# What is the Rarest/Most Valuable Scorpion Species Available?



## Najakeeper (Nov 3, 2011)

So what is the _Iridopelma seladonium_ or the _Scolopendra hardwickei_ of the scorpion hobby? Which species, that is available, is the hardest to find and the most expensive to buy?


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## snippy (Nov 3, 2011)

One of the rarest in the hobby that I know of is definitely Belisarius xambeui, at least in Europe. But I highly suspect that it is even rarer overseas 

Regards
Finn


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 3, 2011)

How about apistobuthus pterygocercus? Someone on the forum had kept one before, saw photos .


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## superuglyllc (Nov 3, 2011)

henderson whats up with the bulb in there tail?  pretty crazy with that ! tooshea  awesome looking


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 3, 2011)

These scorps dig very deep burrows from what i read. The bulb may be to help with digging much, i am not sure on these guys though.


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## Jarvis (Nov 4, 2011)

There are several scorps that are hard to find, only because they are not since in the hobby, or one person has kept one a long time ago and was unsuccesful at breeding them, so it will be hard to give a difinite answer to that question, however the most expensive might be a mature Heterometrus Swammerdami I have seen them priced as high as $200.00.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## 2nscorpx (Nov 4, 2011)

snippy said:


> One of the rarest in the hobby that I know of is definitely Belisarius xambeui, at least in Europe. But I highly suspect that it is even rarer overseas
> 
> Regards
> Finn


Yeah, that is easy for you to say--you keep them!

Tityus fasciolatus, Tityus argentinus, Tityus pachyurus, Tityus ocelote (from Costa Rica), Isometrus brachycentrus, Lychas burdoi, Uroplectes otjimbinguensis, Parabuthus capensis, Parabuthus laevifrons, Parabuthus granulatus, Odontobuthus odonturus, and many more, relatively nondescript species are rarer. More species keep coming into the hobby. It also varies on the availability in Europe and the in United States.


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## Kaiser Scorpion (Nov 4, 2011)

H. swammerdami was very rare and expensive few years ago. Now it is almost common and not so exspensive.
I have a mature female of about 14 cm and I payed it only 20 €!



The price is different in every country. 
For example, in USA, the price of H. arizonensis is 15-20 $ while in Europe 30-45 € (40-60 $).
Probably Urodacus spp from Australia in Europe can cost 100 € or more because nobody has this scorpions. 







snippy said:


> One of the rarest in the hobby that I know of is definitely Belisarius xambeui, at least in Europe. But I highly suspect that it is even rarer overseas
> 
> Regards
> Finn



Yes, it is very rare in nature and it is not present in the pet-trades.
Do you have this species?


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## AzJohn (Nov 4, 2011)

I allways find threads like this interesting. What does it mean to be rare? To me it should be something available. I could mention some US natives that I've kept that no one else is keeping as far as I know. I've found randon species of Vaejovis and Paruroctonus. Just because I'm the only person that has them, does that make them rare or valuable? I could list all kinds of species that are not in the hobby. So, I'd only consider species that are available but very hard to find. In the US I would say Hottentotta jayakari, Grosphus ankarana, and Heterometrus Madraspatensis. These species are in the US but in such small numbers that very few people have any.

Reactions: Optimistic 1


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## snippy (Nov 4, 2011)

Kaiser Scorpion said:


> Yes, it is very rare in nature and it is not present in the pet-trades.
> Do you have this species?


Take a look at the link in my signature 

A good friend of mine that also works on the page has several specimen (the pictures have been taken of his specimen), but I personally do not have any.



AzJohn said:


> In the US I would say Hottentotta jayakari, Grosphus ankarana, and Heterometrus Madraspatensis. These species are in the US but in such small numbers that very few people have any.


Of course you are right, it highly depends on the definition of rare and the location. For example, the first two of the species you mentioned are totally common in Germany.

Regards
Finn


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## 2nscorpx (Nov 5, 2011)

AzJohn said:


> I allways find threads like this interesting. What does it mean to be rare? To me it should be something available. I could mention some US natives that I've kept that no one else is keeping as far as I know. I've found randon species of Vaejovis and Paruroctonus. Just because I'm the only person that has them, does that make them rare or valuable? I could list all kinds of species that are not in the hobby. So, I'd only consider species that are available but very hard to find. In the US I would say Hottentotta jayakari, Grosphus ankarana, and Heterometrus Madraspatensis. These species are in the US but in such small numbers that very few people have any.


Yes, good point. Does 'rare' simply mean available but very uncommon or does the species have to be highly desired? There are some rare Vaejovis and Psedouroctonus spp. that are available, but for some reason they are seemingly not as desirable as other species, at least in the U.S.


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## the toe cutter (Nov 5, 2011)

There are over 1500 species in about 170 Genera and in the US hobby we have maybe 50 species, so relatively everything is rare, lol! With over 200 described species within the Tityus genus alone and hobbyists here having access to only maybe 6-10 species in VERY small numbers circulating around I would consider them fairly rare, as well as Hottentotta with over 30 described species yet we only have access to around 5 species here and only 3 of those on a semi-regular basis. I would think that as far as monetary worth I would go with the rare Heterometrus sp, like H swammerdami and H madrapatensis can fetch a high price as far as scorpions go. The scorpion hobby is a small group here and I do not see the growing enthusiasm with it as out in the reptile and tarantula pet trade.


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## Hornets inverts (Nov 5, 2011)

Down here in aus 2 of the most desirable species that are in the hobby but very very rare and probably not being bred are Urodacus planimanus and Liocheles karschii. Desirable species not in the hobby i'd say Urodacus excellens and Liocheles litodactylus. There are a few fairly desirable buthids out there but due to their size and difficulties keeping and breeding they dont seem to be as popular. In buthids i'd say Lychas lappa, Hemilychas alexandrinus and an undescribed Isometroides would be the most desirable species here. http://www.thedailylink.com/thespiralburrow/species/iso.jpg

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper (Nov 5, 2011)

Liocheles sp. look so different and interesting, I wonder if I can find any in Europe. I am going to a reptile show tomorrow to look for them.


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## Kugellager (Nov 5, 2011)

I think it might be an individual want or rarity...Some of the species mentioned I could care less about (i.e. H. Swammerdami-just another Heterometrus IMO) ...However I would love to get and sucessfully breed a pair of Apistobuthus pterygocercus. I would love to get legal Hottentotta arenaceus like I photographed in Namibia on my honeymoon.

John
];')


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## richoman3 (Nov 5, 2011)

rarest/best in australia would have to be urodacus megamastigus
never seen a pic of one, but from the description it sounds awesome... would love to see a pic or find some one day....


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## Hornets inverts (Nov 5, 2011)

megamastigus is no rare then most other aussie scorps, as with most sp they are not available in the hobby. Thing with excellens is they are well known and there has been alot of hype around their size.


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 6, 2011)

wow hornet, that picture of the unknown isometroids looks pretty neat!

A few more i find rare are H Fulvipes and H madraspatensis.


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## Najakeeper (Nov 6, 2011)

Kaiser Scorpion said:


> H. swammerdami was very rare and expensive few years ago. Now it is almost common and not so exspensive.
> I have a mature female of about 14 cm and I payed it only 20 €!


I asked around in the show today, the price for females were around 100 to 140 Swiss Franks depending on the size. So they are still very pricey in Switzerland.


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## richoman3 (Nov 7, 2011)

Hornets inverts said:


> megamastigus is no rare then most other aussie scorps, as with most sp they are not available in the hobby. Thing with excellens is they are well known and there has been alot of hype around their size.


yes johny i know 
i meant megamastigus would look the most appealing


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## Hornets inverts (Nov 7, 2011)

oh if someone was able to photograph a live or even a preserved specimen i'm sure they would hit no1. From the description and telson drawing they sounds like a very interesting urodacus


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## Galapoheros (Nov 7, 2011)

Kugellager said:


> I think it might be an individual want or rarity...Some of the species mentioned I could care less about (i.e. H. Swammerdami-just another Heterometrus IMO) ...However I would love to get and sucessfully breed a pair of Apistobuthus pterygocercus. I would love to get legal Hottentotta arenaceus like I photographed in Namibia on my honeymoon.
> 
> John
> ];')


That is the way I think also, depends on a person's personal interest.  Somebody might be willing to pay $100 for something while another person will pay $500 or more.  Sometimes the supply isn't enough to reflect a general demand price.  There are freaks out there that will pay up.  While swammerdami might be just another Heterometrus to people that aren't interested in the genus, since I kind of like Heterometrus, swammerdami looks like the freakiest Heterometrus I've ever seen so far.  Going by a glance, it's almost hard to believe it is a Heterometrus after looking at other species.  I'm getting less and less interested in the hot stuff, but I'd still like to have Parabuthus villosus.  So I guess "value" changes to what ever the interest trend is.


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## 2nscorpx (Nov 7, 2011)

I really want Isometrus brachycentrus...or Tityus fasciolatus...or T. argentinus...or...


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## Kaiser Scorpion (Nov 8, 2011)

Najakeeper said:


> I asked around in the show today, the price for females were around 100 to 140 Swiss Franks depending on the size. So they are still very pricey in Switzerland.


In continental Europe there are not the lowest price. You could buy them from England where there are the lowest prices for Indian species.


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 8, 2011)

Galapoheros said:


> That is the way I think also, depends on a person's personal interest.  Somebody might be willing to pay $100 for something while another person will pay $500 or more.  Sometimes the supply isn't enough to reflect a general demand price.  There are freaks out there that will pay up.  While swammerdami might be just another Heterometrus to people that aren't interested in the genus, since I kind of like Heterometrus, swammerdami looks like the freakiest Heterometrus I've ever seen so far.  Going by a glance, it's almost hard to believe it is a Heterometrus after looking at other species.  I'm getting less and less interested in the hot stuff, but I'd still like to have Parabuthus villosus.  So I guess "value" changes to what ever the interest trend is.


Well said! It is ultimately the person him/herself who defines what they find rare. Like you, im interested in hets! I have to agree on the swamm being freaky, my sling has a very faint tinge of blue and red on its chela, or my eyes could be broken :}.


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## Nomadinexile (Nov 8, 2011)

Hey

Its all about location for available species.  The unavailable have unknown value without a recent sale.   

There are also affluent buyers who will pay very high prices for one of the special species that are typically unavailable. 

Also, your examples are not as valuable as some other species.  For example a breeding group of S. h. "az" banded in eu would fetch a fortune.  And there is Aphonopelma (something) from the mx side of the border that could go high.

For scorpions, 200 is about max, unless you have something extremely rare and unique, like a.p., which I would expect could go for twice that.


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## Ultum4Spiderz (Nov 9, 2011)

H Swammerdami maybe


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## Chrome69 (Nov 10, 2011)

Leiurus jordanensis hands down.


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## Nomadinexile (Nov 10, 2011)

If not travelling, I would pay the most for a.p., n eyeless species, or c.  Bicolor.


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## Galapoheros (Nov 10, 2011)

I'd pay some $ for a pair of Pandinus gambiensis and a pair of Pandinus dictator, but normally not available.  I suspect there might be some other very interesting stuff out there in protected areas that isn't made so public, for it's protection:unsure:.


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 11, 2011)

I'd too pay a lot for an AP or a pair of AA Hector morph.


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## Galapoheros (Nov 11, 2011)

Hendersoniana said:


> I'd too pay a lot for an AP or a pair of AA Hector morph.


Oooooh yeah, I like those too, I think I'd pay up on those.


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## Kaiser Scorpion (Nov 11, 2011)

Please, don't write genus and species with the only first letter. It is wrong to write the species with the only first letter and also it is difficult to understand.


About H. swammerdami, I think that it is not so rare and expensive. In England you can find them at 20-30 £. Very good price!


About P. gambiensis and P. dictator, ufficially they are not exported. I have a dried P. dictator from 1996 in my private collection and it was collected in 1992. In the last 15 years the trade about these species is not permitted. I found in Germany a sale-message about alive P. dictator at 15 € but I don't know if they are real P. dictator. 



An other rare species, never seen on trade, is Apistobuthus pterygocercus from Saudi Arabia.
I think that it may be cost more than 100 €.


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## Quixtar (Nov 11, 2011)

Iridopelma seladonium is hardly available and I've never seen it being sold in the US. Michael Scheller over in Germany's the only one I know of having them. Most expensive available T in the US would probably be either of the following: Encyocratella olivacea, Idiothele mira, Pamphobeteus ultramarinus, Xenesthis sp. Blue. All of these can fetch prices greater than Poecilotheria metallica, which is the standard "high value" T.

As far as pedes go, you're right about Scolopendra hardwickei being the most expensive pede available in the US, but over in Europe they've got S. galapogoensis and S. gigantea. Both of those would be worth more if they made their way over here.

You'd be hard pressed to find a scorp that'll go over $200 though. The highest I've seen, as already mentioned, is Heterometrus swammerdami. It's not the most elusive in the US, as there are several others I can think of, but none of them would sell for as much. Scorp prices work a bit differently and I think buthids are priced on a different scale altogether. Parabuthus villosus is somewhat available here and should by all means command a greater price than H. swammerdami in my eyes, but to dealers, it probably wouldn't.

Since most people buy buthids to keep them communally, I think we should consider "colony" price as well, for the communal species. In that case, Androctonus mauritanicus and certain Tityus species would be most expensive.


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## Galapoheros (Nov 11, 2011)

Kaiser Scorpion said:


> Please, don't write genus and species with the only first letter. It is wrong to write the species with the only first letter and also it is difficult to understand.
> 
> 
> About H. swammerdami, I think that it is not so rare and expensive. In England you can find them at 20-30 £. Very good price!
> ...



Could you post a pic of your P. dictator sometime?, maybe a few pics?  There is just not very many pics of these and the ones on the internet aren't very good.  I'd like to better see just how superficially similar they are in appearance to P. imperator.  Yeah I think a person has to hope for a mistake in ID when exporting dictator and gambiensis, and the range is far from the export.  I think the export gate-keepers assume there won't be any in the bunch of imperators just because of the range distance.  An importer that used to go over there and watch them collect emps told me that the people that give the go-ahead to export only glance at the scorpions.  He said they don't know how to ID them at all and they don't worry about it, said it's kind of a mess over there.  Be recently I've heard more rumors they are getting more concerned now for the imperator.


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## Chrome69 (Nov 11, 2011)

Just to reiterate i've seen Leiurus jordanensis go for over 200$ each as scorplings, making it both the most expensive and the hardest to find (in my experience) since there are only a handful of people able to breed them in the world and WC specimens are even harder to come by than CB.
I've never seen any Heterometrus, Pandinus, Tityus, or Androctonus species coming close to it. It is also my grail ^_^

*edit*
Even a Leiurus quinquestriatus hebraeus is quite valuable and rare, comparable to most if not all rare species in the trade.


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## Najakeeper (Nov 11, 2011)

Kaiser Scorpion said:


> An other rare species, never seen on trade, is Apistobuthus pterygocercus from Saudi Arabia.
> I think that it may be cost more than 100 €.


That Saudi scorpion is very unique looking. I would love to have that.


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## Nomadinexile (Nov 13, 2011)

Kaiser, sorry if you got.confused.  You can rest assured that when we are talking about rare species here ans say ap in any format, we are talking about apistblahblah petryblahblah.  Im on a phone, cant cut and paste.  Now you kbow.


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## Kaiser Scorpion (Nov 24, 2011)

Ok Nomadinexile, no problem! 






Galapoheros said:


> Could you post a pic of your P. dictator sometime?




Sorry but, at the moment, I have only this old photo:




Uploaded with ImageShack.us


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 24, 2011)

Thats beautiful kaiser. If only it was alive. The one next to it, is it also a dictator?


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## Kaiser Scorpion (Nov 24, 2011)

Thank you! 


No, on the right there is a female of P. cavimanus from Tanzania.
Infact this species is absolutely smaller than P. dicator.


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 24, 2011)

I see. How long is the dictator specimen may i ask?


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## Kaiser Scorpion (Nov 24, 2011)

P. dictator is 155 mm long.
The female of P. cavimanus is 95 mm.
I have some species of genus Pandinus in my private collection and this P. dictator is the biggest.


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## Hendersoniana (Nov 24, 2011)

Thats big! Both of them! Thanks for showing us the dictator .


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## snippy (Nov 24, 2011)

Kaiser Scorpion said:


> Please, don't write genus and species with the only first letter. It is wrong to write the species with the only first letter and also it is difficult to understand.


Exactly what I was thinking!

I did not know what A.p. meant? Use the species' epitheton and everybody will understand  It's not like it takes too much time..

Regards
Finn


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## freeman (Dec 11, 2011)

A.austalis hector morph is pretty rare. I've kept 15 of them few years back. Also i think C.bicolor is quite rare.


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## Sarcastro (Dec 11, 2011)

C infamatus are extremely rare only a a handful of people in Europe have them.


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## Michiel (Dec 12, 2011)

well, actually it is more common than a handfull of people in the EU hobby circuit, not something special or anything......at least not in northwest Europe


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## 2nscorpx (Dec 12, 2011)

Troglorhopalurus translucidus is kind of rare.


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## voldemort (Dec 12, 2011)

Isometrus navaiae


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## Sarcastro (Dec 12, 2011)

Michiel said:


> well, actually it is more common than a handfull of people in the EU hobby circuit, not something special or anything......at least not in northwest Europe


 I have seen a lot of people in EU with a few species that were labeled as C.infamatus that were in fact another Centruroides. The last time I checked, no one in EU had them outside of Germany,Belgium, and The Netherlands..And Krist Langenberg was the only one that had them in Sweden. I could be wrong they may have spread since last Jan. but they are an awesome species I know I would love too have them here in the states. The young look like little bumble bees.


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## Michiel (Dec 13, 2011)

Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Northwest europe thus.......A couple of years back we got 'overrun' by 5-6 Centruroides species with three stripes on their dorsum, meaning that they where very similar in appearance. I never saw any misidentified specimens in The Netherlands or Germany, but I don't know for other countries......You should be able to get some of these specimens......


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## Ferrachi (Apr 29, 2020)

What would be the rarest and hard to find scorpion  species today, since this post stopped almost 9 years ago. I'm sure things have changed since...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Dr SkyTower (Apr 29, 2020)

Probably this species:

Apistobuthus pterygocercus (Shield tailed scorpion or Giant Death Stalker). Highly venomous and very rare to find even in the wild.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Ferrachi (Apr 29, 2020)

Dr SkyTower said:


> Probably this species:
> 
> Apistobuthus pterygocercus (Shield tailed scorpion or Giant Death Stalker). Highly venomous and very rare to find even in the wild.


Just looked it up and that is one cool looking scorpion ! Literally a "Giant" Death Stalker... it's massive looking


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## Dr SkyTower (Apr 30, 2020)

The giant Death Stalker's scientific name means "Incredible Buthid with Winged Tail"! It's a beautiful but very dangerous-looking scorpion species for sure! I remember other keepers on here having this species in their collections and saying how fast, deadly and nimble their scorpions were!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Arthroverts (Apr 30, 2020)

If you are outside of Australia, anything Australian...

In the US,_ H. swammerdami_ continues to be highly sought after. Any _Babycurus sp._ (is this genus name still valid as it pertains to _gigas_ and _jacksoni_? Thought it got changed but can find no info online after a quick search) are also hard to come by. I am not likely the best person to be answering this question however, as my experience with the scorpion side of the hobby remains limited at this time.

Rarest is tough to quantify any which way though. @ArachnoDrew, @woodie, @ButhidaeBomb, @Scorpionluva, @Jason Brantley, @brandontmyers, @sloth, any ideas?

Thanks,

Arthroverts


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## RTTB (Apr 30, 2020)

Good call with the Australian species.

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## woodie (May 2, 2020)

Yeah Australian species in almost any herp or invert hobby.  One on many keepers wish list is Apistobuthus pterygocerus


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## Ian14 (May 2, 2020)

I suspect that the old hobby standard, P imperator, is pretty rare now with wild exports banned due to a zero quota through CITES. What used to be easily picked up as wc adults for £10 to £20 in just about any shop selling exotics, is now a hard to find species with CB specimens fetching £100 at least.


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## Lubed Tweezer (May 3, 2020)

H swammerdami prices are still higher than P imperator, and H swammerdami is much harder to find.
There happens to be a breeder near me that has 2 adults for sale at €175,-/piece.
Adult P imperator sells for €100-€150 here in Europe.


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## Ferrachi (May 4, 2020)

There's a place here in Canada that sells H Swammerdami for $115 CAD, but no P Imperator available


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## Lubed Tweezer (May 4, 2020)

Ferrachi said:


> There's a place here in Canada that sells H Swammerdami for $115 CAD, but no P Imperator available


Dude ! Canadian pesos ? Canaderp doll hairs ? 
I would get some at that price if those are adults. 
Then again, don't if YOU are not interested


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## Ferrachi (May 5, 2020)

Lubed Tweezer said:


> Dude ! Canadian pesos ? Canaderp doll hairs ?
> I would get some at that price if those are adults.
> Then again, don't if YOU are not interested


Don't think they're adults... said size is 1"

Reactions: Like 1


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## Gekkotan (May 6, 2020)

I think rare or valuable is very subjective. You have to take on different perspectives. First, on concern to species that are or may be in the hobby. This is easy as you may know them just by seeing people looking for them. Some may be valuable as the demands increases. But on a second hand, lots of species are not in the hobby right now or virtually wasnt ever avaliable. In this case, who may know how one would pay for them. Once known as "the one you should not say the name", I bet if someone shows up selling a Hemiscorpius lepturus pair right now, we could presence the higher price paid on a scorpion.


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