I'm not sure if you guys will remember a previous post I made about my mum going mad over the idea of a scorpion being in the house. She wasn't budging.
Anyhow, mum and dad are divorced so I thought I'd try my dad. He told me it wasn't staying in the house, so I persuaded him to let me keep it in the shed.
So off I went to the local store, picked up a 2 foot vivarium complete with heat mat, thermometor, substrate, water dish, UV light (one of the long, thin tubes) and a basking bulb.
I also picked an Emperor (my first scorpion so I took the advice from here), it's around 2.5 inches without the tail.
Anyhow, got a nice little set up. Fitted the light and heat mat. Didn't have much time to observe as I needed to rush home as a friend was coming down to drop something off.
Few questions though. The pet store tryed to give me dry substrate, I asked if they would swap it for something moist and damp. They gave me a bag of something, I can't remember the name but it's to do with volvanic ash? You mix it with water? I'm currently using this as my substrate. It's nice and damp and I have around 3 inches deep on one side. Will this stuff do or should I replace it with peet or potting soil tomorrow?
Also, as I left the heat mat was just getting warm. I've left the heat mat on AND the bulb and it was just 20 degrees celcius, around 65F? Do you think that will have risen by tomorrow?
I popped the scorpion into the viv and he went straight for the hole I'd conveniently bought for him (under an ornament, can't think of the word for it right now). Dropped a cricket in, went for a brew inside, came back out and it had gone.
Will leaving the bulb on effect the scorpion coming out of it's hide? Being nocturnal I'm not sure if it will? It's going to be on all night to try and get the viv up to temp but I'm worried that's all.
Any good tricks to get them out of their hide through the daytime without pissing them off?
I'll get some pictures up of my setup tomorrow, didn't have much chance tonight.
Thanks guys
Anyhow, mum and dad are divorced so I thought I'd try my dad. He told me it wasn't staying in the house, so I persuaded him to let me keep it in the shed.
So off I went to the local store, picked up a 2 foot vivarium complete with heat mat, thermometor, substrate, water dish, UV light (one of the long, thin tubes) and a basking bulb.
I also picked an Emperor (my first scorpion so I took the advice from here), it's around 2.5 inches without the tail.
Anyhow, got a nice little set up. Fitted the light and heat mat. Didn't have much time to observe as I needed to rush home as a friend was coming down to drop something off.
Few questions though. The pet store tryed to give me dry substrate, I asked if they would swap it for something moist and damp. They gave me a bag of something, I can't remember the name but it's to do with volvanic ash? You mix it with water? I'm currently using this as my substrate. It's nice and damp and I have around 3 inches deep on one side. Will this stuff do or should I replace it with peet or potting soil tomorrow?
Also, as I left the heat mat was just getting warm. I've left the heat mat on AND the bulb and it was just 20 degrees celcius, around 65F? Do you think that will have risen by tomorrow?
I popped the scorpion into the viv and he went straight for the hole I'd conveniently bought for him (under an ornament, can't think of the word for it right now). Dropped a cricket in, went for a brew inside, came back out and it had gone.
Will leaving the bulb on effect the scorpion coming out of it's hide? Being nocturnal I'm not sure if it will? It's going to be on all night to try and get the viv up to temp but I'm worried that's all.
Any good tricks to get them out of their hide through the daytime without pissing them off?
I'll get some pictures up of my setup tomorrow, didn't have much chance tonight.
Thanks guys