Heterometrus Typical Behaviors?

[CABIV]

Hey guys,

I am curious what are the typical behaviors of these scorpions. I'm a first time scorpion owner, but so far he seems fine, so I don't plan to mess with his enclosure. That said....


I don't really know what is "typical" for a scorpion. Most of the resources I've tried to read say very little about what behaviors are typical. Most internet threads seem to focus around "problems", which only serve to increase my paranoia rather than help me know what to look for.

Even the books I've read, like the Barron's Scorpion book, have an extroadinary lack of what seems to be to me, "basic" information.


In particular...

What does scorpion pre-molt look like?

What does a "happy" Heterometrus look like? What does a stressed one look like?

How do I know if the scorpion is eating? If it isn't eating, is it like some tarantulas, and simply "doesn't feel like it"?



These sound like basic questions, but its hard to find a straight answer to them.

For instance, my scorpion stays out of sight 5 to 6 days of the week. once or twice a week, I'll spot him walking around the enclosure, almost always attempting to "climb the walls". This usually occurs either late on a quiet night, or in the mornings.

As soon as I move to get a closer look, he usually stops what he is doing and just stands there (I assume he sees me and is staying still). If its quiet and I go some distance away, I can see him go back to pacing the perimeter of the cage, occasionally trying to climb up the side.

I've never seen it eat, and I have not found cricket parts indicate that it did eat. That said, I have only removed a few "uneaten" dead crickets, less than what I put in. I assume though, that these things chew their food up and don't leave "spit-balls" like a tarantula. The only place I don't check regularly is the "cave hide", since I don't want to unnecessarily disturb the scorpion.


Is this normal?

 

[SoHum]

While I've never owned one of those specifically, you just described my experience with pretty much every species I have in my collection right now.

I have heard that a scorpion pacing endlessly is probably a sign of looking for a place to hide, but that going out for a stroll is normal, especially for males. Glass dancing, the wall climbing behavior, is also normal.

 

[baijuncheng]

I have 3 Heterometrus housed together, I don't often see them walking around as they each have their own preferred spot to hide with only the chelae visible. Most of the time I only know they have been out because of disturbed substrate/moss. I never find remains of roaches in there apart from the occasional leg. Usually if I drop a roach right at the chelae they'll immediately grab it and crush it to death. Then I'll leave and let them eat.

 

[darkness975]

I have found my desert species are overall more active than my rainforest species. I believe it has to do with environment and typical behavior for a given species.

 

[herp27]

I have a Heterometrus longimanus and found they're more likely to stay in thier burrow most of the time. But thats a sign that they like thier burrow. Mine usually comes out from time to time at night when i turn the temp down or when it's looking for food.
As far as premolt idk i've never seen it as i've got as an adult but id imagine it'll get lighter in color. A happy Heterometrus will most likely stay in its
burrow more often than not and eats pretty often. I put about three crickets in every week or so and if she stops eating them and i keep finding alot of dead uneaten ones, I just give her a few weeks of one every two weeks (since they can go months without eating. And a stressed one just the opposite
(i.e.never in its burrow).
you can tell if its eating if the crickets just dissapear. They actually consume their prey unlike spiders so there may not be any sign other than a few
missing
I'd check the cave and clean it every few weeks so no mold or anything builds up if there are left overs. Unless you have springtails or some other mold
control. But id still check just in case.

 

[darkness975]

Three crickets a week seems like a bit much.

 

[Alleyspilgrim]

I've been having the same questions about scorpions, mine is a Pandinus Imperator though but he shows the same behavior. About molting, i can see mine is on a pre-molt since he looks fat and the segments on the body look stretched, also i can see part of the new exoskeleton forming underneath the old one.

 

[Dr SkyTower]

does it have a water bowl to soak its whole body in? They like that. They're a sit and wait predator so will sit at the mouth of their hide/burrow and wait for prey to walk into their pedipalps. Their pacing is them exploring their enclosure. If you see it pacing its enclosure during the day it may not like its setup. But if you don't, then the pacing at night is normal behaviour.

 

[Alleyspilgrim]

does it have a water bowl to soak its whole body in? They like that. They're a sit and wait predator so will sit at the mouth of their hide/burrow and wait for prey to walk into their pedipalps. Their pacing is them exploring their enclosure. If you see it pacing its enclosure during the day it may not like its setup. But if you don't, then the pacing at night is normal behaviour.

Cool thanks for the info, in deed I've seen it soaking in it's water dish and so far he's always hiding during the day so he's a happy scorpion (if there's such a thing).

 

[FrankiePinchinatti]

I assume though, that these things chew their food up and don't leave "spit-balls" like a tarantula.

Eh. I think they do eat more of their food than tarantulas do, but they still sometimes leave behind some sort of "spit ball". It might also depend on what you are feeding them. My emperors are eating adult male dubia roaches so I am constantly cleaning up loose wings and hard balls of what I'm assuming are chewed up bits of their head armor. On the other hand my other scorpions are eating younger roaches and I don't typically see anything left over in their enclosures, but the younger roaches are considerably softer.

 

[Dr SkyTower]

yeah, scorpions would have to chew up their prey in order to get nourishment from it (as digestion is external), so it makes sense that the hard parts of the insect would be chewed up, not digested, and simply discarded as a ball of chitin.

 

[darkness975]

A happy Heterometruss spp. will landscape its burrow to its liking and then sit motionless at the edge of it 80% of the time.