Cleaning desert scorpion burrow?

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
Hey everyone,

My juvenile desert scorpion(Urodacus Yeschenkoi) has been chilling in its burrow for about 1 and a half months occasionally coming out at night. Recently I fed it a cricket and it normally kills the cricket and eats it immediately, but this time it killed the cricket (in its burrow) and then returned to its ‘chilling’ position just at the entrance of its burrow without eating it immediately like it always does (i.

My concern is that there might be dead crickets as well as scorpion poop inside its own burrow and the absolute last thing I want are mites. What should I do?

-trust the scorpion has eaten the crickets inside it’s burrow
-temporarily remove scorpion while I dig its burrow up to clean burrow/terrarium


Sorry for the dodgy photo. Any advice/help is greatly appreciated :)
 

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Lubed Tweezer

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
634
Nobody likes mites, they can become a problem.
Digging up it's burrow is a shame, only do that as a last resort.
When in doubt i temporarily remove the scorpion by catching it in a cup.
I wait until the scorpion heads out at night, immediately cover the entrance of the burrow with something and then cornering the scorpion into a cup.
When the scorpion is safely stored away, i use one of those simple/cheap USB endoscopes to inspect inside the burrow.
They're available in many webshops, on ebay, Aliexpress or Amazon etc. they come with built in LED's and are usually around $10.
Use it on a laptop or something else with a decent size display, doing it with 2 people makes it easier.
It works well in the burrows of most of my burrowing type scorpions accept for Scorpio palmatus which digs it's burrow in the shape of a cork screw.
When i locate an old cricket leg or something, i keep the unwanted piece 'in frame' of the video and guide in a hose towards that piece.
Once near i put the vacuum cleaner (lower setting) on the other side of the hose to suck up the piece of garbage. Worked for me every time, burrow in tact.
As i said, this trick won't work with Scorpio pamatus or mauro but they tend to clean out the burrows themselves.
Please avoid demolishing your scorpions home just to cure your curiosity, impatience or unnecessary worries.
 

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
Thanks for the reply. I've been looking but can't find the USB endoscopes your're talking about. Most are very expensive, do they come with vacuum setting?
Would you be able to send the link of the one you use? That would be much appreciated.
 

Dr SkyTower

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 21, 2019
Messages
660
if its a desert species mites shouldn't be a problem, they only thrive in humid, moist conditions. Maybe the scorpion will clean out its burrow by itself?
 

Eddie Bodhi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 22, 2020
Messages
23
Hey everyone,

My juvenile desert scorpion(Urodacus Yeschenkoi) has been chilling in its burrow for about 1 and a half months occasionally coming out at night. Recently I fed it a cricket and it normally kills the cricket and eats it immediately, but this time it killed the cricket (in its burrow) and then returned to its ‘chilling’ position just at the entrance of its burrow without eating it immediately like it always does (i.

My concern is that there might be dead crickets as well as scorpion poop inside its own burrow and the absolute last thing I want are mites. What should I do?

-trust the scorpion has eaten the crickets inside it’s burrow
-temporarily remove scorpion while I dig its burrow up to clean burrow/terrarium


Sorry for the dodgy photo. Any advice/help is greatly appreciated :)
Blue death feigning beetles can be used as a clean up crew with some desert scorpions.
 

HaydnR

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Messages
37
My H. troglodytes is quite good at cleaning out all the bits of left over prey out, if you can't get an endescope maybe try a piece of wire with something sticky on the end?
 

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
Blue death feigning beetles can be used as a clean up crew with some desert scorpions.
I’m in Sydney Australia , I don’t know if we sell them over here? Apparently there’s another type of insect called springtails that seem like they are accessible in Sydney. Anyone else from Sydney able to get their hands on any of these 2 cleaner bugs?
 

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
My H. troglodytes is quite good at cleaning out all the bits of left over prey out, if you can't get an endescope maybe try a piece of wire with something sticky on the end?
Yes! More DIY ideas, that sounds pretty doable :)
 

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
Nobody likes mites, they can become a problem.
Digging up it's burrow is a shame, only do that as a last resort.
When in doubt i temporarily remove the scorpion by catching it in a cup.
I wait until the scorpion heads out at night, immediately cover the entrance of the burrow with something and then cornering the scorpion into a cup.
When the scorpion is safely stored away, i use one of those simple/cheap USB endoscopes to inspect inside the burrow.
They're available in many webshops, on ebay, Aliexpress or Amazon etc. they come with built in LED's and are usually around $10.
Use it on a laptop or something else with a decent size display, doing it with 2 people makes it easier.
It works well in the burrows of most of my burrowing type scorpions accept for Scorpio palmatus which digs it's burrow in the shape of a cork screw.
When i locate an old cricket leg or something, i keep the unwanted piece 'in frame' of the video and guide in a hose towards that piece.
Once near i put the vacuum cleaner (lower setting) on the other side of the hose to suck up the piece of garbage. Worked for me every time, burrow in tact.
As i said, this trick won't work with Scorpio pamatus or mauro but they tend to clean out the burrows themselves.
Please avoid demolishing your scorpions home just to cure your curiosity, impatience or unnecessary worries.
You just use a normal house vacuum cleaner @Lubed Tweezer ?
 

HaydnR

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Messages
37
I’m in Sydney Australia , I don’t know if we sell them over here? Apparently there’s another type of insect called springtails that seem like they are accessible in Sydney. Anyone else from Sydney able to get their hands on any of these 2 cleaner bugs?

Depending on the humidity in the tank springtails will be fine, for me they do fine in anything with 60%+ humidity, they'll keep fungus, mould and left over food bits away so long as there is somewhere they can survive, they're usually pretty happy around the water bowl and under bark ect so long as there is enough moisture
 
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