Why wont my scorpion eat

[Jonathan6303]

I got a t. stigmurus a few months ago and for some reason it’s scared of everything. I tried baby crickets, fruit flies, mealworms in all forms(mealworm, pupae, beetle). This started after it molted about a month ago. What the heck is wrong with it.

 

[Centipedism]

seems rather plump already, especially for a male. most of my scorpions usually won't eat in conditions of too much light, though they will if they're hungry enough. perhaps this scorpion just isn't hungry enough to hunt during the day

 

[HooahArmy]

Hey there! My family has kept scorpions of many species for abut 20 years, and behavior like that isn't atypical. During the warmer months, a scorpion can eat almost as often as they can catch prey, but that hunger decreases significantly when it gets cooler, or when the scorp itself detects changes in light/dark hours that indicate cooler months. During the fall and winter, my family has noted our scorpions eating less and less, going from 2 weeks with no food to some fellows who won't touch a thing until spring of the next year. Unlike mammals, inverts have metabolisms that are significantly slower. I used to panic that my family's scorps would starve to death, but hunger strikes are apparently normal for most inverts, especially when the weather gets cooler.
Additionally, scorpions are not a fan of light at all. Their bodies fluoresce under UV light, and it's scientifically noted that they sense both visible light (with eyes) and UV rays (with their bodies) to know the time of day. The best time to feed a scorpion is at night, dropping a cricket in and assessing to see if it's been eaten in the morning. Bright lights will almost always keep our scorps from eating, unless they are very hungry. Try leaving small prey overnight, if you haven't. If you have, however, you scorp may just be doing what scorps do when the seasons change. As long as your fellow doesn't look flat, has access to water, and isn't feeling too cold, they should be fine until the weather warms up or when light/dark periods alert them that it's time to eat again. Being afraid of everything is also standard scorpion behavior. They know they're juicy, and disturbing them too often may cause them to lose their appetite. When this happens to us, we leave the scorp alone in a dark place for a few days, then try whatever it is that we were attempting (cleaning, water filling, etc) a bit later.
Best of luck, my friend!

Source: 'Scorpions of the World" Roland Stockmann and Eric Ythier

 

[Centipedism]

if you want to actually see your scorpion active/eating, i recommend purchasing a red heat bulb (don't order them online though as they're typically shipped without padding and can shatter upon being turned on if they were bashed around in shipping too much). as well as providing appreciated heat for heat-loving species, you can also use it for night viewing as scorpions can't see suitably dark red colors and thus to them it will appear completely dark while allowing you to see them perfectly. make sure the light is made of actual red glass and isn't just painted, the painted ones don't give off a dark enough color and the scorpions can still detect the light. the one that i find works best is the fluker's red heat bulb

 

[Jonathan6303]

I not really worried about hunger strikes cause all my ts are doing it all the time but I find it hard to tell when a scorpion is healthy plump. For ts you can easily make sure the abdomen is the perfect size but to me my t. stigmurus looks really skinny.

 

[Centipedism]

excluding molts and gestation, "to be fed ASAP" status for a scorpion is when there are no gaps between the sternites/tergites.

this animal should be fed asap but will likely be fine without food for a while thought it will get cranky and hungry

this one is fine and should go a couple days before feeding again

 

[viper69]

Looks plump

 

[mantidsRcool]

for some reason that second pic shows up very small, here you go

 

[Centipedism]

my bad formatting that one.

 

[ejwhite13]

Right now my Centruroides Sculpturatus are eating about once every two weeks. Last winter it was about once every three to four weeks.