# Hadrurus Arizonensis Care Sheet



## BishopiMaster (Feb 14, 2012)

Hey everyone, I keep this species and they do quite well, thought I would post a straight to the point care sheet, with that said, here it is.

Housing: I believe that the housing of this species is crucial to their well being, I recommend a
              glass aquarium with a top opening screen top, nothing you can't buy at your local pet store,
              though the smaller glass tanks might be harder to find. Ventilation is crucial with this species,
              do not restrict ventilation in any way whatsoever in the cage, and if possible, keep them against a wall
              below a window IF the cage is heated(this is to enable air flow,), I also don't recommend keeping one in a m
icro climate type of
              ward, if you will, as the ventilation is most likely restricted and the humidity high.

Temperature: Keep them at room temperature, or if your house is below 70(do not keep them past 86)  degrees during the day
                     supplemental heating will be necessary, a heat lamp or heat pad is fine, however  
                     I have found that these scorpions become more active in dimly lit situations as LONG as
                     they can tell day from night for their day/night cycle. One thing I have done for my scorpions
                     is turn the heat completely off during the night unless your house gets below 40 degrees with
                     40 degrees being a bit on the extreme side. You must remember that they are found in the desert
                     and it can get close to freezing during the night, these scorpions are very very tough, I do however believe 
                     a warm day temperature is something that should be given. I may get a lot of flame for this next recommendation
                     but I do believe that all heat sources must be regulated with a thermostat, on/off ranco is fine, and tested with an accurate
                     thermometer, I use the PE1 by pro exotics. I will admit that before I was strict with using thermostats, I never had a problem
                     with overheating and i did put the heat pad on the bottom, I do not recommend this and have since changed my methods with better success, but I will note
                     that my scorpions did fine with this set up. 

Humidity: This is one of the biggest issues people have with these scorpions, there is
               much contradicting information and along with that, we know very little about scorpions in general.
               With that said, I will share my methods of humidity with this species, As I said, ventilation is crucial, do not restrict it in any way,
               for humidity, I remove the scorpion and dampen half of the cage every few weeks after which it is then allowed to dry.
               One thing I have recently starting doing is giving the entrance of the scorpions burrow at the wall of the glass a misting, no more than two pulls of the trigger
               as this is meant to provide drinking water, I will mist the scorpions burrow using this method every two days or so.
               When the scorpion is in premolt I will give the cage a very light misting daily, yes daily, it is imperative however that the misting be VERY light, with
               no more than 4 pulls of the trigger all around the cage, misting the burrow is preferred as this will hold in humidity better, as long as you are careful not
               to spray the scorpion.


Substrate: I believe in a deep substrate and this is of grave importance for this scorpion, at least 3 inches for young scorpions and 5 inches for adults, with 8 being
                in my opinion, ideal. Many people have recommended a false bottom for this scorpion, I recommend against this. Why? because with a false bottom there is no
                way to ensure that the scorpion does not come into contact with the bottom, these are burrowing scorpions and will dig very deep and extensive tunnel systems
                if given the opportunity to do so. Do not add gravel or clay balls to the bottom of the substrate, use a deep substrate and add water down it every few weeks
                as mentioned above, this is the way the burrows are anyway in the wild. For substrate mixtures I use 80/20 excavator clay and sand that is dampened
                and allowed to dry to allow a burrowing consistency. At one point, I had kept the substrate bone dry and did not add water for quite some time, 
                I had wondered why the scorpion was not burrowing despite the "ideal" mix, I added water and in within two days the scorpion dug an extensive tunnel system.


Retreats: I used to use a flat rock for a retreat, but after repetitive excavation by the scorpion of under the rock, I kept having to remove the rock and collapse the burrow
              for fear of the scorpion being crushed, now, I have sterilized cactus wood in for decoration and merely let the scorpion dig a burrow in the substrate alone.

Feeding: I feed my scorpions as often as they will eat and do not believe in over feeding, this usually amounts to one cricket a day,in some circumstances 2 a day, this
             also serves the purpose of keeping the scorpion well hydrated which is important.

Reactions: Informative 1 | Useful 1


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## 2nscorpx (Feb 14, 2012)

This is extremely helpful, a nice contribution! Has this worked for you regarding breeding and raising?


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## BishopiMaster (Feb 14, 2012)

I have not bred this species, I have however raised them from baby to adult, if that is saying something!


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## AzJohn (Feb 14, 2012)

Hello, I'm glad to see some interest in scorpions. I've kept this species for a long time and have raised them from 2-3i to adulthood with little problem getting them to molt. I have a few recomendations. The temperatures you listed are probably good for winter, Summer temps will need to be much higher. This weekend in Tucson AZ the temps will get a high as 65-70. That's in late winter. Tucson is much cooler than other parts of their range as well.  During the Summer the night time temps might never get lower than 85-90 for weeks at a time. I know I've collected them at 10:00 PM and it was 105. Summer temps need to be very high and a heat source should be added. 

The other thing is humidity. I agree that ventalation is very important. Humidity is very seasonal in their native range. At times it can be pretty high for a few weeks. They can handle a good soaking every now and then as long as they are allowed to dry out after. In the wild they can go up or down in their burrows to find the area that is best for them. I like to have a dry side and a more humid side in their enclosure, that way they can choose what is best.

JOhn


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## Jorpion (Feb 15, 2012)

AzJohn said:


> Hello, I'm glad to see some interest in scorpions. I've kept this species for a long time and have raised them from 2-3i to adulthood with little problem getting them to molt. I have a few recomendations. The temperatures you listed are probably good for winter, Summer temps will need to be much higher. This weekend in Tucson AZ the temps will get a high as 65-70. That's in late winter. Tucson is much cooler than other parts of their range as well.  During the Summer the night time temps might never get lower than 85-90 for weeks at a time. I know I've collected them at 10:00 PM and it was 105. Summer temps need to be very high and a heat source should be added.
> 
> The other thing is humidity. I agree that ventalation is very important. Humidity is very seasonal in their native range. At times it can be pretty high for a few weeks. They can handle a good soaking every now and then as long as they are allowed to dry out after. In the wild they can go up or down in their burrows to find the area that is best for them. I like to have a dry side and a more humid side in their enclosure, that way they can choose what is best.
> 
> JOhn


I agree with John - keep them a bit warmer during the summer months and keep one half of their enclosure a bit more humid. I've had years of success raising them this way


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## Scorpion Tom (Feb 15, 2012)

+1 for John and Jorpion


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## NanoTek (Sep 30, 2015)

Not being funny but all viva and terras have all good ventilation otherwise they won't sell them if they were air tight as a nats asshole. Every person and creature need to breath. If you think about it if you are ina a air tight system even for humans you get quite an amount of time to breathe before carb dial oxide is crucial. But yes in lamen terms we all need to breathe


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## Smokehound714 (Oct 5, 2015)

I would strongly suggest a substrate depth at least twice their body length as adults.   The deeper, the better, and the happier they will be.


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## kellysaxez (Dec 26, 2015)

BishopiMaster said:


> Hey everyone, I keep this species and they do quite well, thought I would post a straight to the point care sheet, with that said, here it is.
> 
> Housing: I believe that the housing of this species is crucial to their well being, I recommend a
> glass aquarium with a top opening screen top, nothing you can't buy at your local pet store,
> ...


WELL DONE!!! BRAVO This was very helpful for me. I have kept my Haddies similarly, and they are thriving. One brood so far, but she might have been gravid when I got her. I keep one male and one female in a 30 high, it weighs about 200 lbs with all the substrate, but, oh well..


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## Scorpio420 (May 24, 2020)

I think that heat mats are not a good idea for scorpions. Scorpions dig deeper when they are too hot. If a scorpion was too hot, he would keep digging and keep getting hotter. With a heat lamp, the scorpion would dig deeper to cool down which would reflect how it is in the wild more accurately.


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## Dr SkyTower (May 24, 2020)

This is excellent info for the care of Hadrurus Arizonesis!


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