Help - sick lethargic scorpion dying-maybe - new owner.

[leighannedelray]

First, thank you in advance for any help that you can give me.
I rescued this lovely scorpion from a terrible testosterone bar that fought them and then dunked their little bodies in vodka and drank them. I just pulled off a sort of scorpion kidnapping.
I have many other cool pets, like tortoises, tarantulas, and praying mantis, I also have had Arizona Bark scorpions as pets. But, never anyone like this. I think this little fella is an Emperor Scorpion, but not sure. I also have no idea how old he or she is, or pretty much anything about it.

I think that he may be sick though. I noticed that is has white spots, and I thought they were only near his joints, but seem to be everywhere. They don't seem to move, or be mites, and they seem to disappear when I spritz him. I thought it was like a hard water type stain on his shell, but I am using only bottled water that is distilled.
I am keeping him in a huge 30 gallon rubbermaid box, with tree barks, and burrows, and lots of Arizona dirt. And he has a water dish and plenty of crickets. I spritz him daily, but it is really dry here, ( I live in Tucson, AZ ) and so maybe that is not enough.
I have only had him for about 2 weeks, but he just seems to be less and less active every day, to the point now, to where he won't move unless some serious prodding. I think he may be dying, and if it is just from old age, I would like to know, but if it is something that I am doing and I can change, I really really really want to know, because I really love him.
I named him Hector.
Thank you for any advice.
I will post some photos, before he is spritzed with water, and after he is spritzed and then, under the UV light, just in case that can tell you guys something, and then a close up of him dry, so you can sort of see the white spots, and beside an American penny, for size comparison.
Let me know if there is anything I can do.
Thanks again.

 

[venomglide]

Hello,

I don't know about its current situation now but for sure that scorpion should be in a damp substrate (a cocopeat/coco coir or potting soil).

Pity on Hector. Hope he gets well

 

[H. laoticus]

I can see why your scorpion is lethargic. It should be on this type of substrate pictured here: http://www.ent.uga.edu/insectzoo/images/live_exhibits_emperor_scorpion_large.jpg

It requires a humid environment.

Please click on the Links in my signature for information on this species

 

[ScorpDude]

Yeah get that substrate wet! Also give him a water bowl (if you haven't already)

 

[Michiel]

Like the rest said, put it on cocoshumus. They come from West Africa, from a tropical, warm and humid environment. Keeping them on such a substrate, often recommended by people in pet shops :?:barf:, is killing them slowly in a couple of months time. So change that substrate and your savee will be a happy camper

 

[Treynok]

Pretty much as stated before get him hydrated but avoid spraying water directly on it. give it a water dish, high humidity, and a nice hide it doesn't look too bad off. Get it eating and it will probably be okay they are very hardy. Don't blacklight him too much and let him get to a dark moist place.

 

[Abby]

sometimes they don't notice their prey right away.
I usually hold a cricket with my tweezers around his claw, and he grabs it and eats it like a subway sandwich.

Keep us posted, I hope it all goes well.

 

[leighannedelray]

Thank you guys. I hope that is all I need to do. I have a bed a beast brick soaking right now as I type. He will have super juicy coconut substrate in a matter of minutes and I will report on if that changes his attitude.
thank you again so much.
Take care,
LA

 

[leighannedelray]

In the new dirt

So, I have put him in the stuff called Bed a beast or something like that.
It is a coconut fiber substrate that is a really good dirt and very moist, and I can't tell anything yet.
But just like a miracle our cat was playing with something, and we noticed a roach had happily entered our house and we took it away from one pet, and gave it to another.
And like you suggested, we presented it to him like a king, with the tweezers, and he did exactly like you said, 'hold it like a subway sandwich'.
He grabbed it with both of his little claws, and last I looked he was halfway done.
So, all in all I think it is o.k.

I guess the main thing that ever concerned me was this chalky white look to his exoskeleton, which is still there. I just look at other pictures of other emperors and they are so inky black, and he doesn't look like that. But maybe it will change. I will post a happy picture now for you in his good dirt.
Thanks again.
Leigh Anne DelRay

 

[Michiel]

Good for you! Glad it fed. Forceps feeding is only fun for you and not necessary for the animal. There aren't any people in the wild to hand them their prey, and in nature their territory is multiple times larger than the enclosure you are keeping it in, so don't worry that it cannot find its food.

 

[dairy]

Good to hear he's eating. In the future you may want to get captive prey. There's no knowing what that roach crawled through, ate or has living in or on it.

As far as the white substance you could try rubbing it with a damp q-tip and see if it comes off. If it doesn't IDK, maybe a fungal issue?

In the first and second picture you posted what kind of lighting do you have on him/her? There is some red on the chelicerae that I've never noticed on any other Emp :?

Good luck with your new pet

 

[Michiel]

you can clean the cuticle like Dairy explained, but clean it in multiple times, give it rest....your animal does not have to walk the catwalk soon, so let it rest, and you will, now that it is in a humid environment, it will able to clean itself better.

 

[leighannedelray]

Hi there. I rescued him from Burningman and there is a constant ongoing dusting of sand that is always layered onto people. It is like a fine alkali powder. It is terribly harsh for a human, and their skin, and probably just as bad for bugs, so I suspect that may be on him.

But as far as the lighting I used, it was just the flash light of my camera.
And as far as thinking you see a color that you have never seen on an emperor, he may not be an emperor! I was never told that he was, I just guesses it! Could he be something else????

Thanks.

 

[cannabeast]

gratz on the rescue, im sure it was amazing like batman.

why does his stinger, face, claws look so red? sure its p. imperator?? if it is then i wouldnt worry so much about not getting stung and using tweezers. those guys are like gentle giants. you can scoop him up and let him walk around on you. make sure he doesnt fall. and dont do it all the time and stress him out

 

[dairy]

But as far as the lighting I used, it was just the flash light of my camera. And as far as thinking you see a color that you have never seen on an emperor, he may not be an emperor! I was never told that he was, I just guesses it! Could he be something else????

Thanks.

I'm 100% sure that's an Emp. I was thinking more that the red coloration might be caused by what ever substance is covering him/her. I'm not so good with the imaging tags and photo shop or I'd just circle what I'm talking about and repost the image.

I also wouldn't assume that just 'cause it's an emp it can be handled without incident. Let him/her settle in for a while and then if you want to pick it up I would start by gently bumping the tailing from behind and see what kind of reaction you get.

 

[H. laoticus]

Glad to see it's doing well on proper substrate and feeding.
I wouldn't worry about the build-up on its exo.
I doubt it's harmful and was probably a result of the previous owner spraying it with hard water and thereby creating water stains.

 

[Stewjoe]

Was this one possibly dunked in alcohol?

 

[leighannedelray]

OK, so I have tried the damp q-tip thing, and he only let me do that for a minute, and then he got annoyed with me.
A photo of him annoyed:

So hopefully, the white chalky dust is not hurting him. I know it can hurt people's skin ( I know I had it on my feet and they were terribly painful and swollen), but an exoskeleton is probably way tougher than people's skin.

Here is the dust that I am talking about, and info on it:
http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/playa_foot.html

and I am certain that it is what is all over him. Unless, some Emperor's just look less black than others.

 

[leighannedelray]

Was this one possibly dunked in alcohol?

Unfortunately, that it totally possible. I hate to even think about it. But take a look at this photo (this is before the heist) .

:barf:

:8o

 

[leighannedelray]

As far as the build up, I am thinking it must be the playa dust, I just found a photo of him before I kidnapped him, on day one of Burningman, and so before he was exposed to that dust for a week.

Is there anyway that I can just dunk him in water and scrub him really good and really fast?