Terrarium set up and worries

Rhino1

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
490
Yeah nah, all good mate, I'm no expert, just been doing this for an awfully long time now I guess, but still learning all the time. Moult? soonish- yeah it's pretty slow going in the scorpion world. Don't be surprised if it looks like that for another 3-4 months before it does it's thing. It's your pet, up to you if you want to dig it up. I tend to give mine a fair bit of privacy, but the thing is with scorpions or tarantulas if you want to see them, then get more ;) there's always something interesting going on
Good luck
 

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
Thanks @Rhino1. I heard that the desert scorpions should have one tank each as they aren’t very social, but if you’ve done it and others have then I guess 2 in one terrarium can work?
 

Rhino1

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
490
Thanks @Rhino1. I heard that the desert scorpions should have one tank each as they aren’t very social, but if you’ve done it and others have then I guess 2 in one terrarium can work?
Yeah one yaschenkoi per enclosure.
 

Rhino1

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
490
Yeah mate the stretching between the segments and chubby abdomen all indicate pre moult. They can be like this for months, I can't put a time on it, the sand is fine too.
It all looks good mate
 

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
Thanks for the response @Rhino1 really appreciate it. Do you recommend still trying to feed the scorpion during this time even if this could lasts for months?
 

Rhino1

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
490
Hey mate, you can only give it a go but if it's not interested you can't force it, as long as you don't leave feeders in there for days at a time.
Don't panic, I've had a few that had stopped eating for 2-6 months and I have a golden trapdoor that hasn't eaten since about this time last year and still looks fat. Bugs are weird, it's almost impossible for a scorpion to starve to death as they can alter their metabolism to suit conditions
 

Rhino1

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
490
Just remember man, nature has a reason behind her ways and that scorpion, it runs on primal instinct, they are almost unchanged after millions of years of evolution.
There's never a constant supply of food it's feast or famine, if it's had a great spring and summer with a regular supply of feeders and is coming in to pre moult just as Autumn is kicking in, there is a good chance it may not eat much at all until towards the end of winter, so in a way by feeding it less frequently over a twelve month period you might end up feeding more. Does this make sense?
Feedings still have to be relevant to the age/ instar.
Same goes for watering substrate, keeping it at constant "ideal conditions", I think, can sometimes be detrimental long term, cycling your substrate moisture levels within reason (letting it dry a bit between waterings etc) seems to be very beneficial to the Australian inverts that I've kept.
Your invertebrates in enclosures know when it is raining outside, desert scorpion species I've noticed are particularly in tune with barometric pressure changes and humidity etc, if the substrate is too wet then they will climb on things to avoid excessive moisture or cling to underside of enclosure furnishings.
I'm going off on a tangent now, anyways good luck with it mate
 

Aymin

Arachnosquire
Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
50
A very intelligent creature created by the Lord, too much design for me to believe it came about through chance and matter over millions of years of evolution. But we can agree to disagree or take this conversation elsewhere :)

@Rhino1 appreciate your responses man, very thorough and thoughtful. My scorpion is pretty active today, maybe the molt will come later than I expected 🧐 :)
 

Nikki666

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 20, 2020
Messages
22
I'm a bit skeptical that there are threads that suggest high humidity for desert species. Are you sure you didn't accidentally enter a thread discussing the Heterometrus species (Asian forest scorpions) or some other tropical type of scorp? If somebody posted that desert species require high humidity, there would be numerous responses correcting that, I'm sure. There has been some advice to dampen a small area slightly infrequently and provide a water souce now and then, but that should not result in high humidity.
I only keep one arid species, Hadrurus arizonensis (Desert Hairy scorpion) and the prevailing belief is that they get enough moisture from prey to make frequent watering unnecessary. I put in a bottlecap of water once a month or two, but that doesn't raise the humidity enough to make a difference in my belief.
Oh my gosh! This is interesting. We have four of the desert hairy's all living in one enclosure and we have a small dish (a barbie doll punch bowl) that we fill with water once per day, they have been drinking it. We've had them for about a year now and so should we stop giving them as much water?
 

Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
Old Timer
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Apr 4, 2004
Messages
1,496
Well, as I said, apart from the desert hairy the only desert clime scorpion I've kept was a Smeringurus mesaensis (Dune scorpion, and I may have mangled the spelling of the scientific name) who did not thrive, so I'm hesitant to offer advice. Mine has done well since ( I think) September, but that is not necessarily indicative of anything as it is a relatively short period of time that has passed.

In fact, having read this thread, I am considering upping the moisturizing just a hair. Nothing radical, of course. Just by piping down a little water to the bottom of one area, if I do so.
 

Georges Simp Pierre

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 2, 2020
Messages
43
Hi I'm thinking about picking up a Urodacus Yaschenkoi soon and I've got lots of coco fibre and no desert sand so would it be able to live fine on that?
Thanks
 
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