Handling androctonus

[ignithium]

I only handle hots when i have girls over. But since I have snakes the scorps rarely come out.

 

[GreenTip]

No, I’m not stupid.

 

[Matt Man]

when I was younger I surfed big waves. I trained for it and was prepared for the horrors that large waves can produce. You could train yourself to better handle when things got out of control both physically and mentally. When my life didn't allow the time to properly prepare I walked away from it knowing I couldn't mitigate the risk through training. I don't think there is a way to properly prepare for highly venomous bites and/or stings unless you have the $ to have a med team @ your disposal. This comes down to a risk-reward decision and in this case, I see very little reward and a heap of risk.

 

[darkness975]

Anyone like handling hots? Here's me handling one of my androctonus bicolors. I've held an a australis I believe and been stung. Just wondering if anyone else does the same

No.

 

[ArachnoDrew]

Takes 1 bad sting to ruin the entire hobby

 

[Harmonicon]

Anyone like handling hots? Here's me handling one of my androctonus bicolors. I've held an a australis I believe and been stung. Just wondering if anyone else does the same

I don't recommend holding them. It is dangerous.

I don't even hold my hadrurus arizonensis. Why go through the pain?

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Russian roulette with live animals. Great. Smart.

 

[ScorpFreakKing666]

As mentioned above and also IMO handling of any specie is not needed or recommended to any degree especially any scorpion from the genus Buthidae! It is not cool in any way and something can go wrong in a seconds notice. The scorpion literally does not know what a human is and there is zero way to predict or anticipate what move the scorpion will make next. In the event of you getting stung many things could happen....you could drop the scorpion and lose it in your house (potentially putting others or family pets at risk to getting stung) , you could end up injuring the scorpion, or you yourself could develop a severe reaction to the venom which potentially could have consequences. Everyone's body has the potential to react differently to the venom properties, (also depends on how much venom the scorpion decides to inject with its sting! again ZERO way to tell what the scorpion is going to decide to do!) There are documented deaths from stings from this specie, now these deaths usually fit a certain criteria with certain age groups and other factors such as immune systems etc. BUT nonetheless it DOES NOT mean your Immortal to its venom and there is a possibility that something could go terrible wrong for you. Your body could react extremely bad to the venom properties.

Case in point - I had a friend who got stung by an adult H.spinifer while handling it and developed a rapid allergic reaction within minutes and was having extreme difficulty breathing (Anaphylaxis) which turned into a hospital visit, This particular specie has mild venom yet it reacted very badly with my friend! Again to reiterate!! You DO NOT know how your body is going to react to the venom!!! You have mentioned you've been stung before by an Androctonus. I am not sure to what extent you have researched venom and how it works on the body or not but there are many studies and experiences that show sometimes the first sting is mild but a second or third can develop rapid consequences and react entirely different than the previous experience. The majority of people always gamble and play the game of "Well it has not happened to me yet and i've done it a bunch of times"..... Accidents are more likely to occur with repeated tasks that you are comfortable with.

Myself, I am VERY allergic to bee/wasp/hornet venom. I do not handle scorpions mostly based on this factor, but also out of respect for the hobby and the animal itself. Now I've been stung by bees many times over the years and honestly I've had Multiple COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Experiences. Some much more severe that others.

Please understand that handling Venomous animals is a Risk that should NOT be taking. Handling medically significant scorpions so you can post a picture online to feel badass is just downright idiotic. If something does go wrong for you, it just puts a bad stain on the hobby and potentially allows government bodies to make changes to the rules and regulations regarding the hobby which in turn just punishes others for your wrong doing.

Consider approaching this matter with more respect to yourself and towards the hobby.

 

[Matt Man]

when I was in 6th grade I did a study project on Bees and Wasps. In the process I was stung multiple times with little to no reaction. After another stinging, for whatever reason I too, went into Anaphylaxis and needed medical attention. ScorpFreakKing brings up a bunch of valid points that we would all put down as negative/risk in one's risk/reward calculation. A few I hadn't thought of, but dropping/losing the scorp in your home and all the danger that could create is a doozy. Last the economic hit one, or one's family could take if serious medical attention is needed. Personally I'd rather drop the couple thousand one could spend in hospital bills on the hobby

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

The Androctonus genus is very dangerous in particular australis, crassicauda, and mauritanicus. These three are the worst. But there are several North African species we know very little of from a clinical standpoint but one A. liouvillei measured .27mg/kg in LD50 tests.

In spring 2011, a case of serious systemic envenomation of systemic envenomation has been reported involving a French soldier being stung during battle (probably by an Androctonus). Generally stings are very painful, but will often result in local effects only, but more serious systemic effects can also be seen. As long as we know so little about these species, they should be treated as potential dangerous, especially for children and elders.

The report states the French soldier was stung by a suspected Androctonus australis. But australis is now limited to North Africa but long suspected to be in Israel and recently a population has been confirmed in Jordan.

What ever stung this French soldier he had to be medivaced out of Afghanistan and rushed to Paris.

https://academic.oup.com/milmed/article-pdf/176/4/472/20893170/milmed-d-10-00387.pdf

Anyone like handling hots? Here's me handling one of my androctonus bicolors. I've held an a australis I believe and been stung. Just wondering if anyone else does the same

No, I don't want that venom in me sure there is a great chance I may walk away with only local pain or a mild systemic envenomation. Medically significant scorpion venom have toxins that specifically target the liver, kidneys, lungs, and heart. The longer TAS (time after sting) the more critical medical attention becomes. If one is stung by a hot scorpion they shouldn't take the gamble of riding through it. They should report immediately to the hospital.

Androctonus australis is well known for causing high rates of envenomations and is rightfully regarded as one of the world's deadliest.

Morocco has the highest mortality rate in North Africa and its western regions rank as the the country's worst which coincides with the natural distribution of A. mauritanicus.

Serious systemic envenomations by Androctonus crassicauda stings has a late presentation and its overall elimination half-life, 11nЯ, was 24 hr, indicating that the venom has the slowest elimination among all known scorpion venoms. It is also notorious for causing agonizing local pain in multiple epidemiological surveys.

I don't mess with hot scorpions and Androctonus is one of my most feared.

 

[Dr SkyTower]

the venom of androctonus australis is the equivalent of the king cobra. I wouldn't want to handle a king cobra (but at least you can see its intentions if it wanted to bite you!) With the scorpion it is much harder to see its temperament. They have off days where they are even crankier than usual. You handled it one day without getting stung, you dodged that bullet! But you won't know what mood it's in the next day. I would recommend not handling your scorpion. They're display animals only. It will be a happy scorpion too!

 

[mantisfan101]

Let me give you a basic rundown if you keep handling them.
One day, you’re gonna reach a point where you feel like you “know” your scorpion, you can predict its movement, its behavior, where its gonna go, if it’s settled down yet, etc.
Then, one day you’re gonna get a bit too cocky and try to show off to some people and think, “oh yeah I know this scorpion, I’ll just handle it like I used to to look badass or cool in front of everyone else”
Then one day the scorpion will potentially miss its footing or something and fall a couple feet onto the floor where its exoskeleton will likely split open and give it a slow death, just because you wanted to impress everyone.
Or, and god forbid this happens, but it tags you and you’re unprepared for it. Not only are you gonna end up in agonizing pain, BUT if there were other people around you, they’re gonna see what it did and instead of being fascinated they’re gonna be disgusted, giving this hobby and even worse reputation than it already has.
If you’re gonna handle(or even keep) something so dangerous only to impress others and look cool, don’t. If you really valued the animal’s life(and maybe even yours) you’d know not to do something like this. I genuinely strongly dislike handling their pedes, scorps, ts, etc to look badass or edgy...why put yourself, the animal, and maybe even others in risk just because you want to impress them? This is a living thing, not some stupid little toy to show off. Don’t handle to impress others, period. You risk yourself and the animal, and maybe even the hobby.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

I've held an a australis I believe and been stung. Just wondering if anyone else does the same

You are not sure if you even handled a real australis or not?

Please indulge us, is this your pet and if you still have it, can we see a pic?

 

[Johnn]

Well I had a friend of mine order two scorps a black fat tail that turned out to be a parabathus transvaalicus even though I assumed it would be an androctonus and the "yellow fat tail" was what I hoped would be an a australis but could have been an a amoreauxi cause the site called a amoreauxis yellow fat tails later on from that point. I didn't order it personally and I didn't know a lot about scorps back then but looking at the pics I'm pretty much totally positive it was an a australis was in maybe 2013 or so but Im almost positive looking back it was the australis

When I say when I look at the pics btw I mean other pics of a australis was and compare it to my memory of that one but I don't have pics

 

[Ferrachi]

@Johnn Still planning on handling them ?