Setup and desert substrate

Lessej

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
44
Greetings all,

What is the most heavily recommended size enclosure for one scorpion; is it just the 10 gallon? They sure are cheaper than a 15 or a 20 long but it seemed small when i was browsing the aquariums.

I like getting the most bang for my buck and I think I'd feel bad if I had it cooped up in such a small enclosure. I understand that they're not very active, and after running several search queries I came upon a comment that simply having too big an enclosure may just give you a nice big empty enclosure to look at! I'm thinking about just having one right now but I may change my mind to do a communal.

Also, for the desert burrowing species, is it reommeneded to use the zoo med excavator clay solely, or a 25/75 mix of that and play sand or is that just for the burrowing types? For the non-burrowing would it just be washed white play sand for flat rocks for example? I saw a bag of play sand at menards for about $5.
 
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ArachnoDrew

Arachnoprince
Joined
Feb 1, 2017
Messages
1,585
10 gallon for 1 nice adult scorpion will be fine if you decorate it nicely and make use of the space. Give it multiple hides with a gradient of different temps. Hot and cool side. For my burrowing substrate i use White Reptisand, cocofiber and Excevator clay , for non burrower. Sand and cocofiber mixes are always good.

Here's an awesome video
 

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Lessej

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
44
10 gallon for 1 nice adult scorpion will be fine if you decorate it nicely and make use of the space. Give it multiple hides with a gradient of different temps. Hot and cool side. For my burrowing substrate i use White Reptisand, cocofiber and Excevator clay , for non burrower. Sand and cocofiber mixes are always good.

Here's an awesome video
Awesome! Thank you for the great information, pictures, and link!
 

Stugy

Arachnolord
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Messages
649
I have used @ArachnoDrew s burrowing substrate (same exact substrates mixed coincidentally) and it works very well. My H.arizonensis loves the stuff. I recommend the mix and it looks very nice. I made the mistake of using Excavator clay purely and my scorpions were not able to dig into it at all.
 

WeightedAbyss75

Arachnoangel
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
921
The cage size depends on the scorp. Another thing against bigger enclosures, it can stress a scorpion out. They won't use all of that space, especially in a 20 gal or even a 15 gal for only one. Usually, 3x the length of the scorp and 2x its width are good measurements for a cage. Also, with the excavator clay, many do use 1:4 clay playsand ratio. Personally, I'd also add a thin layer of straight sand on top to mimic their environment, but that's just me. I'd always include the clay, even with non burrowers if you can spare it. Don't believe it hurts, and many can use it to hollow out hides. I got my sand from Lowe's, but any playsand would probably work :D
 

RTTB

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
1,771
You can get a 50 pound bag of play sand at Lowes for like $3.
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
Having an oversize enclosure won't stress it out. But it likely will not use all the space on a regular basis. It will create it's burrow and stay there most of the time.

This is not to say that they don't do this and smaller enclosures, but in smaller enclosures it is easier to see them more often.
 
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