Emperor scorps and dubia roaches

ukj25

Arachnopeon
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Feb 1, 2016
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4
Hi,
I have a feeding question specifically about Emperor Scorpions.

In your experience do they ALL eat Dubia Roaches?

I ask as my collection is mainly spiders and I found only 40-50% would eat Dubia so I still had to feed crickets to most.

Its far easier and cheaper for me to use Dubia but I have let the colony slide and been buying in crickets for my Scorpions. I wanted to check whether your Scorpions were all eating Dubia before working on upscaling the colony again.

Thanks
 

pannaking22

Arachnoemperor
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I've had my scorps eat them on occasion, but not always. Dubia nymphs play dead pretty well and then burrow, so that can be a bit of a pain because your scorp might not notice it. If you just tweezer feed though they should have no problem with the roach.
 

Red Eunice

Arachnodemon
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Mar 2, 2014
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I haven't tried dubia yet, but mine do take lateralis regularly. Once the dubia colony starts breeding I'll try them and see.
 

pannaking22

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Lateralis are definitely a better feeder for scorps since they're so active. I haven't had any predator say no to those yet.
 

JoshBC

Arachnosquire
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May 23, 2016
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129
I feed Dubia nymphs to my Androctonus Amoreuxi 6i, Androctonus Australis Hector 3i, and my Hottentotta Judaicus 7i. They love them, never rejected them. I'll post a pic of my H. Judaicus feeding from last night.
Never tried feeding them to my Pandinus Cavimanus. Not the right size. They're all either way too big or way too small.
Resized_20161011_224951.jpg
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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I've seen mature adult male dubias display an odd behavior that I've seen stop predatory inverts over here from attacking them. Anybody else seen something like this? The mature males take a few steps and raise the abdomen in the air, they do that a few times. They get more aggressive about it if the pred doesn't seem to be backing off. I'm not sure what is going on there.
 

Henry1975

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
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39
From what I know the Blatta lateratis (Turkistan cockroach, Rusty Red, Red Racer, Red Runner Roaches etc.) can survive and reproduce in our homes, even if You live in colder climate, with dry indoor air at winter. You have to be very careful not to have any escapees. There seem to be a down side to everything.

The ideal prey would be ones that are constantly noticed by the scorps but do not survive outside the enclosures. And ones that are constantly available from shops, with no canniballism, long lived and/or easy to breed. Are there any such prey items?
 
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winter_in_tears

Arachnoknight
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Dec 16, 2008
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Yes as a matter fact there are. The summers I spent fishing, I would sometimes treat my emperors with live shiners (bait fish). They seemed to pounce on them immediately and ate the entire 3" fish without any hesitation.
 

Collin Clary

Arachnobaron
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Jul 3, 2011
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Maybe it's just me, but I've never had a problem with individuals of ANY species of predatory invertebrate refuse to eat dubias. Even with amblypygids such as Damon diadema, where a lot of people report that theirs won't take dubias, mine grab them quite readily.

Pandinus and Heterometrus species seem to love them. Indeed they sometimes actually have trouble catching smaller prey such as crickets and lats. With adult dubias they have no issues whatsoever, and grab them immediately.
 

Henry1975

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
Messages
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Yes as a matter fact there are. The summers I spent fishing, I would sometimes treat my emperors with live shiners (bait fish). They seemed to pounce on them immediately and ate the entire 3" fish without any hesitation.
Are You serious? I don´t mind a joke here and there but my question was.
 

darkness975

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The ideal prey would be ones that are constantly noticed by the scorps but do not survive outside the enclosures. And ones that are constantly available from shops, with no cannibalism, long lived and/or easy to breed. Are there any such prey items?
Crickets my friend. Well fed crickets that are not overcrowded in their enclosure rarely cannibalize and they are readily available as well as readily taken by every predatory invert I have ever had.
They are a bit more work to keep them from smelling and what not but it is not impossible and in the end it is well worth it. A large enough colony will reproduce at a good enough rate for you to keep up.

That being said I have no love for crickets so make no mistake on that front. They are rotten little demons but I have never had a specimen refuse them except when they are approaching a molt so they are worth the effort.
 

Henry1975

Arachnopeon
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Apr 17, 2016
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I agree that they are accepted, by all my inverts so far, through the years. In that sense crickets are ideal. But the cannibalism and the to-soon-deaths are driving me mad. Must learn how to care for them better then.
 

darkness975

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I agree that they are accepted, by all my inverts so far, through the years. In that sense crickets are ideal. But the cannibalism and the to-soon-deaths are driving me mad. Must learn how to care for them better then.
They do not live forever but you can get some time out of them in any case.


And regarding fish: No, do not feed your scorpion fish.
 

ukj25

Arachnopeon
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Feb 1, 2016
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4
Thanks for the answers. I agree that crickets tend to be eaten by all my spiders but I have struggled to breed or raise them without a fairly horrific smell.
The dubia roach has always been an easy breeder for me, and cheap to keep and maintain. They will also survive longer in with the scorpion so less risk of mites from well hidden carcasses.
 

pannaking22

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I've seen mature adult male dubias display an odd behavior that I've seen stop predatory inverts over here from attacking them. Anybody else seen something like this? The mature males take a few steps and raise the abdomen in the air, they do that a few times. They get more aggressive about it if the pred doesn't seem to be backing off. I'm not sure what is going on there.
I've noticed that too. I believe it's to add extra vibration to make themselves seem larger and also to emit some sort of unpleasant chemical.
 
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