Heterometrus spinifer - Age and feeding?

[Morpheus]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and to scorpions. I've wanted scorpions for a very long time and now finally I have two young Heterometrus sp., Cain and Abel.

I'm pretty sure they're juveniles or sub-adult at least, but I'm not sure how young/old they are and thus I'm not certain how often I should be feeding them. They've only eaten once since I got them, they didn't seem to go after live crickets but they ate a couple of head crushed crickets no trouble. They have black telsons which is odd because I'm sure young Heterometrus sp. have white ones? Perhaps they're older than I thought.

Anyway, I'll post some pictures so you guys can see and maybe shed some light on exactly what I'm dealing with here.

Also, some general diet advice would be appreciated. Is it ok to feed them just crickets, or do they need variety e.g. mealworms/roaches, are their nutritional requirements met with these etc.?

Oh and Cain arrived with a missing leg... He's way more adventurous than Abel so it wouldn't surprise me that he'd injured himself in the past, hopefully this isn't a problem for him, or a sign of mistreatment by the store owners.

Thanks!

 

[Colin93]

Those are Heterometrus Petersii, and they are sub adults. Their pedepalp's are the biggest giveaway on what spicies you have, and H. Spinifer have amber telsons as juveniles and red as adult. This is one of my H. Spinifer so you can compare the differences

 

[Morpheus]

Those are Heterometrus Petersii, and they are sub adults. Their pedepalp's are the biggest giveaway on what spicies you have, and H. Spinifer have amber telsons as juveniles and red as adult. This is one of my H. Spinifer so you can compare the differences

Ah ok, they were advertised as Heterometrus sp. but I know it's often difficult to 100% ID scorps sometimes. No matter, good to know they're sub-adults and have a few moults to go. I'll probably just feed them twice a week then, as per the care sheet.

Any opinions on whether a crickets only diet is enough? I've read conflicting info saying cricket shouldn't be their sole source of nutrition and roaches are better etc. I'm just feeding them medium crickets at the moment. The crickets are just eating dry bug grub, I haven't added any jellies or dusted them or anything, not yet anyway.

Thanks for the help, and nice scorpion btw. Looks like a big boy (or girl?)

 

[Colin93]

Ah ok, they were advertised as Heterometrus sp. but I know it's often difficult to 100% ID scorps sometimes. No matter, good to know they're sub-adults and have a few moults to go. I'll probably just feed them twice a week then, as per the care sheet.

Any opinions on whether a crickets only diet is enough? I've read conflicting info saying cricket shouldn't be their sole source of nutrition and roaches are better etc. I'm just feeding them medium crickets at the moment. The crickets are just eating dry bug grub, I haven't added any jellies or dusted them or anything, not yet anyway.

Thanks for the help, and nice scorpion btw. Looks like a big boy (or girl?)

Thank you, that one is a male but I have a female of similar size I will be breeding! And I used to use crickets but I stopped, crickets are not very good nutrition wise as they are pretty dirty for feeders, they eat their own waste and cannibalise and things like that, you don't want to be using things like calcium dust as scorpions do not need it and it can actually be bad for them because it makes their exoskeleton brittle where it comes into contact with it. I personally would go with red runner roaches, I recently got 30 and now I have thousands through breeding, they are a million times better for nutrition and are not as bad for cannibalising, and they are not as good at escaping, they can't climb plastic, jump, or fly. Unlike crickets that are little escape artists, I had a few escape and got a bit of a bollocking from my girlfriend and feeding twice a week is fine, if they don't take it don't worry, they can go over a year without eating

 

[Colin93]

This is my male Spinifer again, bit better for size comparison against my hand lol, he is a big one, he is unbelievably docile, never even tried to sting or pinch me, and I handle him daily, his name is Chopper

 

[Morpheus]

Amazing! He's a beauty!

Hopefully mine will grow that big. In the short time I've had them I've got a good sense of their temperaments. Abel was a bit standoffish and defensive when I first got him, he might have just been a bit grumpy about the delivery though. He does seem a bit shy and hides a lot. Cain however is super curious and adventurous, he's constantly climbing about and doesn't mind being handled as much. I don't really handle them much at the moment anyway, but maybe when they settle into their new home (they're currently in a temporary enclosure, new one arriving soon) and they're nice and relaxed, I'll see if they want a little walk-about!

Edit: I refer to them as males and have given them male names, but while I'm about 90% confident Cain is male, I have no idea about Abel (never seen his/her underside)... Maybe if I get a nice picture of their pectines I'll post them up here and see if they can be sexed. I don't think I trust my own judgement.

 

[Colin93]

They will, they get a similar size to Spinifer, and the more you handle it the more it will chill out also one thing to remember is if they hide in the day and come out at night that is a good thing, a hiding scorpion is a happy scorpion!

 

[Morpheus]

Thank you, that one is a male but I have a female of similar size I will be breeding!

What sort of enclosure do you keep these guys in anyway, guessing it's pretty big? Are they housed together?

 

[Spoodfood]

I’ve heard that they can be communal, I would not attempt it. I read above you said yours were fairly laid back, but mine is very irritable, and also standoffish. I would say skittish but it doesn’t run and hide, it will stand its ground and is very ready to sting. That being said I wouldn’t handle mine, but this species is typically a good species for handling, if you’re into that. I don’t handle any of my inverts.

Now that that bits out of the way, on to the more question relevant things. I keep my adults in exo terras, or acrylic boxes I find in hobby stores. Currently my adult H spinifer is in a 12x12x12 clear acrylic “wedding slot box” I found at hobby lobby. I plan on moving it into an exo terra like I have my P. Imperator in. They do require a good bit of space as adults. For the most part, if you’re able to fit a good size cork bark in there, along with a decent sized water dish, and room to roam a bit, youre good to go. For a scorp of this size, that ends up being a larger enclosure. I keep the water dish full and overflow it if the substrate is drying out. Along with some moss to retain moisture. 4-5 inches of substrate as I’ve heard some are burrowers. Mine just likes the cork bark and is actually out in the open a decent amount, but has yet to try to burrow.

I feed all my carnivorous inverts almost exclusively roaches, but I do give them a variety, as some prefer or refuse certain things. My spinifer is one of these picky eaters and will only take super worms so far. Typically, I prefer roaches. They are easy to breed and keep, and They are preferred by the majority of my Ts. A lot of my scorps like them too. I reccomend Dubias, or discoids if you live in FL. Lobsters aren’t bad either, but they can climb smooth surfaces. I keep my tropical scorps with dwarf white isopods and sometimes live plants. They do very well in bioactive setups.

 

[Morpheus]

I’ve heard that they can be communal, I would not attempt it.

I currently have both of mine in the same enclosure and they seem very comfortable with each other, whether it's just because they're young or something, I don't know. But while they have quite a few different places to hide, they choose to huddle and sleep together in the same little hide every day, one on top of the other. Hopefully this lasts, but they really seem to get on well and have never been aggressive towards one another.

I read above you said yours were fairly laid back, but mine is very irritable, and also standoffish. I would say skittish but it doesn’t run and hide, it will stand its ground and is very ready to sting. That being said I wouldn’t handle mine, but this species is typically a good species for handling, if you’re into that. I don’t handle any of my inverts.

I don't plan to handle them often, I've only handled them a couple of times and only to move them into their enclosures or for other necessary tasks. I will be taking them out and handling them at some point to have a look at them and let them crawl around on me for a little while and I'm not worried about it. It's not like they're Androctonus or something really dangerous after all. As for their temperaments, one is very relaxed and comfortable being handled, but the other is a little more skittish and will probably not be handled very much at all. I will have to wait and see how they react and what their boundaries are. They aren't here to entertain me, I want them to live stress-free lives, so if they aren't comfortable then I won't handle them.

Now that that bits out of the way, on to the more question relevant things. I keep my adults in exo terras, or acrylic boxes I find in hobby stores. Currently my adult H spinifer is in a 12x12x12 clear acrylic “wedding slot box” I found at hobby lobby. I plan on moving it into an exo terra like I have my P. Imperator in. They do require a good bit of space as adults. For the most part, if you’re able to fit a good size cork bark in there, along with a decent sized water dish, and room to roam a bit, youre good to go. For a scorp of this size, that ends up being a larger enclosure. I keep the water dish full and overflow it if the substrate is drying out. Along with some moss to retain moisture. 4-5 inches of substrate as I’ve heard some are burrowers. Mine just likes the cork bark and is actually out in the open a decent amount, but has yet to try to burrow.

Nice little enclosure. I'm also getting an Exo Terra when they're back in stock (have one ordered, just waiting on availability/delivery), probably won't do a bioactive as I'm assuming that's more work to keep the plants alive (or maybe they do just fine in the humidity, I don't know).

I feed all my carnivorous inverts almost exclusively roaches, but I do give them a variety, as some prefer or refuse certain things. My spinifer is one of these picky eaters and will only take super worms so far. Typically, I prefer roaches. They are easy to breed and keep, and They are preferred by the majority of my Ts. A lot of my scorps like them too. I reccomend Dubias, or discoids if you live in FL. Lobsters aren’t bad either, but they can climb smooth surfaces. I keep my tropical scorps with dwarf white isopods and sometimes live plants. They do very well in bioactive setups.

Yes, this seems to be the consensus. I will probably switch over to roaches at some point, got a lot of crickets to get through first though. Hopefully my scorps aren't as picky as yours!

Thanks for the helpful advice!

 

[Spoodfood]

I currently have both of mine in the same enclosure and they seem very comfortable with each other, whether it's just because they're young or something, I don't know. But while they have quite a few different places to hide, they choose to huddle and sleep together in the same little hide every day, one on top of the other. Hopefully this lasts, but they really seem to get on well and have never been aggressive towards one another.

View attachment 370282



I don't plan to handle them often, I've only handled them a couple of times and only to move them into their enclosures or for other necessary tasks. I will be taking them out and handling them at some point to have a look at them and let them crawl around on me for a little while and I'm not worried about it. It's not like they're Androctonus or something really dangerous after all. As for their temperaments, one is very relaxed and comfortable being handled, but the other is a little more skittish and will probably not be handled very much at all. I will have to wait and see how they react and what their boundaries are. They aren't here to entertain me, I want them to live stress-free lives, so if they aren't comfortable then I won't handle them.



Nice little enclosure. I'm also getting an Exo Terra when they're back in stock (have one ordered, just waiting on availability/delivery), probably won't do a bioactive as I'm assuming that's more work to keep the plants alive (or maybe they do just fine in the humidity, I don't know).



Yes, this seems to be the consensus. I will probably switch over to roaches at some point, got a lot of crickets to get through first though. Hopefully my scorps aren't as picky as yours!

Thanks for the helpful advice!

Depending on the plants, they can be hard to keep alive but I usually replace them. I do the bioactive setup with tropical scorps to prevent mold more than anything, because it happens in humid enclosures if any bits of prey, molt, etc. are left behind by the scorp. I’d definitely give it a thought, as it isn’t hard to keep up. You could even skip the plants if you wanted and just throw some isos in there. You’ll see them occasionally by the water bowl or other humid areas, and just add some more if you stop seeing them. I’m sure they’d probably do good with springtails or other small isopods too. I just prefer the dwarfs because they are small enough that the scorpion ignores them.