First, let me say Hi! I'm new to the Scorpion world.
I also posted this on VenomList so please don't be mad if you see this again lol. I'm just not sure if both communities cross over or what... heh.
I've spent the last 2 months or so reading up on scorpions, scorpion care, etc. And I've finally made the decision:
I want to get started in this fascinating hobby of Scorpion..ism? lol.
My First Species
From my understanding, most people will agree that the Pandinus Imperator is a great starter species? I have seem to become quite fond of reading about this species, and to be honest, it has grown on me lol. Is this a wise selection or should I reconsider? What do you recommend?
Habitat
Under the assumption that P. Imperator is one of the best species to start out with, where can I get the materials needed to construct a high humid and heated environment?
The substrate(I assume this is a technical term for the ground? lol) is to be made up of a layer of gravel/small rocks with a tube feeded down to it from the top, and then a layer of ________ (what here?) and something else. What do you recommend?
I was speaking to a coworker today about my interest, and told him I was going to go find an aquarium to get started on constructing a habitat for one. Instead, he offered to give me his 20 gallon aquarium for free. (he used to keep turtles in here, I'd definently clean and wash it out good before putting anything in it heh). How many P. Imps could I house in a tank of this size?
How do you control the heat/humidity of an aquarium? I imagine I would need to get a thermostat and a device to measure humidity(not sure what it is called lol). Can I get them in digital readouts? (I like digital stuff lol). I've read about putting a constant light ontop of one side of the aquarium, to give a more gradient of temperatures across, but what about night cycles? If I leave the light on 24/7, how will the scorp know the difference between night and day? I read they are nocturnal so.. would they not come out in the constant light? I'm a bit troubled here. How would you simulate this while keeping the temp up?
I'd like to get a habitat setup and be able to maintain the humidty and temp before buying the scorps. They deserve it
On a side note, if I recall, having a few roly polys, pill bugs, etc put in the habitat, can actually help you keep the place cleaner, developing it more into a mini-eco system. They eat the leftover pieces, etc. Is this true? Will the scorp attack the little bugs?
Food
I've seen most people feed their scorps worms, crickets, etc. I don't see myself feeding scorps any kind of mice, although this seems to be very popular on youtube. Just seems like people do it see an animal suffer and die, and see their scorp kill something. Makes me wonder what the motivation these people have for keeping scorps. Something tells me it isn't for the preservation, study, or even enjoyment of having them. Just to see them kill things. But I could be wrong.
Anyhow, back to food. Sorry for that tangent. I'd be really interested in keeping my own supply of food. How hard is it to keep a colony of crickets? My worry about this is the fact that they may be really loud. I can't do cockroaches. Childhood fear lol. Worms might be acceptable.
Where To Buy?
I live in Knoxville,TN and I can't seem to find a place that I trust buying them from. One store I did find that sold P. Imps seemed to have no idea what I was talking about when asking questions. I tried asking where they came from, how old are they, what instar, etc... and they couldn't answer any of my questions. They kept giving me vague responses such as " we get them from all over" , "They are average age". wtf is average age lol. What do you compare it to? Also, they kept about 20 of these guys, which I would say were 3rd Instar from my own personal guess( About 2 inches long, already black in color), and kept them all in one little heated bin, on sand. They didn't seem to knowledgeable about them.
Does anyone recommend a reputable P. Imp breeder? How safe is shipping scorps? How would I go about unpacking them? lol.
I'll post more questions as I come up with them, but for now this will do. I just want to be fully prepared before I undertake the task of raising and hopefully even breeding scorpions one day. It wouldn't be fair for the little guys to be mistreated etc, just because of their owners ignorance.
I also posted this on VenomList so please don't be mad if you see this again lol. I'm just not sure if both communities cross over or what... heh.
I've spent the last 2 months or so reading up on scorpions, scorpion care, etc. And I've finally made the decision:
I want to get started in this fascinating hobby of Scorpion..ism? lol.
My First Species
From my understanding, most people will agree that the Pandinus Imperator is a great starter species? I have seem to become quite fond of reading about this species, and to be honest, it has grown on me lol. Is this a wise selection or should I reconsider? What do you recommend?
Habitat
Under the assumption that P. Imperator is one of the best species to start out with, where can I get the materials needed to construct a high humid and heated environment?
The substrate(I assume this is a technical term for the ground? lol) is to be made up of a layer of gravel/small rocks with a tube feeded down to it from the top, and then a layer of ________ (what here?) and something else. What do you recommend?
I was speaking to a coworker today about my interest, and told him I was going to go find an aquarium to get started on constructing a habitat for one. Instead, he offered to give me his 20 gallon aquarium for free. (he used to keep turtles in here, I'd definently clean and wash it out good before putting anything in it heh). How many P. Imps could I house in a tank of this size?
How do you control the heat/humidity of an aquarium? I imagine I would need to get a thermostat and a device to measure humidity(not sure what it is called lol). Can I get them in digital readouts? (I like digital stuff lol). I've read about putting a constant light ontop of one side of the aquarium, to give a more gradient of temperatures across, but what about night cycles? If I leave the light on 24/7, how will the scorp know the difference between night and day? I read they are nocturnal so.. would they not come out in the constant light? I'm a bit troubled here. How would you simulate this while keeping the temp up?
I'd like to get a habitat setup and be able to maintain the humidty and temp before buying the scorps. They deserve it
On a side note, if I recall, having a few roly polys, pill bugs, etc put in the habitat, can actually help you keep the place cleaner, developing it more into a mini-eco system. They eat the leftover pieces, etc. Is this true? Will the scorp attack the little bugs?
Food
I've seen most people feed their scorps worms, crickets, etc. I don't see myself feeding scorps any kind of mice, although this seems to be very popular on youtube. Just seems like people do it see an animal suffer and die, and see their scorp kill something. Makes me wonder what the motivation these people have for keeping scorps. Something tells me it isn't for the preservation, study, or even enjoyment of having them. Just to see them kill things. But I could be wrong.
Anyhow, back to food. Sorry for that tangent. I'd be really interested in keeping my own supply of food. How hard is it to keep a colony of crickets? My worry about this is the fact that they may be really loud. I can't do cockroaches. Childhood fear lol. Worms might be acceptable.
Where To Buy?
I live in Knoxville,TN and I can't seem to find a place that I trust buying them from. One store I did find that sold P. Imps seemed to have no idea what I was talking about when asking questions. I tried asking where they came from, how old are they, what instar, etc... and they couldn't answer any of my questions. They kept giving me vague responses such as " we get them from all over" , "They are average age". wtf is average age lol. What do you compare it to? Also, they kept about 20 of these guys, which I would say were 3rd Instar from my own personal guess( About 2 inches long, already black in color), and kept them all in one little heated bin, on sand. They didn't seem to knowledgeable about them.
Does anyone recommend a reputable P. Imp breeder? How safe is shipping scorps? How would I go about unpacking them? lol.
I'll post more questions as I come up with them, but for now this will do. I just want to be fully prepared before I undertake the task of raising and hopefully even breeding scorpions one day. It wouldn't be fair for the little guys to be mistreated etc, just because of their owners ignorance.