My heterometrus is so fat it's going to explode

[Sigilo]

Hello, I have this Heterometrus Cyaneus (Asian Forest scorpion) for more than a year. He already have done two sheds with me. I'm like 80% sure he is a male.

I feed him much more less than recommended but still looks like more like a ball than a scorpion.


This situation is going for a long time, several months, he is always inflated, despite the low income of food. I spray with water his bioactive enclosure.

I really don't know what is happening. Any tips/information is more than welcome

EDIT: I feeling that he's recently a bit reluctant to eat, and I upload a pair of more pics:

 

[Mustafa67]

View attachment 476570

Hello, I have this Heterometrus Cyaneus (Asian Forest scorpion) for more than a year. He already have done two sheds with me. I'm like 80% sure he is a male.

I feed him much more less than recommended but still looks like more like a ball than a scorpion.
View attachment 476571

This situation is going for a long time, several months, he is always inflated, despite the low income of food. I spray with water his bioactive enclosure.

I really don't know what is happening. Any tips/information is more than welcome

EDIT: I feeling that he's recently a bit reluctant to eat, and I upload a pair of more pics: View attachment 476575 View attachment 476573

I’ve never seen such a fat scorpion Stop feeding him

 

[Sigilo]

I’ve never seen such a fat scorpion Stop feeding him

I'm really underfeeding him for months, but he simply is built like a balloon. Maybe I'd feeding him like once every 1-2 weeks. Sometimes a small mealworms, sometimes a big dubia roach. Is just that the big boy is fat…? How long can I cut the food…?

 

[Mustafa67]

I'm really underfeeding him for months, but he simply is built like a balloon. Maybe I'd feeding him like once every 1-2 weeks. Sometimes a small mealworms, sometimes a big dubia roach. Is just that the big boy is fat…? How long can I cut the food…?

I would feed him MUCH less. A TON of “care guides” or pet store owners out there are clueless and give dangerous information which can harm your scorp, as has clearly happened here. Heterometrus scorpions fast for a LONG time and don’t need to eat for LONG periods of time. Your feeding schedule seems to be overfeeding it to me. I suggest you research the forums for H Cyaneus care on Arachnoboards.

 

[Sigilo]

Is there any chance of I have a pregnant mother…? I have it since it was small, more than a year ago, but I think Scorpions can retain sperm or something like that…

Dunno, here are old pics from the chest. Looks like a male to me

So, I should just stop feeding for like a month…? And then just give him very small preys until he gets slim…?

 

[MorbidArachnid]

That's a male and he's getting ready to molt, nothing to be worried about an no need to cut back on feeding. Eventually he'll refuse food and then you'll know he's actually in premolt. Scorps are slow growers and they can stay fat like that for months. I'm firmly in the camp that I don't believe it's really possible to overfeed your scorpion in the way people think. They fast for long periods of time and will stop eating/not finish food if they've had too much. Especially going into molt, once he hits premolt he wont eat for several months, then you'll be stressed out if you were also cutting food before he started fasting.

My male Heterometrus silenus first photo was before his first molt with me, second photo was before his second molt with me, last photo is him now.

Last two photos is my Diplocentrus whitei, also slow growers he was this fat for about 5 months before finally molting, refused food for the last 2 months of that. Please ignore the water crystals I was a new keeper and that pic was a long time ago.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

View attachment 476570

Hello, I have this Heterometrus Cyaneus (Asian Forest scorpion) for more than a year. He already have done two sheds with me. I'm like 80% sure he is a male.

I feed him much more less than recommended but still looks like more like a ball than a scorpion.
View attachment 476571

This situation is going for a long time, several months, he is always inflated, despite the low income of food. I spray with water his bioactive enclosure.

I really don't know what is happening. Any tips/information is more than welcome

EDIT: I feeling that he's recently a bit reluctant to eat, and I upload a pair of more pics: View attachment 476575 View attachment 476573

I had a t albo that fat , sadly it didn’t make it to next molt. I don’t think your super fat blimp scorpion will explode but it’s very fat !

 

[darkness975]

Let it molt. I'd ease up the feeding.

 

[Sigilo]

Thanks for all the replies! (Specially @MorbidArachnid for the long one and the male confirmation). I did not know shedding could take so muuuuch time, that also explains why lately he was not eating well (or bad)

I'll increase humidity and let him be. Is there any guide about Heterometrus/. H. Cyaneus you totally recomend? I learnt about scorpion basics with YouTube carevideos but probably that was not enought

 

[Sigilo]

Let it molt. I'd ease up the feeding.

It's been a while, but today after months, finally shed:

 

[darkness975]

Is it moist enough in there? What is the substrate?

 

[Sigilo]

I spray with water a few almost every day. Substrate is 80% coconut fiber and 20% a bioactive substrate I bought (with springtails and all that stuff)

Recently It started to grow some white mushrooms:



(This is an old pic, now I got like around 4 like the second pic, them grow very fast and then die and dry. The springtails and microbugs are eating them, I think)

 

[Joey Spijkers]

The mushrooms are not harmfull in any way.
Spraying is a very surface level way to add humidity. A more effective method is simply pouring some water directly into the substrate when you see the top layer drying out slightly (it will get lighter).

 

[paumotu]

My baby imperator get like this. Nothing to worry about. As long as yours is still relatively active it’s fine. I’d still offer (prekilled)food. If it isn’t hungry/or about to molt, it will just ignore it. Eventually they’ll either slim back down or mold.