Mushu my new guy/girl Hadrurus a. pallidus

[Mushusmum]

Hi. I got Mushu yesterday… I spent the last 3 weeks reading anything and everything about hadrurus a. Pallidus
I thought I would post a few photos he /she is wild caught and is on calci sand and a dark substrate made for arid enclosures.
He/she was sold as sub adult/adult un sexed today is day 2. I put 3 crickets in for him/her (he she isn’t interested in them at time of posting) and the temp and humidity are set to 26 c and 45% ish is there anything I forgot to do
Also I’m thinking male at the moment. I’m unsure of actual age, he/she measures about 7cm. Also as an added bonus the feeder crickets are entertaining my cat.

 

[Andrew Clayton]

No need for calci sand kids play sand is fine if you're going that way, what I do is build with excavator clay in the enclosure like a rockface, there perfectly capable of digging away at it. They like to burrow so with dry sand there is a chance it could bury itself. Don't put 3 crickets in depending on the cricket size it's only going to be able to hold 2 but I would feed one at a time but give it a few days to settle into it's surroundings before feeding. Temps and humidity you have are fine though I keep mine around 24c and 40 to 50 humidity just by misting one corner of the enclosure once a week. You're mesumets look a bit off too that looks much bigger than 7cm. You measure from basically there mouth parts to the end of the tail flat out.

 

[Mushusmum]

Lol I may have made it too nice in there… the crickets are sat in the empty burrow and avoiding capture

 

[darkness975]

Needs deeper substrate.

Only feed one at a time.

 

[Mushusmum]

I discovered something else today…I should not use calci sand for feeder crickets

Should I be turning off/down the heat at night or keep it constant?

 

[Andrew Clayton]

Should I be turning off/down the heat at night or keep it constant?

There fine with it dropping a bit at night, mine are in the same room as my boiler so that's my heat source still around 6ft away and only have the heating on through the winter my house is quite warm so stays around 20c to 25c in there, it's also a room that gets sunlight but not direct so kinda ideal. So its can be different for everyone

 

[MorbidArachnid]

Calcisand isn't good for pretty much anything to my understanding, it's just calcium carbonate, it will dissolve in water and dry hard if for example you spray the enclosure at all or the water bowl tips and wets the substrate. This will definitely cause it to cake onto your scorpions tarsi. Speaking of the water dish, are those water crystals in there? Scorpions can't use those, if you're going to provide a water dish just water is fine.

 

[CRX]

Yeah, that looks like water crystals for crickets. If you researched for weeks you would know scorpions have no way to drink from those bro...

How do you miss something that glaring?

 

[Mushusmum]

Yeah, that looks like water crystals for crickets. If you researched for weeks you would know scorpions have no way to drink from those bro...

How do you miss something that glaring?

I put some in for the crickets but it is now not in there. I’m here to learn. If I knew it all I wouldn’t have posted.

 

[CRX]

I put some in for the crickets but it is now not in there. I’m here to learn. If I knew it all I wouldn’t have posted.

No problem buddy. If we ever seem critical just know it comes from a place of genuine love for the animals

 

[Mushusmum]

Hi now that mushu is a little more settled and I’ve seen him/her eat and choose a favourite spot. Can I do the new person thing.. male female? Also is he/ she full grown? Where do I measure from and to?

 

[Joey Spijkers]

Looks male. Hadrurus arizonensis?

 

[Mushusmum]

Yes bought as a sub adult / adult

 

[Andrew Clayton]

Hi now that mushu is a little more settled and I’ve seen him/her eat and choose a favourite spot. Can I do the new person thing.. male female? Also is he/ she full grown? Where do I measure from and to?

Yeah that's male here is a female for comparison. Notice how the pectine have a big gap between them, on yours they can practically overlap the males are bigger too. You measure from there head to the end of there tail flat out. These get to around 15 cm.

 

[Mushusmum]

Quick question from first time scorpion owner

Is mushu getting ready to moult or just fat? I googled and looked at images …but am unsure. I check him daily. Usually he just runs to the next available hiding spot but today he didn’t want to. On the off chance it is pre moult I did mist the area slightly and he got a little annoyed and moved but then stayed where he was again and not back into hiding. I fed him 3 days ago so I’m not too worried about him on the feeding front… but I admit I fed him too much the first week.

 

[MorbidArachnid]

You probably have an adult, so he's unlikely to molt again. Also that's not fat, he's just a bit fuller because you've been feeding him. Premolt and gravid look significantly fatter.

 

[CRX]

Molting for this species is a fraught process. Most sold on the market are WC adults.

 

[parabuthus]

Is mushu getting ready to moult or just fat? I googled and looked at images …but am unsure. I check him daily. Usually he just runs to the next available hiding spot but today he didn’t want to. On the off chance it is pre moult I did mist the area slightly and he got a little annoyed and moved but then stayed where he was again and not back into hiding. I fed him 3 days ago so I’m not too worried about him on the feeding front… but I admit I fed him too much the first week.

Yes, as already said, there is a good chance your specimen is already an adult. If so, be careful misting, as you don't want to cause mycosis. Supply a water dish at all times, but you are looking to create a dry, arid setup for an adult.

Is it setup for burrowing?

 

[Mushusmum]

thanks, I’m hoping I get everything right. Als , are there any tips on catching crickets? I just discovered one of the crickets I fed him running around and the little bug is too fast for me to remove

He’s been burrowing and making nests in 2 places

 

[Mushusmum]

Hi I was getting photos of mushu and noticed one of his legs looks different to the others. Should I be concerned?
Also I attached a video, is it normal for him to be so bad at hunting crickets? I removed the hides temporarily so he could see them. He ran away from them and threw sand at them…