Expert advice and input please?

[CWilson1351]

I have always admired and appreciated scorpions but never did make the jump into getting any. I was hoping to get some care information, recommendations, and even just general advice on keeping scorpions. Acceptable beginner species? I was looking into Heterometrus, but the humidity for them is rather high and hard to achieve/maintain in the space it would stay.
Looking forward to learning more, thanks for any/everything!

 

[RTTB]

The big 4 beginner scorpions seem to be Heterometrus Pandinus Hadogenes or Hadrurus arizonensis . Hadogenes and Hadrurus on the dry hot side and the first 2 in the hot and humid side. Basically Desert versus jungle/forest.

 

[ArachnoDrew]

Humidity is easy to maintain if the enclosure has minimul ventilation. Tanks or enclosures with screen lids or very ventilated tops wont work.

 

[CWilson1351]

The big 4 beginner scorpions seem to be Heterometrus Pandinus Hadogenes or Hadrurus arizonensis . Hadogenes and Hadrurus on the dry hot side and the first 2 in the hot and humid side. Basically Desert versus jungle/forest.

Of those 4, the Pandinus and Hadrurus arizonensis are the ones I'm leaning towards. Shortly after the OP I remembered I have a couple of 10gal tanks available and can get acrylic panels cut to fit as new lids for either one.
I also went and did some digging on here. The main care info I saw regarding P. imperator said 50/50 peat and topsoil is a good substrate. Would coco fiber work as well? I had an idea for maintaining humidity as well but I'm still trying to work it out in my head.

 

[ArachnoDrew]

Yea custom acrylic top is perfect, pure coco is fine, does dry a tad faster but again. Minimul ventilaion helps.

 

[CWilson1351]

Humidity is easy to maintain if the enclosure has minimul ventilation. Tanks or enclosures with screen lids or very ventilated tops wont work.

Yeah I had a wake up moment shortly after typing out the OP. I remember getting and keeping humidity up to 80% for my E. cenchria before buying a real cage for her. Screen lid on a 40gal breeder sucked Needless to say, I have better options available for the 10gal I'd like to use for a scorpion. Local hardware store sells and cuts acrylic sheets for decent pricing.

 

[CWilson1351]

Yea custom acrylic top is perfect, pure coco is fine, does dry a tad faster but again. Minimul ventilaion helps.

Haha, read my other post before I could reply to yours

 

[journeys and scorpions]

Hello

Low venomous scorpions are good for the beginning yes. But every scorpion have venom and u dont know how you react on this venom when a scorpion sting. Allergic!
Allways be careful with scorpions no matter how strong is the venom.

Heterometrus spp etc. is good but also difficult --> Problems with mites, parasites or humidity...mostly wildcatch
Hadrurus spp. etc --> Are mostly wildcatch too. Can have also parasites. They need large Terrarium and perfect simulation of Habitat. High substrate with moisture.

You need a long tweezer for all works and you have to be carefull at every time. So u can keep every scorpion for the beginning. Its a character thing .
And please make the enclosure safe!

 

[CWilson1351]

Hello

Low venomous scorpions are good for the beginning yes. But every scorpion have venom and u dont know how you react on this venom when a scorpion sting. Allergic!
Allways be careful with scorpions no matter how strong is the venom.

Heterometrus spp etc. is good but also difficult --> Problems with mites, parasites or humidity...mostly wildcatch
Hadrurus spp. etc --> Are mostly wildcatch too. Can have also parasites. They need large Terrarium and perfect simulation of Habitat. High substrate with moisture.

You need a long tweezer for all works and you have to be carefull at every time. So u can keep every scorpion for the beginning. Its a character thing .
And please make the enclosure safe!

Thank you for the new information. I didn't realize WC were so common. It makes sense that mites/parasites would accompany the WC specimens.
I have no plans on ever handling any scorpion I do get, much like my tarantulas. I know to always be prepared for the unexpected. So I am equipped with 2 separate sets of 12 inch (30cm) tongs one has rubber tips the other doesn't, and 30 inch (76cm) hemostats. I also have multiple catch cups in case I need to quarantine temporarily.
I don't want to come off as arrogant, just wanted to try offering a little reassurance
I am curious what you meant by "make the enclosure safe" Did you mean safe for the scorpion? If so could you give examples of what I should not do? Again, not trying to come across as rude, I'm genuinely trying to learn

 

[journeys and scorpions]

Ok...

Safe...you need Terrarium which you can open from above or with a trapdoor. Terrarium must not have slots...

 

[CWilson1351]

Ok...

Safe...you need Terrarium which you can open from above or with a trapdoor. Terrarium must not have slots...

Ah I see, thank you! Yes, what I plan on using would open from the top. A glass aquarium with a removable acrylic lid.

 

[journeys and scorpions]

Perfect!

 

[darkness975]

I have always admired and appreciated scorpions but never did make the jump into getting any. I was hoping to get some care information, recommendations, and even just general advice on keeping scorpions. Acceptable beginner species? I was looking into Heterometrus, but the humidity for them is rather high and hard to achieve/maintain in the space it would stay.
Looking forward to learning more, thanks for any/everything!

You're not that far from me! lol.

Humidity is not hard to achieve as others have said here, but I am one that would recommend an adult Hadrurus arizonensis . I find that they are far more active than my rain forest species and they have cooler feeding responses (they sting their prey most of the time, as opposed to Pandinus and Heterometrus which usually just hold it and eat it alive).

 

[CWilson1351]

You're not that far from me! lol.

Humidity is not hard to achieve as others have said here, but I am one that would recommend an adult Hadrurus arizonensis . I find that they are far more active than my rain forest species and they have cooler feeding responses (they sting their prey most of the time, as opposed to Pandinus and Heterometrus which usually just hold it and eat it alive.

Yet another New Englander/South of Boston person? Nice! That makes... 4 of us on AB I think.
I'm leaning towards them myself, mainly for appearance sake but I definitely like the idea of a "better" feeding response as well. I hope to find some more information on various species before I settle on one though.

 

[CWilson1351]

So, I can't draw for the life of me, and I'm half dead tired. But I did try sketching out some rough drafts of what I'd like to do in one of the 10gal. I got the main idea from another post here, I forget which one sadly. Here they are


I have wanted to do a mixed enclosure for a while but never had the right tank for one. By mixed I do mean "dry" substrate and some sort of water feature.
With the aquarium gravel and Bio Drain Mesh I thought it might be possible to do this. Since the tank is so small I should have some left over mesh to create a sieve like wall of sorts that could help add a space for fresh water.
I'm probably not giving enough details

 

[darkness975]

So, I can't draw for the life of me, and I'm half dead tired. But I did try sketching out some rough drafts of what I'd like to do in one of the 10gal. I got the main idea from another post here, I forget which one sadly. Here they are
View attachment 245583
View attachment 245584
I have wanted to do a mixed enclosure for a while but never had the right tank for one. By mixed I do mean "dry" substrate and some sort of water feature.
With the aquarium gravel and Bio Drain Mesh I thought it might be possible to do this. Since the tank is so small I should have some left over mesh to create a sieve like wall of sorts that could help add a space for fresh water.
I'm probably not giving enough details

I am not really a fan of mixed enclosures honestly. Too much can go wrong. But if you are going to add a water feature to an Enclosure you should probably stick with a rain forest species of Scorpion.

 

[CWilson1351]

I am not really a fan of mixed enclosures honestly. Too much can go wrong. But if you are going to add a water feature to an Enclosure you should probably stick with a rain forest species of Scorpion.

Yeah, they can be tricky to get right. I definitely wouldn't do it with H. arizonensis. However, I do have 2 different 10gal tanks available so I can practice on one tank and get that species in the other tank. I suppose it all depends on what species I can get. Going to (hopefully) be doing some window shopping this weekend. I know a couple LPS have them and I can always talk to the arachnid guy at N.E.R.D. too.
Who knows, maybe I'll end up with a couple firebelly toads or some dart frogs after I get the mix tank correct.

 

[Jason Brantley]

You can certainly try out the mixed enclosure, but you will soon realize it's not necessary, just keep it simple.

 

[CWilson1351]

You can certainly try out the mixed enclosure, but you will soon realize it's not necessary, just keep it simple.

Yeah, after doing more research it really seems too much to accomplish for a scorpion enclosure. Thank you for the input!

 

[Stenodactylus]

Honestly, there are a ton of species you could keep based on personal preference. Obviously, being a beginner to scorpions, I would recommend not getting anything hotter than a Centruroides, but even this genus I would wait until I had a bit more experience. Hadrurus, Heterometrus, Pandinus and Hadogenes are all good options if you are one who wants a bigger species to start with. There are many smaller species that are also fun. If you are looking for something that has more of a feeding response, I would go with (as mentioned above) Hadrurus, Vaejovis, Paruroctonus or some other similar species. There are so many! And as for the forest, Heterometrus generally take the cake for me. Pandinus are also great, but a bit tougher to find currently. If you look in the classifieds section, there are multiple Heterometrus breeders (myself included), so you can avoid WC altogether pretty easily.

Often overlooked are the smaller, big clawed tropical species. My profile picture is of my male Brotheas gervaisii. Extremely easy to care for, great beginner species. Diplocentrus, Uroctonus, Didymocentrus, Neochactas and Opisthacanthus are all great species too. You can't go wrong with many of these species! Just watch out for the hotter scorpion genera.