sick desert hairy Hadrurus arizonensis

[lobo]

My scorpion has a hard time moving normally. He seems "twitchy" and holds his claws tightly to its head. His over-all flexibility and mobility is diminished somehow like it has trouble extending its claws, etc. It also keeps trying to back up. I am wondering if it is trying to molt but cannot due to low humidity. It was fine until just two days ago and was eating well.

Its not well and I'm afraid it will die soon. It's been like this for about two days now, so as a last ditch effort I'm sort of misting it and dampening the sand a bit to raise the humidity. I'm hoping if he is trying to molt the added moisture will help him split his skin in order to molt.

I know this humidity prolonged will not be good for him long term, but he's not doing well now anyway.

Anyone ever seen a Hadrurus arizonensis molt? What are the signs, how does it act just before it molts?

I know his existing habitat is/was bone dry. We live in the Mojave Desert. I didn't think it needed anymore moisture than what it was eating. I see now that I could have given it some moist substrata and even a cap full of water now and then.

Any ideas?

.... addendum... OK, now he's just flipped over on his back! I read they do this when they molt. I have to go work. I'll keep every body updated if anyone is interested.

Thanks

 

[TheHonestPirate]

My scorpion has a hard time moving normally. He seems "twitchy" and holds his claws tightly to its head. His over-all flexibility and mobility is diminished somehow like it has trouble extending its claws, etc. It also keeps trying to back up. I am wondering if it is trying to molt but cannot due to low humidity. It was fine until just two days ago and was eating well.

Its not well and I'm afraid it will die soon. It's been like this for about two days now, so as a last ditch effort I'm sort of misting it and dampening the sand a bit to raise the humidity. I'm hoping if he is trying to molt the added moisture will help him split his skin in order to molt.

I know this humidity prolonged will not be good for him long term, but he's not doing well now anyway.

Anyone ever seen a Hadrurus arizonensis molt? What are the signs, how does it act just before it molts?

I know his existing habitat is/was bone dry. We live in the Mojave Desert. I didn't think it needed anymore moisture than what it was eating. I see now that I could have given it some moist substrata and even a cap full of water now and then.

Any ideas?

.... addendum... OK, now he's just flipped over on his back! I read they do this when they molt. I have to go work. I'll keep every body updated if anyone is interested.

Thanks

I bet he will be just fine after a good molt!

 

[Anubis77]

How big is it? When I kept them, they molted inside sealed burrows. I rarely had luck with molting until I gave them 5-10 inches of substrate with a moisture gradient. H. arizonensis is kept too dry most of the time, IMO. Their burrows in the wild are damp. Not wet but the air is definitely humid.

 

[lobo]

I think it is an adult or close to being an adult (full grown). I've already read a lot about how others are keeping their desert hairys. Mine has been in about 8" of borrowable sand, but completely dry. We are in the Mojave desert. I think its fine without humidity... until it needs to molt. I'm still learning about these animals.[video]https://youtu.be/jzPOdmtFNLs[/video]

 

[Anubis77]

I think it is an adult or close to being an adult (full grown). I've already read a lot about how others are keeping their desert hairys. Mine has been in about 8" of borrowable sand, but completely dry. We are in the Mojave desert. I think its fine without humidity... until it needs to molt. I'm still learning about these animals.[video]https://youtu.be/jzPOdmtFNLs[/video]

That doesn't look good. I'm not sure there's much you can do. It could be parasites, old age, intestinal blockage or some other condition. Hard to say. Check over the pectines, book lungs and orifices for mites if you can. It doesn't look dehydrated or in premolt.

 

[Smokehound714]

Scorpions dont flip on their backs to molt. There's something wrong with it.

 

[Galapoheros]

There are several sps of scorpions that flip on their backs to molt, I thought it was strange at first also. I've seen H. arizonensis flip on their back to molt too. But it does sound like something is wrong with this one. I always keep a cap of water in with every species and keep a corner a little moist at least. Yeah, like was mentioned, people often keep this one toooo dry because of posts on the net, things go too far sometimes. If it's not plump looking it's probably not about to molt. If it is about to molt and not plump, it might not be able to molt successfully. Imo it's organic material that gives this one probs, like coco fiber, I use all rock and sand with it, no coco fiber. Pics help a lot.

 

[lobo]

What are symptoms of poisoning or over-feeding desert hairy?

After over four days of twitching my scorpion finally died. It was basically immobilized those last four or so days and could visibly twitch only. It otherwise looked very healthy right up until the end. I suspect poisoning via giving it a grasshopper I found in somebody elses yard that may have been sprayed with pesticides. However, the very last thing I fed it was a pupa of some beetle, I think, which I dug up in my own backyard.

Here's the thing, what does it look like when a scorpion has been poisoned or when it is over-fed? Do either of these create symptoms as described above? The first two days he became very agitated, moved around a lot but didn't seem to have all his motor skills intact, then for about five more days it could not travel from one spot and just "twitched." It looked like it was dying an agonizing death. 'It wasn't easy to watch. <pouting>.

 

[darkness975]

Feeding prey items from outside is a major possibility for the issue you experienced. No telling what kind of pesticides or parasites the prey had before being ingested.

 

[Smokehound714]

Never feed anything wild grasshoppers. Grasshoppers tend to eat very toxic plants like spurge.

Only feed captive-bred grasshoppers.

 

[flashy5150]

Hey everyone ! My Desert Hairy has not been eating for a about 2 months. It ate like one cricket in that whole time and she keeps blocking up her burrow. She had been out the last few nights running around and digging here and there and now she's in her burrow all the time again. The last time I looked at her, she was looking like she was "shriveling" on her exo- skeleton and she is pretty plump -- do you think that she's wanting to molt? Cheers