baconwrappedpikachu
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2018
- Messages
- 63
First of all, please forgive the handling photos. I don't ever handle this little guy because he is SUPER defensive and clearly does not enjoy it (I don't really handle any of my inverts, too much risk of injury) but I was completely unable to get clear shots of his mouth when he was in the catch cup or sitting on his substrate.
So my collection is mostly tarantulas and I don't have much knowledge on scorpions beyond the basic care for the two species I have. I've had this heterometrus for a couple months or so, and a few weeks ago I noticed his mouth looked really strange and uneven, almost like one of his mouth parts is broken or something.
It's the one on the left in these photos... to me it almost looks "jammed" if that makes sense.
He's pretty shy. I have never seen him eat. But judging by his pleural membrane (pic below) I think he is healthy, and certainly not malnourished.
So I don't think it's stopping him from being able to eat, but could I be wrong? I am trying to find some pictures from when I first got him because I think he has gotten plump since then but I definitely want to compare photos to be sure. I did see him drinking water out of his dish the other day.
I know they can move their mouthparts around -- but every single time I see him, the one on the left is sitting farther back like shown in the photos. Is this normal... do they 'hold' them like that, or do they typically sit evenly?
Anyways, I guess I'm just looking for insight from anyone who may have more experience with scorpions than I do.
My common sense tells me that if he is keeping weight on and drinking water, and prey disappears most of the time when I leave it for him, that he is just fine whether or not his mouth parts are 'normal'.
So my collection is mostly tarantulas and I don't have much knowledge on scorpions beyond the basic care for the two species I have. I've had this heterometrus for a couple months or so, and a few weeks ago I noticed his mouth looked really strange and uneven, almost like one of his mouth parts is broken or something.
It's the one on the left in these photos... to me it almost looks "jammed" if that makes sense.
He's pretty shy. I have never seen him eat. But judging by his pleural membrane (pic below) I think he is healthy, and certainly not malnourished.
So I don't think it's stopping him from being able to eat, but could I be wrong? I am trying to find some pictures from when I first got him because I think he has gotten plump since then but I definitely want to compare photos to be sure. I did see him drinking water out of his dish the other day.
I know they can move their mouthparts around -- but every single time I see him, the one on the left is sitting farther back like shown in the photos. Is this normal... do they 'hold' them like that, or do they typically sit evenly?
Anyways, I guess I'm just looking for insight from anyone who may have more experience with scorpions than I do.
My common sense tells me that if he is keeping weight on and drinking water, and prey disappears most of the time when I leave it for him, that he is just fine whether or not his mouth parts are 'normal'.
