My new Desert Hairy Scorp

TheTylerAwakens

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
1
Hey everyone! Got my first desert hairy scorpion yesterday and just had a few questions, any help will be appreciated. I use a heat lamp right now just because it was convenient and already had one, thoughts? Will it be to hot in a decent sized closet? Also I use a combination of Rept Sand and Eco earth (more sand than earth). Ive heard that if you only use sand it will collapse on them easily whenever they burrow, thoughts on that? I have mealworms, crickets, and dubias from my work right now and I was planning on trying to each just to see what he liked the most, what have you guys had the most luck with? The breeder I got him from also told me he gave a Mada. Hisser roach (very surprised he was able to eat it based on size) and he said he should be good for a few weeks. Another thing I was curious about is how often they molt? Im sure its not the same for all but just a general idea. And I know they average max size is somewhere around 6-6.5 inches, my little girl is probably around 2-2.5 inches right, for those of you who have large DHS how long did it take to grow that large? I'm sure I'll have some more questions eventually but any info you guys can give me would be awesome! I work at an Exotic Vet in North Carolina and havent owned a scorp before but worked around them and many animals like it and Im very excited!
 

DeeeeD

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 5, 2017
Messages
12
Hey Tyler im receiving a DHS this friday, my setup consists of a 31 watt heat mat instead of any heating bulbs. I have had no experience with heating bulbs although i have read that it can irritate scorpions as they are nocturnal and like to go out at night time and if they have a big bright light shining on them it isnt very convenient you could turn it off but then the heat source is gone. Saying that you can get special bulbs that irritate them less and they emit a red glow that isnt very bright. This is just what i have read, i am no expert and also new to scorps :). I mounted the heat mat on the side of the tank incase the scorp burrows to cool himself down only to get hotter. I recommend a heat mat they are cheap and you can leave them on constantly and dont have to worry about them. Im going to link a video below that will help you with alot of things but for substrate i use "desert" sand that i bought from my local pet store with some coco fibre i can't imagine it would be the best for burrowing because it would probably just collapse on the scorp but i had to have the tank ready for my new scorps arrival so i didnt have time to get fancy. As for food i have experimented with alot of critters from mealworms to locust i recommend you do the same and find out what works best for your scorp in particular but you can't really go wrong with crickets imo. Mealworms consist of more fat and should be given to your scorp as a treat unless you want a chubby DHS ;). I dont know anything about molting but im sure if you done some digging on youtube or even the internet it would help you out buddy. Here is a link to a good video that should help you out
, again im no expert so some things might be wrong im just looking to help.
 
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