be necessary, but experiments showed that hard substrate result in larger claws and stronger body.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## THR (Mar 29, 2019)

It's totally up to you, and here are some pics of H. swam in natural habitat. U can see the ground is quite consolidated.


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## mantisfan101 (Mar 29, 2019)

THR said:


> Wouldn't be necessary, but experiments showed that hard substrate result in larger claws and stronger body.


Harder substrate requires more strength to burrow through it, which also requires larger claws.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Marc Immanuel (Mar 29, 2019)

THR said:


> It's totally up to you, and here are some pics of H. swam in natural habitat. U can see the ground is quite consolidated.


Wow. Those are some amazing arachnids! Haha anyway, is it normal for my scorp not to eat? I mean, as I stated, it's been almost a month now since he last ate and they said it's an indicator of premolting but so far, no molting has occured so what do I do? He just keeps on hiding between rocks and/or vegetation or burrows himself underground.


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## ArachnoDrew (Mar 29, 2019)

Marc Immanuel said:


> Wow. Those are some amazing arachnids! Haha anyway, is it normal for my scorp not to eat? I mean, as I stated, it's been almost a month now since he last ate and they said it's an indicator of premolting but so far, no molting has occured so what do I do? He just keeps on hiding between rocks and/or vegetation or burrows himself underground.


Could go a year without eating if it wanted to

Reactions: Like 2


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## Galapoheros (Mar 29, 2019)

I saw a wide angle view of their natural habitat, it looked like central Texas, rocky limestone bedded creeks with some rocky outcrops.  I use flat rocks, coco fiber mixed with coarse sand I found locally.


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## Marc Immanuel (Mar 30, 2019)

ArachnoDrew said:


> Could go a year without eating if it wanted to


So you're saying I shouldn't worry for him? I peeked at his burrow and he seems fine to me. What should I do then? Just continually place 2-3 B. Lateralis roaches on his enclosure?


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## ArachnoDrew (Mar 30, 2019)

Try offering a roach once a week of every 2 weeks if it doesnt get eaten over night then leave it be... make sure your temps are in the upper 80s

Warmer temps = better feeding responses


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## Marc Immanuel (Mar 30, 2019)

ArachnoDrew said:


> Try offering a roach once a week of every 2 weeks if it doesnt get eaten over night then leave it be... make sure your temps are in the upper 80s
> 
> Warmer temps = better feeding responses


I don't know about the rest of my countrymen but I don't use heat mats or anything related to that nor do I check the temp of my enclosure. I live in the Philippines so I guess the temp here and humidity is at least almost equal to their natural habitat but that's just me. I don't know haha. As of now, my scorp is holed up in his burrow and seems to have no plan on popping out anytime soon while the two roaches I placed on his enclosure are roaming and hiding about haha.


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## THR (Mar 31, 2019)

Marc Immanuel said:


> I don't know about the rest of my countrymen but I don't use heat mats or anything related to that nor do I check the temp of my enclosure. I live in the Philippines so I guess the temp here and humidity is at least almost equal to their natural habitat but that's just me. I don't know haha. As of now, my scorp is holed up in his burrow and seems to have no plan on popping out anytime soon while the two roaches I placed on his enclosure are roaming and hiding about haha.


Well, I think your enclosure is too big for a 3i, a small cup will just be enough. You can simply use a shield-like wood for it to hide. To much things is difficult for it to catch the prey and isn't necessary. And I don't know how big the prey you give them is. Crickets also a good choice. Last, temp around 28 °C, mosit 70~90 %. The enclosure better be put in a dark environment.


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## THR (Mar 31, 2019)

I always prefer wood to stone.


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## Joey Spijkers (Apr 1, 2019)

Marc Immanuel said:


> I don't know about the rest of my countrymen but I don't use heat mats or anything related to that nor do I check the temp of my enclosure. I live in the Philippines so I guess the temp here and humidity is at least almost equal to their natural habitat but that's just me. I don't know haha. As of now, my scorp is holed up in his burrow and seems to have no plan on popping out anytime soon while the two roaches I placed on his enclosure are roaming and hiding about haha.


The outside temps are probably fine, but I assume the temperature inside your house is way cooler than outside. In that case you should still use heating, if it stays above 25C that would be fine, I'd prefer it a bit warmer though. H.swammerdami is a very slow grower and without heating it will hardly grow. And are you sure it really is a swammerdami? Here in Europe they're not very common and are very expensive. There are a lot of Heterometrus sp. but swammerdami can be recognized by the shape of the pedipalps, it's quite unique.


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 3, 2019)

THR said:


> Well, I think your enclosure is too big for a 3i, a small cup will just be enough. You can simply use a shield-like wood for it to hide. To much things is difficult for it to catch the prey and isn't necessary. And I don't know how big the prey you give them is. Crickets also a good choice. Last, temp around 28 °C, mosit 70~90 %. The enclosure better be put in a dark environment.


Yeah, I should transfer him out to a small cup for now. Thanks and those are some amazing set ups!


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 3, 2019)

Joey Spijkers said:


> The outside temps are probably fine, but I assume the temperature inside your house is way cooler than outside. In that case you should still use heating, if it stays above 25C that would be fine, I'd prefer it a bit warmer though. H.swammerdami is a very slow grower and without heating it will hardly grow. And are you sure it really is a swammerdami? Here in Europe they're not very common and are very expensive. There are a lot of Heterometrus sp. but swammerdami can be recognized by the shape of the pedipalps, it's quite unique.


Average temp of our place is 25 to 38°C so that should be okay, right? I'm not entirely sure if what I have is a H. Swammerdami. I mean, the seller told me it is so it must be, right? I'll try sending a picture as soon as I transfer him out to a smaller enclosure.


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 3, 2019)

I hope this is clear enough. Transferred him out already. Still prefers to hide or do something like that.


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## THR (Apr 3, 2019)

Looks like a swam to me.


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 3, 2019)

THR said:


> Looks like a swam to me.


Swam it is. Anyway, I couldn't find a small cup so I transferred him to a smaller plastic container. Is this too much or is it alright? And bit of an update, he still ain't eating. The lats are nymphs so it shouldn't be too big for him to handle, yes?


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## Galapoheros (Apr 3, 2019)

I keep smaller ones in containers like that but they seek shelter.  It's not pretty over here, just too many things so I go the efficiency route.  Cut Hardiboard is good shelter and lasts a long time.  Here are more examples of cages I keep adults in.


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 4, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I keep smaller ones in containers like that but they seek shelter.  It's not pretty over here, just too many things so I go the efficiency route.  Cut Hardiboard is good shelter and lasts a long time.  Here are more examples of cages I keep adults in.


So is my shelter good enough for my scorpion? It's not too big nor too small? I'll just need to find wood to give him shelter, is that it? I'm really new at this so forgive my noobiness.


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## Galapoheros (Apr 4, 2019)

Marc Immanuel said:


> So is my shelter good enough for my scorpion? It's not too big nor too small? I'll just need to find wood to give him shelter, is that it? I'm really new at this so forgive my noobiness.


I don't see anything in there it could crawl under.  You could take those three rocks and use them to place a flat item on top of them.


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 6, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I don't see anything in there it could crawl under.  You could take those three rocks and use them to place a flat item on top of them.


Hmm, alright. How about the fact the he's not eating? I mean, it really worries me, y'know? And he's not even molting so I don't know what's wrong with him.


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## THR (Apr 7, 2019)

Marc Immanuel said:


> Swam it is. Anyway, I couldn't find a small cup so I transferred him to a smaller plastic container. Is this too much or is it alright? And bit of an update, he still ain't eating. The lats are nymphs so it shouldn't be too big for him to handle, yes?


I can't see a proper shelter. Maybe it is too nervous to eat. And what food do u give it?


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 7, 2019)

THR said:


> I can't see a proper shelter. Maybe it is too nervous to eat. And what food do u give it?


I give it lats. I transferred him to a smaller cup now since I found a proper fit, I guess. I'll let you be the judge of that. I don't know what's wrong with him though. Is it an indicator that he is molting? Heck, if I know.


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## Galapoheros (Apr 8, 2019)

That's def a swammerdami, looks healthy, I wouldn't worry about it not eating.  Still nothing to crawl under though.


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 8, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> That's def a swammerdami, looks healthy, I wouldn't worry about it not eating.  Still nothing to crawl under though.


That's a relief. So I'll just give him something to crawl under then what? When will I know when to feed him or what to do next? Is he on a premolt stage and should I wait after he molts before feeding him?


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## Joey Spijkers (Apr 9, 2019)

It doesn't necessarily mean he's in premolt. Scorpions can go a long time without food. I've got some that take food every time I offer them something, and I've got some that haven't taken any food for months. As long as they don't look skinny or unhealthy it's completely fine. Yours looks very good.


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## Marc Immanuel (Apr 10, 2019)

Joey Spijkers said:


> It doesn't necessarily mean he's in premolt. Scorpions can go a long time without food. I've got some that take food every time I offer them something, and I've got some that haven't taken any food for months. As long as they don't look skinny or unhealthy it's completely fine. Yours looks very good.


Thanks. I just got a 3i longi and he eats like twice a day and wanting more while this swammer looks fat as hell without eating for two months. It simply boggles and amazes me at the same time.


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