Is My Whip Scorpion Eating?

shedua

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Aug 26, 2020
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I agree with all the suggestions you've gotten so far. You'll have a MUCH easier time keeping the humidity in a good range is you block off all but a small square of that mesh with an acrylic sheet.

Crickets and roaches are good food choices. I haven't tried hornworms personally, but if yours will take them, they should be fine and readily available. Tong feeding isn't a great idea to begin with, so it's just as well that yours usually hangs out in a spot that makes it difficult to do.

While a few simple pieces of fake plant material are fine to add, you do want to keep the enclosure fairly simple - too much complexity just gives prey good hiding places and does nothing for the amblypygi.
Thank you for all the much needed advice! I don't plan on doing anything over the top obviously as I don't want to overcomplicate things, I just thought the flowers looked nice on the bark and I thought it would be nice to put one or two on it. As for an acrylic cover, could something like cardboard or a wooden sheet work as well to cover some of the mesh?
 

Spoodfood

Feeder of Spoods
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That enclosure is super nice!! I love the flowers. I have some leftover fake flowers from one of my jumping spiders enclosure that I should utilize like that, did you just super glue them? I'm pretty sure she is Damon diadema as that's what the seller said and also her appearance matches up with what's online. Here's a picture of her.
Would it be best to use hornworms then? I was thinking crickets but if hornworms are the best then I will try those first! Thank you!
I used hot glue to put them on there. I do that with almost all my enclosures! I use decorative moss to cover up the glue itself most of the time. Hornworms or crickets are fine, so are Roaches. You can try any or all of them you’d like, and see which one they like more or jump on faster. Mine likes crickets and really likes hornworms. Yours may have a different preference, but mine is scared of the discoids I’ve attempted to feed her so far, and she’s a decent size. If I haven’t seen mine drink the water off the side in a bit, I give her a hornworm for some extra water.

Edit: although I’m no amblypygi expert, that does look like diadema to me. It doesn’t matter all that much, there are slight differences but as far as I’m aware the husbandry for most amblypygi species is similar or the same. Someone may feel free to correct me on that if I’m wrong.
 
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Albireo Wulfbooper

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Thank you for all the much needed advice! I don't plan on doing anything over the top obviously as I don't want to overcomplicate things, I just thought the flowers looked nice on the bark and I thought it would be nice to put one or two on it. As for an acrylic cover, could something like cardboard or a wooden sheet work as well to cover some of the mesh?
yeah, wood or cardboard should help cut down on evaporation.
the flowers do look cute! Something small like that won’t be an issue.

and yes, I neglected to mention it before but you definitely have a real diadema. They’re not very common - most labelled as diadema are actually Damon medius, which requires a fair bit more moisture. Most of the common species in the hobby can be kept in about the same conditions, but that one really does poorly without quite a lot of moisture. I keep my diadema slightly more moist than my Phrynus and Acanthophrynus individuals, but the difference is small.
 

shedua

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Aug 26, 2020
Messages
17
Hi guys, today I was able to get some crickets roughly the length of her abdomen and I've stuck two of them in there with her. I've also covered half the ventilation on top with some cardboard. I plan on getting another piece of cork bark for it soon, however the pet store near my house was fresh out of it, so for the time being I've stuck a piece of styrofoam in there.
My concern is she doesn't seem interested in the crickets. She acts the same way she does when I offer mealworms, just steps away from it/gets out of the way when it approaches. Should I just give it some time and leave them in there with her? She hasn't eaten in at least a week so I'm pretty worried. Thanks again for all the help everyone has given!! It's been really helpful for a first time owner like me
 

MrGhostMantis

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Hi guys, today I was able to get some crickets roughly the length of her abdomen and I've stuck two of them in there with her. I've also covered half the ventilation on top with some cardboard. I plan on getting another piece of cork bark for it soon, however the pet store near my house was fresh out of it, so for the time being I've stuck a piece of styrofoam in there.
My concern is she doesn't seem interested in the crickets. She acts the same way she does when I offer mealworms, just steps away from it/gets out of the way when it approaches. Should I just give it some time and leave them in there with her? She hasn't eaten in at least a week so I'm pretty worried. Thanks again for all the help everyone has given!! It's been really helpful for a first time owner like me
A week is nothing, they can go months. Can we get a picture from the size so we can see how full her abdomen is? She may be premolt.
 

shedua

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Side, like from the side where you can see how flat she is. From that pic she does look chunky though since her abdomen doesn’t look shrunken.
Trying my best to do this without stressing her too much lol, if you need me to I will try to get a better pic, but here you can see the width of it alright I think
PXL_20210508_025837434.jpg
 

mantisfan101

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Dec 26, 2018
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That enclosure is super nice!! I love the flowers. I have some leftover fake flowers from one of my jumping spiders enclosure that I should utilize like that, did you just super glue them? I'm pretty sure she is Damon diadema as that's what the seller said and also her appearance matches up with what's online. Here's a picture of her.
Would it be best to use hornworms then? I was thinking crickets but if hornworms are the best then I will try those first! Thank you!
I think that’s a true diadema, if it is, then good find.
As for op’s setup more moisture would be best, make sure it never dries out
 

Albireo Wulfbooper

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Definitely not starving. One cricket of abdomen length per 1-2 weeks is plenty. If it’s not hungry, it will shy away from contact. Even if it is hungry, it may shy away from contact until it’s dark and quiet and it feels safe. If it hasn’t taken the prey in the morning, remove the prey and try again in a week.
 

mantisfan101

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Trying my best to do this without stressing her too much lol, if you need me to I will try to get a better pic, but here you can see the width of it alright I think
View attachment 384117
Looks fine to me, don’t worry about it eating. Interesting looking damon, I want to say medius but there’s a good chance it’s something else. @Banshee05 thoughts?
 

Banshee05

Arachnolord
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can'T say it with this pictures for sure. make picutres in a 45° angle to the specimen, so straight from top that we can see the spination and carapace clearly.
 

Albireo Wulfbooper

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Looks fine to me, don’t worry about it eating. Interesting looking damon, I want to say medius but there’s a good chance it’s something else. @Banshee05 thoughts?
I thought from the first photo it was diadema but the newer photos look more similar to medius to me. If we can get a decent shot of the trochanter spines we can at least confirm or deny diadema.
 

shedua

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I thought from the first photo it was diadema but the newer photos look more similar to medius to me. If we can get a decent shot of the trochanter spines we can at least confirm or deny diadema.
Where is that located? I can try to get some pics once I get home from work!
 

Edan bandoot

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Where is that located? I can try to get some pics once I get home from work!
pedipalp spines at the first joint closest to the chelicerae.

ive found this diagram to be helpful, there's a legend at the end of the text beneath it.
 

Albireo Wulfbooper

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shedua

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Aug 26, 2020
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It's the part labelled "Tr" near the face - the segment that the pedipalp femur attaches to. It will be easiest to get a photo of this section if the animal is extremely relaxed and doing that pedipalps-out thing they do.


View attachment 384428
(image from https://bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-017-0931-1)
Here's two photos of her in that position, I don't know if these are clear enough for you to deduce anything which I apologise for haha, I have to be quick with taking pics of her because whenever a light is on she immediately goes and hides from it PXL_20210513_053531513.NIGHT.jpg PXL_20210513_053928522.jpg
 
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