New Asian Forest Scorpion

Eightleggedlover

Arachnopeon
Active Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
15
Hello everyone!
I have just received my first scorpion. I’ve been an animal lover all of my life, I’ve raised cottonmouths, Rattlesnakes and copperheads for years. I received the scorpion 2 days ago and it doesn’t seem interested in food at all. I have it in a really nice terrarium and keep the temperature @ 75f. Do they take time to adjust and eat? I received a Goliath Birdeater the same day that’s doing great with eating.. Am I being paranoid, or do I need to do something different to get it to feed?

I’m new to scorpions and would really appreciate any help!

Also, I’m not really good with computers, so if I posted this incorrectly, I do apologize.
 

ColeopteraC

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 8, 2020
Messages
425
Don’t feed either of the arachnids until they begin to settle in. Hence the scorpion refusing to feed, some arachinds will also randomly fast for a short while, this is nothing to worry about... Send pictures here as they settle in!
 

Ferrachi

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
Messages
1,014
Hello everyone!
I have just received my first scorpion. I’ve been an animal lover all of my life, I’ve raised cottonmouths, Rattlesnakes and copperheads for years. I received the scorpion 2 days ago and it doesn’t seem interested in food at all. I have it in a really nice terrarium and keep the temperature @ 75f. Do they take time to adjust and eat? I received a Goliath Birdeater the same day that’s doing great with eating.. Am I being paranoid, or do I need to do something different to get it to feed?

I’m new to scorpions and would really appreciate any help!

Also, I’m not really good with computers, so if I posted this incorrectly, I do apologize.
Cottonmouths, Rattlesnakes and Copperheads !!! That's sooo awesome !!! I only wished I was allowed to have pets like that here... Do you still have any ?

They do take time to settle into their new homes. One of my scorpions didn't eat for a month and 3 weeks since I've received him and he finally ate yesterday. The one thing that you won't have to worry about with scorpions is that, you won't starve them because they can go "months" without food. Try in a few of days and if it doesn't want the food, take the food back out and try again in a week after that. So not to worry...
 

Dr SkyTower

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 21, 2019
Messages
660
It'll take time for your scorpion to settle. They can easily go without eating for weeks, they have a slow metabolism. What species of scorpion is it?
 

Lubed Tweezer

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
634
Yup, your scorpion could easily take a week or two to get settled in. It's best to leave it alone during that time, don't move/shake or disturb the enclosure too much.
Make sure it can properly relax by providing it with a dark place for it to hide.
Normally you would offer it food once per week. If it doesn't take it straight away you can leave the feeder in, check on it the next morning.
If in case the feeder (cricket/worm/roach or whatever) is still alive, you remove it from the enclosure and try a week later.
Scorpions can have steady periods eating 1 meal per week, and then 'out of nowhere' decide to go on a fasting period of several weeks.
So no worries if it doesn't eat right now, it won't die if it doesn't eat for a few months. Husbandry is more important than feeding intervals.
Curious to see what sort of scorpion you have.
 

Eightleggedlover

Arachnopeon
Active Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
15
Don’t feed either of the arachnids until they begin to settle in. Hence the scorpion refusing to feed, some arachinds will also randomly fast for a short while, this is nothing to worry about... Send pictures here as they settle in!
9FF6D50D-939A-43FA-8431-DF27AE2F337A.jpeg
Asian Forest Scorpion 😁
 

Eightleggedlover

Arachnopeon
Active Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
15
Cottonmouths, Rattlesnakes and Copperheads !!! That's sooo awesome !!! I only wished I was allowed to have pets like that here... Do you still have any ?

They do take time to settle into their new homes. One of my scorpions didn't eat for a month and 3 weeks since I've received him and he finally ate yesterday. The one thing that you won't have to worry about with scorpions is that, you won't starve them because they can go "months" without food. Try in a few of days and if it doesn't want the food, take the food back out and try again in a week after that. So not to worry...
Unfortunately, I no longer own any venomous snakes. I released all of them closed to 2 years ago on 30 acres that I’ve purchased. My wife said that I was being selfish by owning them due to the possibility of being bitten. It was a good 20 year hobby of capturing and keeping the snakes that I do miss, and luckily never once was I bitten. Thank you for the help!
 

Lubed Tweezer

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
634
Nice Heterometrus species you got there.
I like the looks of the enclosure.
Be aware that this species needs a few cm/inches of moist substrate.
The focus of the picture ain't great, but do i see a brown frog in front of the scorpion ?
 

Eightleggedlover

Arachnopeon
Active Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
15
Nice Heterometrus species you got there.
I like the looks of the enclosure.
Be aware that this species needs a few cm/inches of moist substrate.
The focus of the picture ain't great, but do i see a brown frog in front of the scorpion ?
Thanks! Yeah I have a nice moist substrate layer around 3” thick with vermiculite on bottom for moisture retention. I made an attempt to feed it the small frog, but it wasn’t having it. I got the frog out and put it back under the log where I captured it.
 

RoachCoach

Arachnodemon
Joined
Sep 2, 2019
Messages
703
Unfortunately, I no longer own any venomous snakes. I released all of them closed to 2 years ago on 30 acres that I’ve purchased. My wife said that I was being selfish by owning them due to the possibility of being bitten. It was a good 20 year hobby of capturing and keeping the snakes that I do miss, and luckily never once was I bitten. Thank you for the help!
Oh man, you just had to go and say you haven't been bitten. You know they will find you now when you are walking your property and deploy justice.
 

Ferrachi

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
Messages
1,014
Unfortunately, I no longer own any venomous snakes. I released all of them closed to 2 years ago on 30 acres that I’ve purchased. My wife said that I was being selfish by owning them due to the possibility of being bitten. It was a good 20 year hobby of capturing and keeping the snakes that I do miss, and luckily never once was I bitten. Thank you for the help!
That's awesome ! I've always wanted to own a venomous snake but our laws here prohibit that... Well, not a bad choice moving to arachnids. Definitely a bit more manageable... LOL
 

Lubed Tweezer

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
634
I made an attempt to feed it the small frog,
That's nice but also a common way to give (since it's not a native one) your scorpion some kind of disease or bacterial infection.
Look here for an example: https://arachnoboards.com/threads/n...as-a-hole-in-its-head-and-bas-of-tail.331011/
It's best to stay with crickets or roaches or sometimes a worm or caterpillar, preferably (clean) captive bred.
Wild caught crickets or grasshopper can carry mites or even parasites, you don't want those inside your enclosure.
Most people have crickets and/or roaches as the main diet, once you obtain some from a good source it's easy to breed them yourself.
Breeding the feeders yourself saves you a lot of trips to a pet store to buy feeders. Youtube is filled with 'how to breed' clips.
Sure, adult Heterometrus can eat small mammals or amphibians but that diet has it's downside because those dead animals attract problems.
 

Eightleggedlover

Arachnopeon
Active Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
15
That's nice but also a common way to give (since it's not a native one) your scorpion some kind of disease or bacterial infection.
Look here for an example: https://arachnoboards.com/threads/n...as-a-hole-in-its-head-and-bas-of-tail.331011/
It's best to stay with crickets or roaches or sometimes a worm or caterpillar, preferably (clean) captive bred.
Wild caught crickets or grasshopper can carry mites or even parasites, you don't want those inside your enclosure.
Most people have crickets and/or roaches as the main diet, once you obtain some from a good source it's easy to breed them yourself.
Breeding the feeders yourself saves you a lot of trips to a pet store to buy feeders. Youtube is filled with 'how to breed' clips.
Sure, adult Heterometrus can eat small mammals or amphibians but that diet has it's downside because those dead animals attract problems.
Oh wow I had no idea! I will definitely refrain from doing this anymore. I’ve ordered both Dubia Roaches and Crickets that should be arriving by tomorrow. I really appreciate this information!
 

Lubed Tweezer

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
634
No problem, I made this mistake myself in the past using wild caught grasshoppers. Cricket and roach breeders breed under much cleaner and controlled conditions. Those who don't risk losing their entire population.
 

Eightleggedlover

Arachnopeon
Active Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
15
I’ve had several wild caught crickets, frogs and geckos in the enclosure. I feel horrible knowing that I may have put the scorp in danger. Honestly, do you feel that I need to change out the substrate and clean the enclosure? I have plenty of substrate and more on the way. Also, I’d like to educate myself a more so that I’m less likely to make other mistakes that could pose unnecessary risks. Is there a good trustworthy site that you could recommend for learning more about proper Heterometrus care? Again, I’m so grateful for all the help that everyone here is willing to provide, it’s awesome!
 

Lubed Tweezer

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 3, 2019
Messages
634
I'm not aware of any trustworthy websites that have all the information. There are several that are a bit more specialized towards a particular species.
You could look at the types of information from different point(s) of view.
There is a type of information called anatomy, specification and taxonomy. It helps you to identify/sexing a scorpion species.
Another type of information is about the habitat of a particular scorpion species.
There supposed to be some good books out there, although many of the main pointers can be found on line these days.
For most of us it is actually (partly) the challenge of this hobby: to recreate the natural habitat of a certain scorpion in your own terrarium at home.
You start with identifying the species, that leads you to where the species lives and thus what it's habitat is like, on top of that is just a whole bunch of tips and tricks to recreate that at home.
Once you got that covered you can optionally look into how the species reproduces, how mating works. Some species are even parthogenetic which doesn't require mating at all.
Many people start off at a great site called 'The scorpion files': https://www.ntnu.no/ub/scorpion-files/index.php it guides you towards identifying the species.
Since you have a scorpion that belongs to the Heterometrus genus there is also a shortcut (made by @Outpost31Survivor ) that can help you identify the exact species;
https://arachnoboards.com/threads/h...onounced-internal-tubercle-on-patella.327341/
And to learn more about taxonomy you could take a look at peer reviewed scientific papers published in the Euscorpius database;
http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/euscorpius/pubs.htm
The Euscorpius database has some really interesting PDF's waiting for you to download them, all for free ! :cool:
The paper that covers your genus (by Kovarik et. al. 2004): http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/euscorpius/p2004_15.pdf
 
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