H. hottentotta on its back

[edie]

i did a couple searches on this to see if i could find anything out, and i couldn't.. so now i'm posting about it. my H. hottentotta was laying on its side earlier and i left it alone to see if anything changed, now its completely flat on its back and all its legs are moving. would you think its dying? i would want to put it out of its misery if that is the case, i'm just not sure what is going on

 

[Ryan C.]

Hi Edie,

I've experienced this with one of my H. hottentotta. It happened when I prodded her and she rolled on to her side. She stayed like that for a bit, I then gently rolled her on to her back and she stayed there for about 20 seconds before flipping back over and running for her hide. Here are some pics.

So I would suggest gently flipping her over.


Cheers.

 

[Gigas]

Playing dead is a common defense mechanism in H. hottentotta

 

[Michiel]

Yes, gigus is right. This is called catalepsy and babycurus, odonturus are known to do this.....

 

[edie]

i've seen it happen before but this time it was really weird.
its definitely dead

 

[Arachnophilist]

sorry to hear that it died.. was it an older scorpion?

 

[edie]

sorry to hear that it died.. was it an older scorpion?

i'm not sure, i didn't think it was full grown

 

[EAD063]

Bad molt? How was humidity/temp. I've also heard Hottentottas need to offered water heavily.

 

[Ryan C.]

i'm not sure, i didn't think it was full grown

How big was it? My adults are 7-8cm(Roughly 2.75-3"), but if its smaller say around 2.5" it also could of been a smaller sized adult.


Cheers.

 

[edie]

maybe it was full grown then.
the temp. in my room has been about 78 in the day and 73 at night and i kept a water dish in the cage