Why do people purchase adult scorpions instead of juveniles.

[Fishforbass23]

I see alot of people on youtube who do unboxings of scorpions and alot of them look full grown. Id rather have a baby to raise then already have a full grown scorp. Is it better to purchase an adult or something?

 

[hecklad]

I see alot of people on youtube who do unboxings of scorpions and alot of them look full grown. Id rather have a baby to raise then already have a full grown scorp. Is it better to purchase an adult or something?

I've never bought or owned a scorpion so this is just total speculation but I would assume that the adults are more hardy and are easier to feed than babies. They're also already big (if it's a large species in question) and therefore more interesting to watch if you will

 

[Liquifin]

Many people buy adults because they're mostly wild caught meaning cheaper prices and they also get a bigger scorp. I wouldn't encourage buying wild caught adult scorpions because it decreases wild populations and you have no idea on health or age, but scorp breeders would buy them sometimes for breeding projects to get them more established in the hobby to decrease numbers of WC imports. Baby scorps can be harder or easier to feed depending on species and each individual specimen, but it's not really a challenge. I wouldn't buy scorps too often because a lot of WC sold by vendors. The only WC scorp I ever bought was a H. hottentotta but she only lived around 5 months then died of old age. So not the best to buy WC adults if you want a some time with a scorp.

 

[Bob Lee]

Size and breeding

If you want a lot of slings, much cheaper to just breed instead of buying.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Personal preference.

 

[Mordax8393]

Adults do better in captivity usually - babies often die unexpectedly

 

[FrankiePinchinatti]

Adults do better in captivity usually - babies often die unexpectedly

Also, molting is a pretty traumatic experience with a real risk of deformities or death. Having babies means lots of molts, therefore lots of chances at something going wrong.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

When it takes nearly a decade for some species to mature a lot of people don’t bother buying scorplings

 

[G. pulchra]

I'm going to go with availability, most scorps I see for sale on the net from dealers are adults.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

There is a pro and con for both. Both have their risks, bad molts vs old age/health issues. But buying captive bred does proprogate breeders and curb the demand of wild caught pets and keeping these awesome creatures off CITES endangered lists due to overcollecting.

 

[ArachnoDrew]

Most of them are lazy and dont want to put in the real time and work it takes to raise species from babies to maturity.
They want adult pairs for cheap so they have a quick rout to breeding ...... I stopped selling adult pairs of scorpions for that reason unless I have a bunch of spare sterile non breeders or extra males etc....

Not all keepers are this way lol some people just want a large impressive looking specimen

 

[Abu Bakr]

It depends on what you really want with it.

If you want a scorpion that you can keep for years to come, then you'll go with a juvenile.

If you want one for breeding purposes and making more slings (which you might keep or sell) then you'll go with adults.

I bought my first scorpion as a 2nd instar so that I could keep it with me for years. Also slings tend to be cheap so if they end up dying for whatever reason, you might not feel that you wasted a good amount of money on a pet that lived for a month or two.

The second and third scorpions I bought were adults and I got them for breeding.

 

[Sillver]

I currently have 13 scorpions, 11 of them are babies. I have 1 adult S mesaensis and a asian forest scorpion, 2 0.5" C gracilis, 1 1" C gracilis, 3 1" H Petersii, 1 2" Scopio Maurus, 1 1" P Imperator, 1 0.5" Leiurus hebraeus "orange morph", 1 1.5" Hottentotta franzwerneri female and 1 very tiny Paravaejovis confusus that 1/4".

I get them small cause that's what I can find here for me.