My P. Cavimanus' grip seems quite weak, both when i feed it and [due to me often being careless] attacking me. In both cases, it often drops what it grabs, be it food or my finger, and i was just wondering is it being lazy or has it got some sort of problem?? In case you were wondering, its about 4" and i mainly feed it wax worms or locusts, seeing as they are slower than crickets.
Weak scorp??
- Thread starter Dessicata
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2003
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- 707
Dessicata,
Honestly, it sounds as though, from the description you gave, that you have quite a sick scorp. Probabilities are mites inside the peds or attaching parts, near death and losing abilities slowly and lack of nutrition with a very big possibility of a huge amount of stress.
You can shine a light at the pedipalps (claws if you didn't know [peds]) from the side and check out the lighting coloration inside them. You may see black spots on the joints (old age and spots on any joint, including legs) or even darker spots inside (mites). It may be very difficult with naked eyes to see the mites inside, but you can sit and watch the scorp with a flashlight or other light shining on the scorp ans see if you see any extremely small "bugs" crawling around on the scorp. If you do, they are probably mites. Hypoaspis mites (predatory mites that feed on bad mites) are the only known cure by me. Most other mite cures would effect the scorpion, being as mites and scorps are both arachnids.
What is the substrate you are keeping them on? Humidity and temp?
Be advised, if not treated quickly, mite problems which have already entered this stage will cause death soon. As noted by myself and John (Kug) in another thread on this forum, the black spots cause the legs in question to become inoperative and the scorpion will die within a year after first being noticed.
If it is stress causing the scorp's problems, the scorp will move slowly with everything they do, not just the pedipalps. How deep is the scorp's burrow and do you use lighting, heat pads, etc?
Please post more info (as per my request) and we'll see if someone here can diagnose the problem with the scorp. It's sounds to me as though it is physical problems, though it could be "mental".
adios,
edw.
Honestly, it sounds as though, from the description you gave, that you have quite a sick scorp. Probabilities are mites inside the peds or attaching parts, near death and losing abilities slowly and lack of nutrition with a very big possibility of a huge amount of stress.
You can shine a light at the pedipalps (claws if you didn't know [peds]) from the side and check out the lighting coloration inside them. You may see black spots on the joints (old age and spots on any joint, including legs) or even darker spots inside (mites). It may be very difficult with naked eyes to see the mites inside, but you can sit and watch the scorp with a flashlight or other light shining on the scorp ans see if you see any extremely small "bugs" crawling around on the scorp. If you do, they are probably mites. Hypoaspis mites (predatory mites that feed on bad mites) are the only known cure by me. Most other mite cures would effect the scorpion, being as mites and scorps are both arachnids.
What is the substrate you are keeping them on? Humidity and temp?
Be advised, if not treated quickly, mite problems which have already entered this stage will cause death soon. As noted by myself and John (Kug) in another thread on this forum, the black spots cause the legs in question to become inoperative and the scorpion will die within a year after first being noticed.
If it is stress causing the scorp's problems, the scorp will move slowly with everything they do, not just the pedipalps. How deep is the scorp's burrow and do you use lighting, heat pads, etc?
Please post more info (as per my request) and we'll see if someone here can diagnose the problem with the scorp. It's sounds to me as though it is physical problems, though it could be "mental".
adios,
edw.
It's been like this since i got it, a few weeks before christmas. It has killed and eaten locusts and waxworms before. However, i also had a male which died on christmas day, which never seemed to get over the stress of shipping. The substrate is quite deap, a bottom inch layer of vermiculite, and a 3-4" top layer of potting soil. She has a plant pot as a hide, and she also had a quite deep burrow, but she destroyed it a week ago. I'm going to try her on a pinkie, see how she goes. Shes kept in a medium - large pet pen thing, with a heat mat along half the back wall. Temps are between 23-27C but usually hover around 25, and humidity is 80% (ish).
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2003
- Messages
- 707
Well, from your description, it sounds as though the tank shouldn't be the problem.
Do you play a lot of loud music or anything that may cause excessive vibrations to the keeping area? Could be adding stress to the shipping.
Have you checked for mites? Vermiculite seems to be a breeding ground for them.
Are there any limbs which the scorpion drags in anyway or doesn't appear to function as well as others? The scorpion could be nearing death for some reason or have had mites eat the limbs hollow so they could not function properly.
The scorpion may just be attempting to relax from the stress. Definitely attempt with more food and water. If the water is not purified, this could also cause stress to them (minuet levels of chlorine and others, appear to be inhibitors of the scorpion's functions). If there might be some remains of anything in the tank, I would recommend you change substrate and clean the tank well (I use a flat-edged razor if there are any remains of hard water, etc, on the tank walls, but otherwise, I use windex with pure, clean water afterwards to make sure no remnants are left on the glass). You can probably go with nothing more than Ivory soap and a very good rinsing, unless you use glass tanks like myself (not sure what your tank is made out of but I suppose it is plastic).
Just keep a close eye on the scorp in question and if you notice any more "symptoms", please keep me informed as to what they are.
adios,
edw.
Do you play a lot of loud music or anything that may cause excessive vibrations to the keeping area? Could be adding stress to the shipping.
Have you checked for mites? Vermiculite seems to be a breeding ground for them.
Are there any limbs which the scorpion drags in anyway or doesn't appear to function as well as others? The scorpion could be nearing death for some reason or have had mites eat the limbs hollow so they could not function properly.
The scorpion may just be attempting to relax from the stress. Definitely attempt with more food and water. If the water is not purified, this could also cause stress to them (minuet levels of chlorine and others, appear to be inhibitors of the scorpion's functions). If there might be some remains of anything in the tank, I would recommend you change substrate and clean the tank well (I use a flat-edged razor if there are any remains of hard water, etc, on the tank walls, but otherwise, I use windex with pure, clean water afterwards to make sure no remnants are left on the glass). You can probably go with nothing more than Ivory soap and a very good rinsing, unless you use glass tanks like myself (not sure what your tank is made out of but I suppose it is plastic).
Just keep a close eye on the scorp in question and if you notice any more "symptoms", please keep me informed as to what they are.
adios,
edw.
:'( today it died, looked in while i was cleaning out my mantids n it was lying limp, didnt look pre-molt though, kind of looked like it had died in normal day-to-day duties. I did look for mites under a spot but there were none (the other day, after you suggested). Today, i did notice some really teency silvery white mite-y things crawling on substrate. I have had these in my leopard gecko tank once, and they went away :-/
As for the music, i sometimes play music, but i dont think its what you could call loud...:-/
Oh well, ive disinfected her tank now
Bleach/water solution.