Scorpion Handling Pictures :-)

[G. Carnell]

here is a good way to sex your scorp while handling it

and another big black scorpion on hand

 

[cacoseraph]

that thing looks HUGE...Is it the close-up, or is it really big? (the scorp, NOT ur head!!!)

she's good sized, but my gf made her look bigger because of the angle she took the pic at

a clue: look at the threading in my shirt... big threads, hunh?

i measured Catherine the Great (i couldn't think of any girl emperors so i had to borrow a czar =P ) but i forget... i think ~6-7" butt-face measurement

 

[OneSickPuppy]

whats the best way to pick up your scorps? ive picked up a few of my less aggressive implings by putting my hund under the substrate and coaxing them up with the other,but every time i go for "pandinus murderous" he/she gets defensive and I just figure maybe he doesnt wanna be held. what methods does everyone else use. these are the first scorpions ive ever handled so I really wanna know other ideas.

 

[cacoseraph]

how i do

whats the best way to pick up your scorps? ive picked up a few of my less aggressive implings by putting my hund under the substrate and coaxing them up with the other,but every time i go for "pandinus murderous" he/she gets defensive and I just figure maybe he doesnt wanna be held. what methods does everyone else use. these are the first scorpions ive ever handled so I really wanna know other ideas.

i tail grab most everything i'm not comfortable scoop grabbing.

i'll scoop grab my Hadogenes paucidens, P.imps, maybe one or two other things. p.s. this is what you are describing with putting your hand on substrate...

i'll tail grab other stuff

but for Centruroides or anything truly fierce (giant centipedes, etc) i'll either herd them onto a stick or whatever and then pick up the stick and let them walk onto me

the only time i've gotten stung and envenomated (by an Anuroctonus sp. (i think)) was from squeezing the scorp's body between my fingers when it was trying to run into the crack in between my fingers and i tried to restrain it. i've also gotten dry stung ~6 times by various scorps from tail grabbing them.

but bear in mind, i have already been stung 7-8 times and am going to get stung more b/c of my handling practices

 

[wikkid_devil]

Ickle Nero in my G/F's hands

Subadult H.laoticus

 

[wikkid_devil]

Yet another P.imp

G/F with P.imp

 

[oblivion56]

heres my spadix!

 

[G. Carnell]

Hi
it might even be an adult male H.laoticus
in my adult brood i have some really small males, and really big ones

 

[cacoseraph]

Desert Hairy
Hadrurus arizonensis, male, mature

purchased with mysterious black spot on his left. kept in deplorably moist conditions until purchase.

 

[mimic58]

Desert Hairy
Hadrurus arizonensis, male, mature

Respect, I tried my best to get that same picture but it almost resulted in me getting stung to crap, after a few days of trying i gave up

 

[cacoseraph]

Respect, I tried my best to get that same picture but it almost resulted in me getting stung to crap, after a few days of trying i gave up

tail grab, place on back of hand with fingers curled in... then hope it doesn't dig it's sting into you when it uses it for balance ;P

i've never been envenomated from them using their tail leg an extra leg, but the DH, an Emperor, A. phaiodactylus, P. cavimanus all have stuck their stings into pushing off my skin to climb up my arm or whatever. feels funny, that's all =P

 

[mimic58]

tail grab, place on back of hand with fingers curled in... then hope it doesn't dig it's sting into you when it uses it for balance ;P

i've never been envenomated from them using their tail leg an extra leg, but the DH, an Emperor, A. phaiodactylus, P. cavimanus all have stuck their stings into pushing off my skin to climb up my arm or whatever. feels funny, that's all =P

funny you call it a leg i have seen my D.h lifting itself clean of the ground till its tail is out straight in an attempt to scale the glass side of the enclosure

 

[cacoseraph]

funny you call it a leg i have seen my D.h lifting itself clean of the ground till its tail is out straight in an attempt to scale the glass side of the enclosure

yes! when they do that, when they are climbing on *you* their stinger goes into your skin sometimes. they aren't stinging you... but the stinger goes into you. i've had it happen with a number of different species, and no one has envenomated me whilst doing that.

ah sweet, my floppy drive on my computer works... i'll finally be able to post pics i've had for a while.

 

[cacoseraph]

ah sweet, my floppy drive on my computer works... i'll finally be able to post pics i've had for a while.

here is a Vaejovis spinigerus, AZ Striptailed scorpion, or "Devil scorpion".
i thought this was a male, until i saw a brood of ~30 on her back later

 

[cloud711]

how do you guys make your scorps calm down for handling?

 

[mimic58]

its depends a little bit on the indavidual some scorpions are pritty laid back and tolerant while other memebers of the same species can be rather defencive

The the other factor is how you go about it the idea is much the same as with aggresive t's the animals dont attack the floor , so if they can be fooled into walking onto you and then you keep still enough its unlikly youl get stung.

Letting the animal or coaxing the animal to walk onto your flatend hand and then keeping still is the way i usualy go about it, im not a fan of the scoop method and with something like a D.A it would certainly result in a rather swollen hand

I personaly have not tried the tail grab method so i dont know how they react when grabed or when droped i would asume they would think what they where droped on was the floor but i duno it might just decide it smells the same as the thing that just grabed its tail

i really cannot say but cacoseraph has clearly obtained pictures of a D.a using this method wich i can asure you is no small feat, im impressed he can grab its tail without being stung but i certainly wouldnt recomend anyone with low experience to attept this.... atleast not with your bare hands, thats something that will require very good reaction times , and an ability to antisipate the scorps movements, one wrong move and your going to get stung. you will also require balls of iron as if you make a sudden movement out of fear you will also get stung

 

[cacoseraph]

I personaly have not tried the tail grab method so i dont know how they react when grabed or when droped i would asume they would think what they where droped on was the floor but i duno it might just decide it smells the same as the thing that just grabed its tail

most scorpions have a tendency to jerk and twitch around for a bit, then most calm down. *that* is when i put them on my hand. if they seem too freaked out i put them back in their enclosure.

i really cannot say but cacoseraph has clearly obtained pictures of a D.a using this method wich i can asure you is no small feat, im impressed he can grab its tail without being stung but i certainly wouldnt recomend anyone with low experience to attept this.... atleast not with your bare hands, thats something that will require very good reaction times , and an ability to antisipate the scorps movements, one wrong move and your going to get stung. you will also require balls of iron as if you make a sudden movement out of fear you will also get stung

i don't fear getting stung. nothing i hold can hurt me worse than a tattoo or getting punched in the head by my jerk brother or touching a piece of an engine that is still too hot. i can handle all those things, so i know i can handle being stung

ultimately though, super-agression is a bad survival trait, unless you really are the toughest thing out there. most bugs i have met just want to go about the existance, eating whatever they eat, certainly... but most are not "aggresive", except toward their prey.

i think when most people get stung or bit is when they caused their bug to mistake them for a threat. the trick is to figure out all the things your bugs don't like... and don't do them.

a BIG trick for me is to not breathe on nervous animals, since that can send some into a panic. some tarantulas are especially reactive to breath, or perhaps it is just that they are so sensitive to it.

 

[mimic58]

i don't fear getting stung. nothing i hold can hurt me worse than a tattoo or getting punched in the head by my jerk brother or touching a piece of an engine that is still too hot. i can handle all those things, so i know i can handle being stung

I was under the impression that a sting from a D.h would hurt a hell of alot more than those things, i have read reports of people being given morphine and still being in significant pain for several hours..

i think when most people get stung or bit is when they caused their bug to mistake them for a threat. the trick is to figure out all the things your bugs don't like... and don't do them.

I agree totaly... and i think this also applys to many animals

a BIG trick for me is to not breathe on nervous animals,

No kiding... its a garanteed bolt starter. but im not sure if they react this way to wind in the wild ?

 

[cacoseraph]

No kiding... its a garanteed bolt starter. but im not sure if they react this way to wind in the wild ?

i don't think it is necesarily the movement of the air particles, alone, that startles them. i think it is the fact carbon dioxide is being streamed onto them. in the wild when CO2 is flowing over you, it generally means you are about to be eaten! so you could imagine there is a pretty strong reaction to it

EDIT:

and regarding pain of different species, i reckon by the end of my "career" i'll be able to give a nice comparitive analysis of everything that tags me except that last one =P

so far all i know is that no partof the Anuroctonus phaiodactylus envenomation process is even uncomfortable =P it actually made me smile and laugh more than anything, heh

 

[cacoseraph]

Centruroides vitattus, probably from TX

I think this girl is going to drop some more babies in a little while. she is starting to get that inflated look again

She is called Crooktail, here you can see why. I believe this is from a bad molt (alas, in my care ) caused by lack of humidity, but i don't know. She can't sting, i am 97% certain. I don't want to aggravate her to make certain, but watching her feed i don't think she has ever successfully envenomated anything. my gf has held her, so she is sort of my trainer buthid

Only I hold this guy. Actually that's not true... in my only exotic escape in memory this fellow and a tiny conspecific went for a walk when i forgot to shut their cage :wall: :8o my brother saw this guy, tailed him, and put him in solitary until i could get home and deal with the situation.
note the black rot, on his left-hand pectine. sometimes i get scorpions with this condition. i try to keep them drier and make sure to feed and water regularily