Not sure is my Scorpion is dead or about to molt

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Thanks for your help and advice. I plan on getting a new Asian forest scorpion tomorrow. I have made some adjustments based off some of the things you have told me. I added some more substrate to counteract the extra moisture. And I changed the thermostat for the heating pad to 80 degrees for the warm side. But I'm not really sure how I can change the cool side from 60 degrees to 70 degrees? Any ideas? And is the tank supposed to be 70% to 80% humidity?

The cool side will be approximately whatever the average temperature in the room is. That means if the room is allowed to get cool overnight, the substrate will cool with it. You’ll want to ensure the room doesn’t get cooler than 70 if the heating pad is the only other heat source. And get a proper thermometer - those ones are trash. You’re better off with a simple glass thermometer you can read directly.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

I've been spraying the tank once or twice a day to try to keep the humidity up to around 70% to 80%. Could that be why the substrate got too wet? I realized there were also pools/ puddles of water under the hides.

Hygrometers are trash. You do not need to chase after any magic humidity %s. Keep proper temps and proper substrate depth and moisture. That is all you have to be concerned aside maybe restrict 50%-60% ventilation and add maybe additional moss. Your substrate, waterdish, and moss will take care of everything with zero effort except you may occassionally need to pour water in the substrate to maintain that clumpy not drippy consistency. Your worrying about something that is way beyond your control and the substrate has you covered anyways. Misting terrarium is meaningless all that will do is provide a brief humidity spike that quickly evaporates away. Just keep a deep and moist substrate do not bother misting anymore.

 

[Dry Desert]

Do not fret about humidity %s, hygrometers are universally trash unless you are willing to pay hundreds. Focus on temperature and substrate depth and moisture, your scorpion will be all good I promise.

Things needed urgently.

Throw out that useless temperature/ humidity gauge. It could be - + 10 degrees out, never accurate.

Purchase an infrared temperature gun, they are not very expensive and will give instant digital readout of anything the infrared beam is directed at.

The problem with heat mats is they don't heat the enclosure air, only the air about 2 inches away from the mat at most.

To maintain a temperature of aroun 80/85 you need a ceramic heat lamp connected to a Quality thermostat.

A CHE will dry out the substrate to a degree so you will need to compensate by adding water to keep the substrate moist.

Being moist means when you grab a good handful of substrate and squeeze it hard there should only be very slight amount of water released, not running wet.

I appreciate it may mean additional cost, however when things are set up correctly initially then they don't need changing or adjusting.

The only mistake you've made is taking advice from YouTube.

If you make these adjustments your next purchase should have a long and happy life, especially if you are able to purchase a young captive bred one.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

Things needed urgently.

Throw out that useless temperature/ humidity gauge. It could be - + 10 degrees out, never accurate.

Purchase an infrared temperature gun, they are not very expensive and will give instant digital readout of anything the infrared beam is directed at.

The problem with heat mats is they don't heat the enclosure air, only the air about 2 inches away from the mat at most.

To maintain a temperature of aroun 80/85 you need a ceramic heat lamp connected to a Quality thermostat.

A CHE will dry out the substrate to a degree so you will need to compensate by adding water to keep the substrate moist.

Being moist means when you grab a good handful of substrate and squeeze it hard there should only be very slight amount of water released, not running wet.

I appreciate it may mean additional cost, however when things are set up correctly initially then they don't need changing or adjusting.

The only mistake you've made is taking advice from YouTube.

If you make these adjustments your next purchase should have a long and happy life, especially if you are able to purchase a young captive bred one.

^ Absolutely

Proper temps (with a lamp) and proper substrate depth and moisture provide these animals with near bulletproof resiliency. They will grow and molt and live a full healthy life. The problem AFS and Emperors face is they have been scientifically proven in labs to have much more alarming water respiration rate (water loss) compared to their arid dwelling cousins. Without that waterdish and proper substrate they basically can dehydrate and expire quite quickly. BUT they absolutely DO NOT need a soaking wet terrarium misted up and foggy that is not providing proper humidity that is just... wet. They are actually tougher and hardier than that. Sopping wet can lead to poor health of the animal including bad molts (same as if the terrarium is too dry) and poor unsanitary conditions in the terrarium. Believe me, temps and substrate have everything covered.

 

[8ball947]

Things needed urgently.

Throw out that useless temperature/ humidity gauge. It could be - + 10 degrees out, never accurate.

Purchase an infrared temperature gun, they are not very expensive and will give instant digital readout of anything the infrared beam is directed at.

The problem with heat mats is they don't heat the enclosure air, only the air about 2 inches away from the mat at most.

To maintain a temperature of aroun 80/85 you need a ceramic heat lamp connected to a Quality thermostat.

A CHE will dry out the substrate to a degree so you will need to compensate by adding water to keep the substrate moist.

Being moist means when you grab a good handful of substrate and squeeze it hard there should only be very slight amount of water released, not running wet.

I appreciate it may mean additional cost, however when things are set up correctly initially then they don't need changing or adjusting.

The only mistake you've made is taking advice from YouTube.

If you make these adjustments your next purchase should have a long and happy life, especially if you are able to purchase a young captive bred one.

I just bought my new scorpion and an infrared temperature gun. Is this temperature ok to put my new scorpion in the tank or should I wait for it to get warmer?

 

[Dry Desert]

I just bought my new scorpion and an infrared temperature gun. Is this temperature ok to put my new scorpion in the tank or should I wait for it to get warmer?

Temperature needs to be 75 minimum,80/85 better.

If you are just relying on the heat mat it probably won't reach the required temperature in the enclosure.

Don't take a temperature reading near the mat, it needs to be 75/80 throughout the enclosure. If you take a reading too close to the heat source you will find the temperature is much too cold in the rest of the enclosure.

 

[8ball947]

Temperature needs to be 75 minimum,80/85 better.

If you are just relying on the heat mat it probably won't reach the required temperature in the enclosure.

Don't take a temperature reading near the mat, it needs to be 75/80 throughout the enclosure. If you take a reading too close to the heat source you will find the temperature is much too cold in the rest of the enclosure.

I wasn't pointing the infrared temperature gun at the heat pad or heat source. The heating pad is on the left side of the tank not the back or the bottom. I was pointing it at the substrate in the middle of the tank and towards the right side away from the heating pad. That was the natural temperature of the room and the rest of the tank not the hot side.

 

[Dry Desert]

I wasn't pointing the infrared temperature gun at the heat pad or heat source. The heating pad is on the left side of the tank not the back or the bottom. I was pointing it at the substrate in the middle of the tank and towards the right side away from the heating pad. That was the natural temperature of the room and the rest of the tank not the hot side.

So basically that's room temperature, too cold needs to be 75 minimum 80+ better.

 

[8ball947]

So basically that's room temperature, too cold needs to be 75 minimum 80+ better.

The previous temperature reading was from earlier this evening around 7:00pm or 8:00pm. It is now 12:30am here in Oregon. Here is the new temperature reading I just now took. Again I'm pointing it around the middle and right side of the tank. Away from the heat source. My actual heater for my apartment is on in the room the scorpion tank is in. Which is also my bedroom. It is a baseboard heater connection to the bottom of the wall in my bedroom.


here is a picture of the heating pad temperature thermostat. The heating pad and heating pad thermostat is supposed to be for the warmer side of the scorpion tank. And the infrared temperature gun is supposed to read the temperature for the cooler side of the tank. Which is heated by my bedroom wall heater.

 

[Dry Desert]

The previous temperature reading was from earlier this evening around 7:00pm or 8:00pm. It is now 12:30am here in Oregon. Here is the new temperature reading I just now took. Again I'm pointing it around the middle and right side of the tank. Away from the heat source. My actual heater for my apartment is on in the room the scorpion tank is in. Which is also my bedroom. It is a baseboard heater connection to the bottom of the wall in my bedroom.


here is a picture of the heating pad temperature thermostat. The heating pad and heating pad thermostat is supposed to be for the warmer side of the scorpion tank. And the infrared temperature gun is supposed to read the temperature for the cooler side of the tank. Which is heated by my bedroom wall heater.

Just have a temperature of 75/80 in the enclosure and it should be okay.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

Just have a temperature of 75/80 in the enclosure and it should be okay.

And make sure the substrate never dries out if you have a proper depth of 4"-6" at that depth it should rarely dry out any except maybe spots on the surface of insignificant depth. Just pour enough of necessary water to remoisten these spots. Remember clumpy not drippy, they do not inhabit swamps or marshlands.