:? My A. australis blocked off its cave. It has a mound of sand on one half of its tank that is half covered by a flat rock. Under that rock is all hollowed out to make a cave and that is where it is most of the time. Last night Spike, the scorpion, was under his cactus looking very very fat. I dont deprive Spike of food at all so it might just be fat on food but is it possible Spike is a gravid female? Could this be why Spike has gone into its cave and totaly blocked off both enterences? I mean there isnt even a crack around the edge anywhere. Maybe he/she is just making a burrow now, and not just a cave, and the extra sand that is being moved is just blocking the enterence still. Should i life the rock a little to see if Spike is ok under there, or just let it do its thing?
Cave blocked off
- Thread starter Whitdadie
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I say leave it be.
It's possible spike is a gravid female and is sealing herself off to give birth. Letting her have that privacy will help reduce the likleyhood of her eating her young.
Annother possibility is that spike is not mature and is approaching a molt. Allowing the scorp to form it's own molting chamber and not disturbing it will help it do so successfully.
I know it's tempting to dig it up and check on a burrowed animal, but usually we're doing more harm than good. The exception would be if you have a reason to believe the burrow has colapsed and the scorp is actually trapped. The other fear is that the scorp undermines the whole rock which in turn falls onto the scorpion. A good way to prevent this is to have rocks burried in the substrate that touch the bottom of the tank, and set your flat rocks on top of these. This prevents the flat rock from actually falling.
Wade
It's possible spike is a gravid female and is sealing herself off to give birth. Letting her have that privacy will help reduce the likleyhood of her eating her young.
Annother possibility is that spike is not mature and is approaching a molt. Allowing the scorp to form it's own molting chamber and not disturbing it will help it do so successfully.
I know it's tempting to dig it up and check on a burrowed animal, but usually we're doing more harm than good. The exception would be if you have a reason to believe the burrow has colapsed and the scorp is actually trapped. The other fear is that the scorp undermines the whole rock which in turn falls onto the scorpion. A good way to prevent this is to have rocks burried in the substrate that touch the bottom of the tank, and set your flat rocks on top of these. This prevents the flat rock from actually falling.
Wade
I dont think that the rock has fallen but that is a great idea about putting in the extra rocks. Next time I am to the petshop i will see what they have for rocks that would work, it just dumped a lot of snow up here so there isnt much to find but snow. It is very tempting to check on Spike, but I will take your comment and leave it be. If it dosnt open up in a few days should i start getting worried? How long would you think i should give Spike befor i do a quick check?
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
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Ditto to what Wade said.
John
];')
John
];')