emperor scorpion + mineral oil

[eyecheng]

will emperor scorpions naturally have the instinct to avoid oils such as mineral oil?
or will it wander into it and drown itself?

i'm interested in setting up a habitat that is open, i.e. no glass tank, but surrounding the habitat with a small moat of mineral oil. it will be kind of like a scorpion island. for other reasons, I specifically want to use mineral oil. is this possible / sustainable?

has anyone observed scorpion vs mineral oil (same as baby oil)?

 

[Insektzuchen]

You're building a Scorpion Island and wanna use mineral oil as a moat so you don't have to keep them in a glass tank. If you're successful, please post a video or at least some photos of it.

Cheers.

 

[Michiel]

Yes,of course....they have a special mineral oil sensory organ,near their anus....

 

[Rhodin]

That answer wasn't necessary or very polite, I think he's asking a fair question. I mean we have a special mineral sensory organ our skin, tarantulas have their hairs,etc etc. Now I will say that since most people are weary of large water dishes and crickets have a tendancy to drown that I think that the same applies to many land dwelling inverts. That being said if you do decide to try it please document your experience.

 

[G. Carnell]

This thread has made several of my days so far!!

keep it up!

Interesting prospect mind you!

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Every so often scorpions end up drowning in their water dishes and we're not talking about huge moat-like water dishes so I would bet one day it would be found drowned in oil.

 

[Formerphobe]

I wouldn't think mineral oil and arachnids would mix too well. I can imagine the mess as the mineral oil attracts every bit of dirt and speck of dust in the immediate area. If the scorpion drags substrate into the moat, there may be a wicking action that contaminates a large portion of substrate. Scorps can walk through or fall in water and dry off. A dipping incident in mineral oil would most likely be problematic.

 

[joks]

Open habitat - not a good idea
Mineral oil as moat - bad idea

- Peace

 

[KDiiX]

That answer wasn't necessary or very polite, I think he's asking a fair question. I mean we have a special mineral sensory organ our skin, tarantulas have their hairs,etc etc. Now I will say that since most people are weary of large water dishes and crickets have a tendancy to drown that I think that the same applies to many land dwelling inverts. That being said if you do decide to try it please document your experience.

I think the answer was as necessary as the question itself! As some before said there are several raisons why it's a bad idea. Everybody who thinks about this question could get the answer by himself because it's just a term of logic...
If I have any questions I always think twice if I can't answer the question by myself ;-)

 

[MrCrackerpants]

will emperor scorpions naturally have the instinct to avoid oils such as mineral oil?
or will it wander into it and drown itself?

i'm interested in setting up a habitat that is open, i.e. no glass tank, but surrounding the habitat with a small moat of mineral oil. it will be kind of like a scorpion island. for other reasons, I specifically want to use mineral oil. is this possible / sustainable?

has anyone observed scorpion vs mineral oil (same as baby oil)?

I think this is a joke. Made me laugh...:biggrin:

 

[nepenthes]

I might have a concept you might be interested in. I believe it was in the book The ants by Holldobler and E. O. Wilson. This method was used to restrict ants to a specific area. Basically they used metal ducting tape (any conductive material would probably work) around the edges of a table which had a small current of electricity running through it (9v battery?). The voltage was low enough as to not kill the ants, but it was enough to keep them from wandering past the electrical barrier.

If you REALLY have to have an open environment like your describing, this might be what your looking for.

 

[Sculpturatus]

I would never suggest leaving a scorpion outside of an enclosure surrounded by a mote of mineral oil due to the high risk of drowning, or escape, but it is you'r scorpion so you can do whatever you like with it. But you should be prepared to find it drowned, or wandering around you'r room someday.

 

[KDiiX]

I might have a concept you might be interested in. I believe it was in the book The ants by Holldobler and E. O. Wilson. This method was used to restrict ants to a specific area. Basically they used metal ducting tape (any conductive material would probably work) around the edges of a table which had a small current of electricity running through it (9v battery?). The voltage was low enough as to not kill the ants, but it was enough to keep them from wandering past the electrical barrier.

If you REALLY have to have an open environment like your describing, this might be what your looking for.

And what's happening if the battery is empty before you change it? :-D

 

[nepenthes]

You could probably rig together a fail safe battery that doesn't put out a current until the main one is dead.

 

[yames]

You could probably rig together a fail safe battery that doesn't put out a current until the main one is dead.

Like some kind of glass four sided fail safe device outside of the electric fence and oil moat... Now I'm thinking... Thanks KDiiX

 

[tyrantuladub]

This has Murphy's Law written all over it haha