Y’all are not gonna believe how stupid I am

[Moakmeister]

Well, after nearly 6 years of keeping arachnids, I officially had my first escape this morning. For my scorpions, I always leave the lid off, because they can’t climb the sides and get out, but I recently moved my S. mesaensis scorpling to a new enclosure, a smaller one, where I figured he’d be happier. Problem is, that little enclosure was designed for tarantulas, with a lid, so it has air holes on the sides. So the scorpion used the air holes to climb the walls and get out.

I’m such a domepiece. I didn’t even consider that he could do that. I’m absolutely kicking myself. No I haven’t found him, but I do have a blacklight luckily.

 

[viper69]

Leaving the lid off- been watching YouTube lately?

 

[BoyFromLA]

Don’t worry my friend, I believe you.

I hope you’ll find it soon.

 

[ForTW]

Who said scorpions can't climb? For what they get, i'd consider them masters at climbing.
From tail to pinchers, everything is used to get where they want to.

 

[Moakmeister]

So I’ve put a heat mat on the floor with a bottle cap full of water on it. I guess now it’s a waiting game. I spent a long while on my hands and knees searching everywhere with a black light, but I didn’t find him. He just ate last week, so he won’t need water or food for a while. This is gonna suck.

 

[The Snark]

Yups, some can climb pretty good. Just gets used to turning on the lights at night, triple checking where you put your hands and spend a few hours every night going around with a black light.
Consider it a unique form of entertainment.

My other cheats. Just puts a jar over them and leaves them for me to cope with.

 

[Moakmeister]

Yups, some can climb pretty good. Just gets used to turning on the lights at night, triple checking where you put your hands and spend a few hours every night going around with a black light.
Consider it a unique form of entertainment.

My other cheats. Just puts a jar over them and leaves them for me to cope with.

This is already getting annoying, I’m constantly glancing all over the floor. Is there any way to lure him out? Like I said I put out a heat mat with a water dish on it, but is there anything else?

 

[ForTW]

There ist tue wet towel Tunnel for humid Scorpions, some arid ones can be spotted on the wall one day but this one....it's probabky hotter behind your refrigator.

 

[The Snark]

This is already getting annoying, I’m constantly glancing all over the floor. Is there any way to lure him out? Like I said I put out a heat mat with a water dish on it, but is there anything else?

Yes. Some degree of dumb luck. You are going up against their innate survival instinct which is hide and go dormant and they can stay in a torpor like condition for months. They won't get hungry, often for very long periods of time. The only time they will come out to hunt is when it feels it is safe. Usually complete darkness and preferably a habitat they feel safe to hunt in.
And they are experts at hiding, squeezing into what seems like impossibly narrow cracks and crevices. Heat mats or whatever are usually useless as cool and dark = safety.
So your options are take the room or house apart meticulously searching the tiniest of cracks, or, unfortunately, accidentally squishing it.
Dumb luck was that lychas mucronatus that decided to perch on the door knob one night. I turned on the light and it climbed to the top of the door. Or the other night cruiser my wife happened to spot from the light of the upstairs landing as it was out looking for a snack and plopped that jar over it.

Alternative: get stupid. Wearing flip flops and digging a pathway I disturbed one and it went zooming out to find a dark crevice to hide in. The crevice being between my flip flop and my foot. How a big chunker AFS managed to squeeze in there is testimony to how small a crack they can get into.

 

[ButterMan]

One time my mother bought a Asian forest scorpion (heterometrus ssp) and left the lid open bc after hours of trying to climb it couldn’t. She left for 5 minutes and it was out. Also my milk snake was in an enclosure for months and never escaped until randomly she pushed the lid off

 

[darkness975]

Any way to seal off the room? Though that may be moot at this point.

Black light at night is the best hope ...

 

[Moakmeister]

Any way to seal off the room? Though that may be moot at this point.

Black light at night is the best hope ...

Probably no good. I did have a towel blocking the door until today, the maid removed it while I was at work. She also vacuumed the whole house, so he may be dead. Ugh, I’m actually ashamed. There is ZERO reason why a scorpion should ever escape its enclosure. Just pathetic.

 

[Moakmeister]

Found him in my bed lol

 

[The Snark]

Found him in my bed lol

Perks and bennies of a pack station ramrod.
A call to arms. Middle of the night. Some of the gals camped out at the trail head. Calls for help! One of them in her sleeping bag informs me when I arrive, "There's something against my leg!"
Well of course I'm delighted to unzip her sleeping bag. But caution is in order. Unzip. She's frozen in fear which is good. I see nothing. She described, "My right leg." Thigh? Calf? Where? Under her thigh. Examining very closely. Probably a night cruiser by I can't discount a coiled baby rattler. I'm not seeing it. If it's a scorp and I raise her leg up chances are it will burrow farther under. On the other hand baby rattlers are often super trigger happy.

Really awkward predicament. She's lying flat on her back. I instructed her to reach her right arm across her body very slowly and grab my wrist. VERY SLOWLY. I grasped her wrist, braced myself, got balanced and tugged with everything I had. And she's out of the bag and rolled in the gravel. Just a scorp. Whew.

 

[Smotzer]

Glad you found it before you went to sleep in your bed!

 

[darkness975]

I wish I could afford to have someone clean my place. Blah.

Glad you found it and that it didn't get sucked up in the vacuum.

 

[Westicles]

Found him in my bed lol
View attachment 426697

Hope you don't sleep in the buff!

 

[Westicles]

Perks and bennies of a pack station ramrod.
A call to arms. Middle of the night. Some of the gals camped out at the trail head. Calls for help! One of them in her sleeping bag informs me when I arrive, "There's something against my leg!"
Well of course I'm delighted to unzip her sleeping bag. But caution is in order. Unzip. She's frozen in fear which is good. I see nothing. She described, "My right leg." Thigh? Calf? Where? Under her thigh. Examining very closely. Probably a night cruiser by I can't discount a coiled baby rattler. I'm not seeing it. If it's a scorp and I raise her leg up chances are it will burrow farther under. On the other hand baby rattlers are often super trigger happy.

Really awkward predicament. She's lying flat on her back. I instructed her to reach her right arm across her body very slowly and grab my wrist. VERY SLOWLY. I grasped her wrist, braced myself, got balanced and tugged with everything I had. And she's out of the bag and rolled in the gravel. Just a scorp. Whew.

Lol!!! Love how you word stories!

 

[ForTW]

Congrats, escaped animals never really stress me out, you find them any ways, either alive or dried out. Unless it's a Phoneutria. But the trick there is to just not let them escape.

 

[The Snark]

Found him in my bed lol

I'm glad it was a no harm, no foul. You got some first hand learning experience of the other aspect of keeping animals people seldom take into account. Assume something is eventually going to go wrong and it becomes time to pay the piper. Persistence and diligence - I screwed up realization and wash, rinse and repeat until I get it right.
This is the reason I don't keep animals. I've had a few too many screw ups over the years and I just don't want that responsibility in my life any more. Screw ups gone dead wrong = you get to undertake euthanasia.