Interesting troubles with Urodacus Yaschenkoi

[Schnitz3l79]

My Juvenile Urodacus Yaschenkoi ( Australian robust desert scorpion ) "Damascus" has not eaten in over 1 month, and seems to be either afraid or defensive of the crickets i try to feed him. He is quite a skittish and defensive scorpion, usually fleeing at the slightest touch on his enclosure.

A couple days ago, this scorpion did something very strange. I tried feeding him a cricket ~1/2 maybe less of his length, and i left it in the enclosure overnight. as i checked on him after, i saw that he had the cricket in his grasp in the burrow and was happy that he finally ate. As time went on i realised that the cricket was still alive, barely, and that Damascus must've attacked this cricket as a territorial response instead of a feeding response. Unsure of what to do, i left the cricket there hoping that once it fully dies, Damascus would feed on him. I was wrong, he Completely buried the cricket in sand and conseqently collapsed half of his burrow.
So now i dont know how to deal with the cricket entombed in sand in my scorpions enclosure, do i leave it there, or dig it out and destroy the rest of the burrow ? and how do i go about feeding Damascus in the future?

Left = damascus,
right = the burrow ( arrow is approx location of cricket )
View attachment 487412 View attachment 487414

 

[Crom]

Try raising the daytime temps to around 85°F for a few days and see if that helps

 

[Schnitz3l79]

its currently summer here in Australia and daytime temps are at around the 26-31°C (78-87°F) , even getting up to 40°C (104°) occasionally.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

its currently summer here in Australia and daytime temps are at around the 26-31°C (78-87°F) , even getting up to 40°C (104°) occasionally.

Indoors too? Is the scorpion not in an airconditioned room? They do eat best and generally eat better at higher temperatures. That being said, if all conditions are right and he still doesn't eat, they can go a really long time without eating, so I wouldn't immediately worry too much.

 

[Schnitz3l79]

yeah my air conditioner is currently not working lol, so i don't think that temperature is the issue. I am just a little worried as he is looking a little skinny and is just a juvenile, plus i don't know if the buried cricket would rot or go mouldy , and if i should bother ruining the enclosure to fish it out if i dont have to.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

It'll most likely just dry out, so I wouldn't worry too much. Better to not bother the scorp if not necessary.