Help with tailless whip scorpion

[Airs]

Hi so I’m new to here and owning any spiders of any sort. And I got a little tailless whip scorpion today from a local pet shop. She’s been there for about two months but she didn’t seem very active when putting her in her new home. Is it because they’re active at night or something? They said she got fed yesterday and eats like a charm. So I’m wondering if she’s in pre molt? I will read all the information I can get, even if I know it, im just concerned
And thank you if you reply <3

 

[Maxthesquid]

Hi so I’m new to here and owning any spiders of any sort. And I got a little tailless whip scorpion today from a local pet shop. She’s been there for about two months but she didn’t seem very active when putting her in her new home. Is it because they’re active at night or something? They said she got fed yesterday and eats like a charm. So I’m wondering if she’s in pre molt? I will read all the information I can get, even if I know it, im just concerned
And thank you if you reply <3

She will take a bit to settle in her new home, she is most likely stressed out right now and probably just trying to hide. Give her a couple days and you’ll start to see her out and active more. Send some pics of you have any and some pics of the enclosure if you would like more help.

 

[darkness975]

Hi so I’m new to here and owning any spiders of any sort. And I got a little tailless whip scorpion today from a local pet shop. She’s been there for about two months but she didn’t seem very active when putting her in her new home. Is it because they’re active at night or something? They said she got fed yesterday and eats like a charm. So I’m wondering if she’s in pre molt? I will read all the information I can get, even if I know it, im just concerned
And thank you if you reply <3

They are very sensitive to light, vibrations, and changes in their environment. Also they prefer softer bodied prey like crickets. Mine will usually only feed in the dark of night. The vibrations from lifting the lid usually causes them to flee.

 

[Airs]

She will take a bit to settle in her new home, she is most likely stressed out right now and probably just trying to hide. Give her a couple days and you’ll start to see her out and active more. Send some pics of you have any and some pics of the enclosure if you would like more help.

I have her in one of Zillas aboral micro enclosures with substrate and some bark so she can climb and hide. She’s probably about two inches. And I brought her home and kinda realized I messed up getting the smaller aboral cage. Um definitely getting her the bigger one, I just wanna leave her alone for now. But she was climbing around when I checked on her after turning the lights off, so that’s good. I feel really bad about the cage though

 

[Airs]

They are very sensitive to light, vibrations, and changes in their environment. Also they prefer softer bodied prey like crickets. Mine will usually only feed in the dark of night. The vibrations from lifting the lid usually causes them to flee.

Should I keep her in a mostly dark place? They had her out in like a display case in a round plastic container so I wasn’t too sure on what light she liked

 

[Maxthesquid]

They are very sensitive to light, vibrations, and changes in their environment. Also they prefer softer bodied prey like crickets. Mine will usually only feed in the dark of night. The vibrations from lifting the lid usually causes them to flee.

100% ^ right here. My medius hesitates with dubias but will drop crickets and super worms on the spot.

I have her in one of Zillas aboral micro enclosures with substrate and some bark so she can climb and hide. She’s probably about two inches. And I brought her home and kinda realized I messed up getting the smaller aboral cage. Um definitely getting her the bigger one, I just wanna leave her alone for now. But she was climbing around when I checked on her after turning the lights off, so that’s good. I feel really bad about the cage though

I had mine in the big zilla for about a year, 3 or 4 molts I think now she’s in a final adult enclosure, she loved it. All it needed was a big slanted log to roam and hunt and a hide. Let me find a pic while I’m at it.



First pic is how big she was when I moved her in there, and second is the last size she was until her next molt and then I rehoused. Those cork tubes (bottom left corner) are perfect for TWSs, they will hide in them all day and come out for hunting as soon as the lights go off, I recommend one if you don’t have one.

 

[Maxthesquid]

Should I keep her in a mostly dark place? They had her out in like a display case in a round plastic container so I wasn’t too sure on what light she liked

It doesn’t matter, just have the lights out by night or when you want to feed it. I keep all my exotics next to a window and my TWS comes out every night by 6pm and hides until then.

Pet stores only care about profit - and therefore marketing. And a more out in the open display enclosure is better marketing because the animal is more out for display for the customers while it sacrifices the well-being of the animal.

 

[Airs]

It doesn’t matter, just have the lights out by night or when you want to feed it. I keep all my exotics next to a window and my TWS comes out every night by 6pm and hides until then.

Pet stores only care about profit - and therefore marketing. And a more out in the open display enclosure is better marketing because the animal is more out for display for the customers while it sacrifices the well-being of the animal.

🥹🫶 literally thank y’all so much I was so worried worried about her and I just wanted to be safe than sorry. I’m actually so glad I found this, especially for someone who is starting out

 

[that1ocelot]

🥹🫶 literally thank y’all so much I was so worried worried about her and I just wanted to be safe than sorry. I’m actually so glad I found this, especially for someone who is starting out

This is a picture of how amblypygi molt. Is there enough clearance for your animal to do this?

Most species cannot climb on smooth surfaces and instead use their tarsal claws.

The enclosures you mentioned has a lot of ventilation. Most ambly don't do great with lots of ventilation as it dries out too quick, and they are very dependent on moisture.
You can tell on their need for food by their abdomen - is it paper thin? Lil bit of heft? If it's even a little bit filled out, your animal will be fine for awhile. As mentioned previously, mine to have prey preferences. Sometimes it's crickets and sometimes it's roaches.

 

[Airs]

This is a picture of how amblypygi molt. Is there enough clearance for your animal to do this?

Most species cannot climb on smooth surfaces and instead use their tarsal claws.

The enclosures you mentioned has a lot of ventilation. Most ambly don't do great with lots of ventilation as it dries out too quick, and they are very dependent on moisture.
You can tell on their need for food by their abdomen - is it paper thin? Lil bit of heft? If it's even a little bit filled out, your animal will be fine for awhile. As mentioned previously, mine to have prey preferences. Sometimes it's crickets and sometimes it's roaches.

I do have a piece of wood cork in there and her substrate isn’t soaked but it’s pretty damp. I’m gonna try to get zillas big micro aboral as fast as I can so she’ll have ton of wood to climb on. I’ll probably end up hot glueing some wood pieces to the back panel when I do get it. Her abdomen looks pretty good, she got fed a cricket the day before yesterday.

 

[that1ocelot]

Sounds great! Yeah, I love hot glue for ambly enclosures. They do really great with climbable walls.

Styrofoam or cork board both work great too, but aren't as visually appealing.

 

[darkness975]

I do have a piece of wood cork in there and her substrate isn’t soaked but it’s pretty damp. I’m gonna try to get zillas big micro aboral as fast as I can so she’ll have ton of wood to climb on. I’ll probably end up hot glueing some wood pieces to the back panel when I do get it. Her abdomen looks pretty good, she got fed a cricket the day before yesterday.

Sounds good

 

[darkness975]

Should I keep her in a mostly dark place? They had her out in like a display case in a round plastic container so I wasn’t too sure on what light she liked

Mine is in a room with ambient Room light and only comes out after the lights go out.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

Also, what species is your amblypygid (picture would be helpful)? Given that you picked her up from your local pet store I suspect she's a Damon medius.

All amblypygids, but D. medius in particular, absolutely need a very humid environment with very wet (even waterlogged) substrate. I recommend that you get that taken care of ASAP, because that's the most common cause of failure when keeping amblypygids (I've had a similar failure with D. medius a long time ago due to not realizing this). If she's been in the store for two months in a brightly lit enclosure, it's extremely likely she's been kept far too dry and in a state of constant dehydration.

Mine is in a room with ambient Room light and only comes out after the lights go out.

Yours is a lot less shy than mine; I've mostly spent time with Siti, my female Phrynichus orientalis, and she NEVER comes out even with the lights off throughout the entire house. Literally the only part of her I've seen for the past week is her one remaining whip, and occasionally the "elbow" of her raptorial pedipalps. Most of the time she sits behind her 2.5" x 4" bit of corkbark attached to the upper left corner of the enclosure. If she's feeling particularly bold, or if it's night, she'll partially unfurl her whip and start scanning for prey while the rest of her body stays out of sight. If it's night AND she's feeling bold she'll fully stretch out her whip and scan far more of her enclosure, but still sit behind her corkbark piece. Once in a while (in fact, she's doing this right now), she'll move from her shelter to park herself on the dark side of the much bigger (over 8" high) cork half round adjacent to her typical lair and scan her enclosure for prey from that position with fully extended whip, but while keeping the rest of herself out of my view. I just checked on her while typing this and she was on the frontal side of the cork piece, but she's now slowly moving out of sight again now that she knows she's being watched (and I was using a red light to avoid spooking my inverts!)

The only time I've seen her full body (besides just right now) was when I got her, for some brief moments while she'd been housed in Anihan's old enclosure (RIP) and when I rehoused her into her current digs. She does eat decently and drops her leftovers below her lair, so she obviously comes out to hunt, but those hunts are so short that I've only caught her in action twice (and never in her current enclosure). Definitely one of my shiest inverts ever.

The male (named Wira) comes out a lot more often, but that's because a) his current enclosure is significantly smaller and much simpler (I really need to house him into something else...), and b) he's kept in a closet that remains shut most of the time. Even then, he's spent the past two days wedged behind the bark in his enclosure. The unnamed (and unsexed) juvenile stays on the other side of the styrofoam board in its enclosure even with being kept in darkness most of the time, though it will turn into an efficient killing machine the moment a feeder drops in.

 

[that1ocelot]

Also, what species is your amblypygid (picture would be helpful)? Given that you picked her up from your local pet store I suspect she's a Damon medius.

All amblypygids, but D. medius in particular, absolutely need a very humid environment with very wet (even waterlogged) substrate. I recommend that you get that taken care of ASAP, because that's the most common cause of failure when keeping amblypygids (I've had a similar failure with D. medius a long time ago due to not realizing this). If she's been in the store for two months in a brightly lit enclosure, it's extremely likely she's been kept far too dry and in a state of constant dehydration.

This is a super nitpick, but there's some animals recently introduced into the hobby that do better on the dryer side. Charon Grayi being the most common imo, but generally yeah super humid is the way to go

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

This is a super nitpick, but there's some animals recently introduced into the hobby that do better on the dryer side. Charon Grayi being the most common imo, but generally yeah super humid is the way to go

Ah, good to know.

I actually have an intense amblypygid focus right now due to having a go at a Phrynichus orientalis breeding project (have a pair, and a juvenile to grow out in case the pair proves incompatible). Amblypygids are almost nonexistent in the Korean hobby, so when a big WC import came in last month to a local breeder's I immediately went over, identified them (mostly P. orientalis with some Catageus sp/cf. longispina and a mystery species mixed in) and got my hands on several.

 

[that1ocelot]

Ah, good to know.

I actually have an intense amblypygid focus right now due to having a go at a Phrynichus orientalis breeding project (have a pair, and a juvenile to grow out in case the pair proves incompatible). Amblypygids are almost nonexistent in the Korean hobby, so when a big WC import came in last month to a local breeder's I immediately went over, identified them (mostly P. orientalis with some Catageus sp/cf. longispina and a mystery species mixed in) and got my hands on several.

That's really exciting, and I'm jealous! You might actually see some Charon in there eventually. Good luck on your journey!

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

That's really exciting, and I'm jealous!

I'd actually like it if you'd check out my thread in case I'm doing something wrong. The advice I've gotten from other amblypygid experts on here has been encouraging, but it would be good to make sure.

You might actually see some Charon in there eventually.

That's what I suspect the "mystery amblypygid" is; I did grab one of those as well, but aside from it being a charontid and having long pedipalps I have not much to go off of. Is this genus known from mainland SEA as well?

 

[Airs]

Sounds great! Yeah, I love hot glue for ambly enclosures. They do really great with climbable walls.

Styrofoam or cork board both work great too, but aren't as visually appealing.

Also, what species is your amblypygid (picture would be helpful)? Given that you picked her up from your local pet store I suspect she's a Damon medius.

All amblypygids, but D. medius in particular, absolutely need a very humid environment with very wet (even waterlogged) substrate. I recommend that you get that taken care of ASAP, because that's the most common cause of failure when keeping amblypygids (I've had a similar failure with D. medius a long time ago due to not realizing this). If she's been in the store for two months in a brightly lit enclosure, it's extremely likely she's been kept far too dry and in a state of constant dehydration.



Yours is a lot less shy than mine; I've mostly spent time with my female Phrynichus orientalis and she NEVER comes out, even with the lights off throughout the entire house. Literally the only part of her I've seen for the past week is her one remaining whip, and occasionally the "elbow" of her raptorial pedipalps. Most of the time she sits behind her 2.5" x 4" bit of corkbark attached to the upper left corner of the enclosure. If she's feeling particularly bold, or if it's night, she'll partially unfurl her whip and start scanning for prey while the rest of her body stays out of sight. If it's night AND she's feeling bold she'll fully stretch out her whip and scan far more of her enclosure, but still sit behind her corkbark piece. Once in a while (in fact, she's doing this right now), she'll move from her shelter to park herself on the dark side of the much bigger (over 8" high) cork half round adjacent to her typical lair and scan her enclosure for prey from that position with fully extended whip, but while keeping the rest of herself out of my view. I just checked on her while typing this and she was on the frontal side of the cork piece, but she's now slowly moving out of sight again now that she knows she's being watched (and I was using a red light to avoid spooking my inverts!)

The only time I've seen her full body (besides just right now) was when I got her, for some brief moments while she'd been housed in Anihan's old enclosure (RIP) and when I rehoused her into her current digs. She does eat decently and drops her leftovers below her lair, so she obviously comes out to hunt, but those hunts are so short that I've only caught her in action twice (and never in her current enclosure). Definitely one of my shiest inverts ever.

The male comes out a lot more often, but that's because a) his current enclosure is significantly smaller and much simpler (I really need to house him into something else...), and b) he's kept in a closet that remains shut most of the time. Even then, he's spent the past two days wedged behind the bark in his enclosure. The juvenile stays on the other side of the styrofoam board in its enclosure even with being kept in darkness most of the time, though it will turn into an efficient killing machine the moment a feeder drops in.

this is the best picture I got of her, one of her feelers is broken which makes me sad

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

Ah, so not a Damon species. That's either a Paraphrynus sp. or a Phrynus sp (probably the latter, because Phrynus whitei or P. maesi are the two other species that are often sold in most pet stores, but I'll leave the exact ID to someone more knowledgeable on these animals than myself).

Not quite as humidity-dependent as Damon medius, but they still require humid environments, so a very damp to soaked substrate is still a good idea. The bark chips she's on in that picture are not appropriate for her because they don't retain moisture well; use coco fibers, peat moss, fertilizer-free potting soil or a mixture of the above instead.

one of her feelers is broken which makes me sad

Don't worry too much; she should still be able to hunt and find their way around effectively with just one feeler (I have an amblypygid who is missing a feeler AND one of her legs and she has absolutely no problems hunting and moving very quickly if she wants to), and the missing one will grow back when she molts.

If she loses her other feeler as well, it will become much harder for her to hunt and you might have to pre-kill food for her, but even then it's quite possible for her to survive long enough to molt and regenerate her missing appendages.