Heterometrus spinifer Question(s)

[Barbarianhorde]

Hey guys,

I just purchased my first scorpion and I had a few questions, I was thinking rather than posting a multiple posts and or one long post I'd break down the questions in individual posts within this thread, I'm hoping that's ok.

My first question, this is going to be a 2-3 part question. My Asian Forest Scorpion arrived on Saturday, I had an enclosure ready for her, she's currently about 3.5-4 inches long (excluding the tail) so I have her in a 15 gallon tank at the moment with a mixture of fine coconut husk and reptisoil I put the aforementioned substrate in a separate container and mixed it thoroughly whilst misting it, once I got it in the 15 gallon tank I compacted it down as best I could, so there's about 4.5" or so of compacted substrate, on the far end of the tank I dug down about 2 or so inches to create a dugout for her and I put a log over it so she has a nice area to hide. To the first part of the question, I was going to dig up about an inch or so of the substrate on half the tank and mix some moss in, along with adding some on the surface as well to help with retention of moisture, I know that these prefer a fairly humid environment, with that being said, I'm wondering if misting that half of the tank every couple of days is enough, or if I should get one of those programable misting systems? The second part of this pertains to heating, right now I have a 90W infrared heat lamp/bulb heating her tank, I'm keeping it at a steady 78-82 degree's, I've seen people either use heat lamps, or heating pads/mats, so I'm just wondering if one or the other is better? I have a couple of tarantula's right now and I use heat lamps with them without any issues, but seeing as this is my first scorpion I thought I'd ask to see if there's a preference. Last question, as I mentioned she arrived on Saturday, I put a couple of medium crickets in with her, but she hasn't shown any interest in eating, I've since taken them out, I also tried a super worm but again she has no interest in eating, I even used tongs and placed it right in front of her and she seemingly couldn't care less. I know that these don't more than once or twice a week and she may have been fed shortly before she was shipped up here, so I'm wondering if they can take a few days to acclimate to their new environment before they're probably ready to eat? Also, I'm wondering if she doesn't eat anything in the next couple of days when I should start being concerned? I know scorpions in general can go quite a while without food, being that this is my first scorpion I just want to make sure I cover my bases and I'm doing everything correctly.

 

[Tbone192]

You probably don't need a heat lamp, I use a space heater for all my inverts and it works wonderfully. Heat mats are probably better than lamps though as you can choose a side to heat as opposed to heating the whole enclosure. Always place heat mats outside the enclosure so you don't cook your invert.

I'd have mixed in sphagnum moss beforehand but as long as the scorpion isn't in the enclosure yet it should be fine.

Scorpions can take some time to get used to their enclosure, especially if they are WC (wild caught), which may be the case with yours. Keep the substrate moist by pouring some water directly into it and always keep a water dish or two in there, preferably one your scorp can climb out of easily.

 

[MorbidArachnid]

Space heater works well if you have a lot of inverts in an enclosed space that you can heat the whole area up to a specific temperature, that's why I primarily use right now. Personally for individual heating I prefer lamps to heat mats, they wont heat the whole enclosure if theyre placed off to the side or partially over an enclosure, and honestly with a 15 gal even directly over isnt going to heat the entire enclosure. 90W might be a bit much, probably works with a larger tank but I would just monitor your heat levels. Might not eat right away if she's still settling in, I would absolutely make sure she has a sizable water dish. Shipping and import stresses means a lot of AFS are fairly dehydrated, and if they're too dehydrated they might refuse food. You can even provide her a water dish large enough to fully submerge in as long as you make sure she can get out, she sounds fairly large so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Usually misting isn't adequate to maintain humidity throughout the day, unless youre misting extremely heavily. It's better to pour water in the substrate and make sure it soaks in a bit to the bottom layers. No need to make it mud, but if you mist the water tends to just sit on top and evaporate quickly, leaving the bulk of the substrate dry. You should be able to see the color change in the substrate to gauge when it needs a soak again.

 

[Barbarianhorde]

Hey Tbone, I appreciate the quick reply! Yes, I forgot to mention she has 2 small/shallow water dishes in there as I wanted to ensure she wouldn't get stuck in it. As far as the moss goes, she's already in the enclosure, but I have a temporary container I can put her in, for the 30 or so minutes it will take me to add moss to the enclosure. As far as the heating solution goes, I have the lamp on the far side of the enclosure so it's heating the whole thing, but it's directed on the opposite side, I'll definitely get a heating mat then as my house gets pretty cold during the winter, I usually keep my room in the low-mid 60's, so I've always used a supplemental heating source for all of my critters.

 

[Barbarianhorde]

Space heater works well if you have a lot of inverts in an enclosed space that you can heat the whole area up to a specific temperature, that's why I primarily use right now. Personally for individual heating I prefer lamps to heat mats, they wont heat the whole enclosure if theyre placed off to the side or partially over an enclosure, and honestly with a 15 gal even directly over isnt going to heat the entire enclosure. 90W might be a bit much, probably works with a larger tank but I would just monitor your heat levels. Might not eat right away if she's still settling in, I would absolutely make sure she has a sizable water dish. Shipping and import stresses means a lot of AFS are fairly dehydrated, and if they're too dehydrated they might refuse food. You can even provide her a water dish large enough to fully submerge in as long as you make sure she can get out, she sounds fairly large so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Usually misting isn't adequate to maintain humidity throughout the day, unless youre misting extremely heavily. It's better to pour water in the substrate and make sure it soaks in a bit to the bottom layers. No need to make it mud, but if you mist the water tends to just sit on top and evaporate quickly, leaving the bulk of the substrate dry. You should be able to see the color change in the substrate to gauge when it needs a soak again.

Appreciate the reply! I have a digital temp gauge on the opposite side of the enclosure where the light is and that's what I'm basing my temps off of, thankfully the heat lamp I have is adjustable, so I can turn it up/down. the dishes I have right now are fairly small, so I'll get a bigger one tomorrow, I'll leave one of the small ones in there and add the larger one as well. I can throw a few small rocks in there just to ensure she can get up/out of it. I have a digital thermometer in my room that also has a humidity gauge in it, the room itself is sitting at 73%. As I mentioned in my previous reply, I'll put her in the temporary container tomorrow and add moss to the enclosure tomorrow to help with the moisture/humidity levels. I have a 20 and 30 gal tall tanks that I was using with my frogs when I had them, so I can ready one of those up for her if needs be, my intention was to eventually move her over to the 30 gal, though at her current size that seems a bit large for her, I mean, you can't really have a tank too big perse, but the 30 gal seemed a bit overkill currently. I really appreciate the quick responses guys! As I mentioned, being that this is my first scorpion I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly, so I apologize if any of my questions are a big inane in any way.

 

[Barbarianhorde]

I actually just found a water dish I had been using when I had frogs, I just thoroughly cleaned it out. I didn't have a tape measure handy so I used my Costco card for scale (same size as a credit card) if you guys think that this would be ok, I can dig out a bit of the substrate and put this down for easy access.

 

[The Snark]

I'm still waiting to have some scorp knock on the door and ask for a heat lamp and water dish.

You have to provide the perfect habitat for them, you know?

 

[Glorfindel]

Always check your shoes before slipping them on when living in scorpion country.

 

[The Snark]

Always check your shoes before slipping them on when living in scorpion country.

That's actually real. in situ, during romance time or if their territory has been seriously disturbed and there isn't loose dirt, sand or leaf mold to bury themselves come daylight they will head for any port in the storm to hide.
If this goes on long enough they will take up permanent residence in some of the darnedest places. So far, a gap between a stack of roofing tiles, in the sand under a cement block (I went to use the block and discovered him the hard way - 24 hour OUCH number), under the shoe keeper outside the front door and under a board on the loose dirt I use to stand the water filters on to service them. Probably is still there. On numerous occasions we've gone downstairs at night, turn on a light and see them scamper for any available cover. How chunky Silenus manage to squeeze through the ~1/4 inch gap under the back door is impressive.

 

[adam james]

How chunky Silenus manage to squeeze through the ~1/4 inch gap under the back door is impressive.

I often wondered, in the wild how many of them meet a caver's demise; stuck somewhere and starve etc.

 

[Diao]

I'm still waiting to have some scorp knock on the door and ask for a heat lamp and water dish.

You have to provide the perfect habitat for them, you know?
View attachment 485438

Haha

I know you have a decent amount of silenus lurking about your property, are there any other Heterometrus species you've found in/around your abode?

 

[Barbarianhorde]

So a slight update, I'm going to be moving her into the 30G Tall tank, I was going to set up the 20G Tall tank I had unfortunately when I was in the process of cleaning it I realized it had a small crack in the bottom of it. Because of that, I ordered some additional substrate material as I don't quite have enough for the 30G tank, I also ordered a couple of heat pads/mats for the tank. I did run into an interesting situation last night, I kept hearing what sounded like something brushing against/plucking the wire mesh lid of her tank, after a couple of minutes of hearing that I popped up to check out what it was, she had hoisted herself up onto the underside of the lid and was walking along the lid upside down. So I had to carefully remove the lid, I pulled her log out of her cage and coaxed her off the lid though it took some time as she didn't really want to get off of it. I realized if she got on top of her log and popped herself up she could just barely reach the mesh of the lid with her pincer and pull herself up. I removed about an inch of soil and ensured that her log is pressed down into the soil which seems to have rectified the issue, once I get her moved over into the 30G tall tank she won't be able to get anywhere near the lid. It also appears that she's eaten which was concerning me initially, and she's definitely made a mess of her water bowl every night so I know she's out and moving around. Once I get the 30G tank setup I'll get a few pics just to see if there's anything you guys would suggest changing/modifying.

 

[Diao]

So a slight update, I'm going to be moving her into the 30G Tall tank, I was going to set up the 20G Tall tank I had unfortunately when I was in the process of cleaning it I realized it had a small crack in the bottom of it. Because of that, I ordered some additional substrate material as I don't quite have enough for the 30G tank, I also ordered a couple of heat pads/mats for the tank. I did run into an interesting situation last night, I kept hearing what sounded like something brushing against/plucking the wire mesh lid of her tank, after a couple of minutes of hearing that I popped up to check out what it was, she had hoisted herself up onto the underside of the lid and was walking along the lid upside down. So I had to carefully remove the lid, I pulled her log out of her cage and coaxed her off the lid though it took some time as she didn't really want to get off of it. I realized if she got on top of her log and popped herself up she could just barely reach the mesh of the lid with her pincer and pull herself up. I removed about an inch of soil and ensured that her log is pressed down into the soil which seems to have rectified the issue, once I get her moved over into the 30G tall tank she won't be able to get anywhere near the lid. It also appears that she's eaten which was concerning me initially, and she's definitely made a mess of her water bowl every night so I know she's out and moving around. Once I get the 30G tank setup I'll get a few pics just to see if there's anything you guys would suggest changing/modifying.

Heterometrus and Pandinus are rather particular about water dishes. I find it differs from individual to individual. Its either going to be live and let live, or they will relentlessly pack it full of dirt no matter how many times you clean it out. So that might just be one of the habits of yours you'll have to live with. They are crafty little squirts, too, so just make sure there isn't ANYTHING they could use to get up the side or back onto the ceiling/lid of the enclosure. They can use even the slightest of surface irregularity to grip onto and hoist themselves up using only a single pedipalp, so if you have a mesh top to the enclosure its best to make sure there isn't anything they can reach that they could use to shimmy up onto the mesh.

 

[Barbarianhorde]

Yeah, I generally clean the water dishes out twice a day, before I leave for work and after I get home from work, it takes all of a couple of minutes to do, so I'd rather be safe than sorry. In terms of climbing, I knew that they were capable of climbing, I was just really surprised she was strong enough to use her pincers to pull herself up and onto the underside of the mesh lid like that. The only way she could've reached it is by getting on top of her log and popping up on her rear legs then grabbing it with her pincers, so I removed an inch and a half or so of soil I also pressed her log down into the soil so she won't be able to do that again, once I get her moved into the 30G Tall tank it won't be an issue. even if she pops up on her rear legs there will still be several inches between her pincers and the lid. My biggest concern was her falling, I was worried as soon as I pulled the lid off she would fall off of it, so I removed it as gently as I could, luckily she was close to one end of it, so I just placed that end of it in her enclosure and coaxed her off of it. I also wanted to say that this has definitely been a bit of a learning experience and I really do appreciate all of the input I've gotten from you guys thus far, as I've mentioned previously, I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly, hopefully I'll learn enough to where I can then pass my knowledge off to the next guy who comes on with questions.

 

[The Snark]

are there any other Heterometrus species you've found in/around your abode?

I'm not good enough to tell the species apart.

 

[Matt Man]

I actually just found a water dish I had been using when I had frogs, I just thoroughly cleaned it out. I didn't have a tape measure handy so I used my Costco card for scale (same size as a credit card) if you guys think that this would be ok, I can dig out a bit of the substrate and put this down for easy access.

View attachment 485420 View attachment 485421

add a rock

 

[Matt Man]

I'm still waiting to have some scorp knock on the door and ask for a heat lamp and water dish.

You have to provide the perfect habitat for them, you know?
View attachment 485438

"Dad, I lost my Scorpion!" "Did you check your shoes?"

 

[Brewser]

Add Rock,

Im thinking 'Scorpions' German Rock Band.
"Wind Of Change"

 

[Matt Man]

Add Rock,

Im thinking 'The Scopions' German Rock Band.
"Wind Of Change"

FTR I have met Mattias Jabs, Herman Rarebell and Francis Bucholz of said Scorpions, long before I was into inverts. wind of Change would be too soft, something more like Coast to Coast or Another Piece of Meat

 

[Barbarianhorde]

Hey guys,

So I need some additional advice. As I mentioned I was going to set my 30G Tall tank up for her, but I had a slight change of plans and I'm going to use that for something else. With that being said, one of the local pet stores had a sale going on tanks. I picked up another 20G Tall tank to replace the one that had the crack in it. I'm currently getting that one prepped, I had a couple of substrate questions, I found a bag of Forest Floor Bedding Cypress Mulch, is it safe to mix that in and use it? I was intending on using the same mix I had with the 15gal tank, Reptisoil, coconut fiber, along with moss (moss would be on half the tank) I included a pic below.

Also, as I think I mentioned previously, I bought a couple of heating pads/mats; unfortunately, it appears that they were pirated off of my porch, so I'm working on getting a refund/replacement for those. Due to the thievery by some unscrupulous individuals, I ended up buying one yesterday when I picked up the replacement tank. I included a pic of that one below as well. I know you guys said NOT to put them under the tank, I'm just curious where the best spot to attach it would be? I've always used heat lamps for my critters simply because I generally keep them in my room, and I generally don't keep my room in the 80ish degree temp zone where these guys are most comfortable. I've been doing that for this gal while I got a permanent habitat solution figured out, but if I'm totally honest, I've been having a hard time keeping my room that warm/hot, simply because I'm kind of a cold weather person; my room is usually in the low-mid 60's. I have a suspicion that the heating pad/mat won't keep the tank warm enough on it's own, can you use more than one heating pad to maintain a constant temp in the tank, or use a pad in conjunction with a lamp to keep the temp stable/consistent? I'm just wondering what you guys would do/recommend on that front.