Playing with whip scorpions

[Astrategist]

Hey, I'm considering getting some tailless whip scorpions but I want to know if I can play or watch them in the day as I know they are nocturnal but I don't know if they're going to just sleep all day, can anyone help?

 

[chanda]

They do not like to be handled at all. They are incredibly skittish. I have held mine a couple of times, but they really don't like it - so when I take them out for classroom demonstrations, I usually just lift out the entire slab of cork bark that they are sitting on and show them to my students that way. It's safer for them, so they don't bolt and fall. (They can't really grip skin very well, which I'm sure is part of why they dislike being held.)

As for watching them, they do spend most of the daytime hiding in the darkest part of the cage that they can find - but at night, I do love watching mine hunt, explore, or sometimes even court and mate. It's best if you can keep the light low or use a red light for night time observations, because if the lights are too bright, they'll just go and hide. That said, they are still some of my favorite inverts. I love keeping them!

 

[MrTwister]

Not sure what you mean by "play". It's not a puppy, it will not form a bond with you. Best case you needlessly stress the animal. Worst case you drop it and it dies. Assuming their vision is similar to T's then for day time viewing keep the enclosure in a fairly dark area, use a red light as They can not see in this spectrum. To them it will apear to be dark.

 

[Astrategist]

Thank you for all your help! Sorry I'm a beginner I'm still not sure on caring for these! And again Thank you!

 

[wizentrop]

I will refer you to my comment on a similar post -
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/how-to-handle-whipspiders.274295/#post-2378742