# Keeping multiple Asian forest scorpions in one tank



## Kazten (May 7, 2018)

I recently acquired a rather large tank (29 gallons, 30" x 12" floor space), and I was thinking about keeping multiple in one tank. I am worried about the safety of them, as I don't want unnecessary injuries to each other due to my desires for their enclosure.  I know the safest bet would be just to house one, but I was wondering about other people's experiences housing multiple and any tips that could help.

I haven't actually got the scorpions yet, I'm waiting till I set up the tank properly. I'm not sure of the exact species but I know this Heterometrus is native to Vietnam, being sold as a Vieneamese forest scorpion.


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## cold blood (May 8, 2018)

As they grow larger, they _will_ eat one another.

Reactions: Disagree 2 | Optimistic 1


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## brolloks (May 9, 2018)

There are actually a couple of people on the forum who has or have had communal Heterometrus setups. There is of course always a chance for cannibalism, but they are not the worst candidates for a communal setup.

Keeping them well fed also reduces the chance of cannibalism, so just keep that in mind.


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## Collin Clary (May 9, 2018)

Yes, you can keep them together.

I honestly have no idea where this BS notion that they can't comes from. There is not a single species of scorpion that will not occasionally cannibalize. That being said, it's a pretty low risk for the common _Heterometrus_ species in the hobby, especially with adult specimens.


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## cold blood (May 9, 2018)

Well mine ate one another, despite being well fed siblings.  So I would say the myriad of experiences such as mine are _precisely_ where this "notion" comes from.


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## Xaratos (May 9, 2018)

I kept 7 together for over a year in a 20L, they would eat peacefully and I would even give them a mouse and the largest one would rip off parts and hand them out to the others and it was great, I got a 40B and figured it would be better for them with more room, once I reset the enclosure and added them they slowly killed each other about 1 a day until there was one left, still have her.

(The communal wasn't my idea, I took them over from a customer who moved away) Regardless, I don' recommend it because it doesn't take much for something to go wrong.

Reactions: Disagree 1


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## Kazten (May 9, 2018)

Xaratos said:


> figured it would be better for them with more room, once I reset the enclosure and added them they slowly killed each other about 1 a day until there was one left, still have her.


Actually heard quite a few stories like this, where someone had a functioning communal setup, but when they changed their habitat, they killed each other. If I'm not mistaken then its possible, just really unpredictable, with no guarantee to get it to work?


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## FlyKiwiFly (May 9, 2018)

Kazten said:


> I recently acquired a rather large tank (29 gallons, 30" x 12" floor space), and I was thinking about keeping multiple in one tank. I am worried about the safety of them, as I don't want unnecessary injuries to each other due to my desires for their enclosure.  I know the safest bet would be just to house one, but I was wondering about other people's experiences housing multiple and any tips that could help.
> 
> I haven't actually got the scorpions yet, I'm waiting till I set up the tank properly. I'm not sure of the exact species but I know this Heterometrus is native to Vietnam, being sold as a Vieneamese forest scorpion.


I have male and female H. spinifer adults and they are just fine, actually the friend I received them from has kept 5 Heterometrus together with only 1 casualty in the span of 2 years, I keep mine well hydrated and fed, also a good hide seems to be important even tho they sometimes swap hides and most of the time tend to be near each other at the end they go separate ways


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## Collin Clary (May 9, 2018)

cold blood said:


> Well mine ate one another, despite being well fed siblings.  So I would say the myriad of experiences such as mine are _precisely_ where this "notion" comes from.


Anecdotal accounts do not change the fact that _Heterometrus_ species are well documented to exhibit advanced subsocial and communal behavior.

As I already said, _every_ species of scorpion may cannibalize. It's a risk regardless of species; in some there's simply a greater risk than others. For example, I've experienced cannibalism in _Pandinus imperator _and _Tityus stigmurus_, that doesn't mean that they're not communal.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Disagree 1


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## G. Carnell (May 9, 2018)

best bet is to go for babies, much less chance of cannibalism in raising a whole brood together

I've never had cannibalism between siblings with 6-7 different species of Heterometrus


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## Holyhellgrammite (May 9, 2018)

Kazten said:


> I recently acquired a rather large tank (29 gallons, 30" x 12" floor space), and I was thinking about keeping multiple in one tank. I am worried about the safety of them, as I don't want unnecessary injuries to each other due to my desires for their enclosure.  I know the safest bet would be just to house one, but I was wondering about other people's experiences housing multiple and any tips that could help.
> 
> I haven't actually got the scorpions yet, I'm waiting till I set up the tank properly. I'm not sure of the exact species but I know this Heterometrus is native to Vietnam, being sold as a Vieneamese forest scorpion.


Awesome, I've kept em together in the past, but as with anything communal you've gotta make sure that there's plenty of food cos they have been known to cannibalize.


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## Venom1080 (May 9, 2018)

Kept a trio together for a good while now. Maybe it's just the increased food intake but the communal is at least two molts ahead of their siblings kept separate.

All share a burrow and shred their molts. Very cool and fun.


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## darkness975 (May 12, 2018)

There is always a chance of cannibalism.  But the risk is much lower with Heterometrus spp. And Centruroides spp. Than others.  Keeping them well fed is one important factor, but also making sure they all have their own hides even if they share one 90% of the time is also key.  They need to be able to slink away by themselves if they want to.  They'll follow their chemical trails to their own areas when needed.


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## Dadsgreenhouse (May 29, 2018)

I have just learned a few things about keeping Asian forest scorpions ,
As well as made some mistakes .
Here are some thoughts and observations.
I may be wrong....this is what I think anyway...
The scorpions did fine for maybe six to eight months ,
in a large aquarium with plenty of room to hide.
One day I found about six of them under one piece of bark!
I heard they might cannibalize each other, so I moved the big piece of bark.
They dispersed and hid.
Some shed a few times.
I kept lots of Dubia roaches in the aquarium so the scorpions wouldn't eat each other.
It seemed to be working...and some look pregnant...
So, this evening, I looked in there...and I saw what looked like a molting scorpion
Except, there was white creamy stuff on the soft / new side..
It was a bit more than halfway out of its exoskeleton.
Ordinarily I would have figured it was molting and totally left it alone.
Except, several Dubia roaches were eating the soft creamy stuff,
Which sort of sank down into nothing on top of the substrate.
This made me thing perhaps the roaches had eaten most of the new scorpion.
I moved them away.....scorpion did not move .
I figured it had probably been half eaten down to goo by the roaches.
Ordinarilly I would have left it alone.
So, I gently moved it a bit with forceps, not much...
It sort of slinked out of its old exoskeleton.
The creamy gunk that the roaches had been eating, 
May have been also,eaten by the other scorpions.
Later , they did eat what was left.
It's like they waited for,the largest scorpion to molt, 
Then attacked it when it was softly.
I noticed this scorpion was larger than the others, 
and it looked like it had eaten a smaller one.
There were two smaller pincers  and a couple legs lying under the bark.
I theorized, maybe they get cannibalistic after they grow more.
Another lesson I figure, is don't just throw lots of roaches into the scorpion cage,
Without enough roach food....or just don't put too many in there.
I figured the scorpions would not cannibalize each other
if there were lots of roaches.
It seems like the roaches saw an opportunity,
and started eating at least fluids from the molting scorpion .
Maybe more.
When I disturbed the molting scorpion
(obviously a mistake, except it was being nibbled on )
It sort of slinked out of its exoskeleton, into a soft pile and didn't move.
It looks like a couple legs are missing and maybe a pincer.
It looks like it might be slowly expanding and hardening, but not moving.
Will check on it a bit more later..
A couple other scorpions came over, and seemed like they were guarding it!
Later, I saw they were eating it.
I learned a few things....
- don't keep way too many roaches in scorpion habitat
-leave enough of something in there for roaches to eat.
- Asian forest scorpions, can live together ,
but might also eat each other...maybe when larger.
-no matter how drastic he situation looks, never disturb during molting .
( which I never would have except it looked like things had eaten the new scorpion partially )
There are more in the tank.
Still, I feel bad thinking I messed up.
Maybe next time I won't disturb their habitat, and feed less roaches.
Started removing roaches from the tank.


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## TheRuiner (Jul 27, 2019)

I had an experience with this once.
 I have a single adult Asian forest scorpion by itself in a 10 gallon tank.  I ran across some baby AF scorpions one day for very cheap so I purchased two of them and hoses them together. A week or two later I was back in the same pet store and decided to go ahead and purchase one more because of the tank size that the two I already had were in was large enough to accommodate one more.  These were all siblings.  Now, I don’t know for sure because I haven’t  broken down the cage and examined but it appears that shortly after introducing the third sibling I found remnants of pincers.  There is a chance that it could have just been part of a molt but in all the many many months since  I have never seen more than two scorpions at once in that enclosure. It’s almost as if the new scorpion that came along didn’t carry the same smell as the two other  scorpions or That they just didn’t recognize there sibling because of the short time they’d been apart. I guess they had already adapted to it being a twosome. In the next year I’ll be rehousing again and I’ll be back to update if I’m shocked to find number three was still there and it just so happened someone was always hiding out - I rarely EVER see one - they have burrowed like mad. So a small part of me holds out hope


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## CamoRhino (Aug 2, 2019)

I keep seven of them together and i always have dubias in there too.  I also always keep a food dish for rhe dubias so they have no reason to chew on a molting scorp. I also have a 3d planted background wich they love to climb. I count this as extra floorspace.


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## darkness975 (Aug 2, 2019)

CamoRhino said:


> I also always keep a food dish for rhe dubias so they have no reason to chew on a molting scorp


It does not matter if you have a food dish in there or not.  Molting specimens are prime targets.  It is not a good idea to keep feeders in there all the time.


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## CamoRhino (Aug 2, 2019)

It seems like a food dish with a balanced nutritious meal in it would be the prime target. With that offering why would they have it any other way. I have been doing this for the past two years and i know people will say it is anecdotal, so be it?


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## Bob Lee (Aug 7, 2019)

Collin Clary said:


> Tityus stigmurus


Seriously?
This is the second case I've seen out of hundreds of communal setups ...

It's fine to keep them together, but I would separate them after they make it into adulthood.
1. They are too valuable to lose at that point
2. They are ready to breed

Reactions: Funny 1


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