Anybody else like arachnids?

[Nomad25055]

Greetings Lurkers!

Long time no communicate! Looks like a good time to be active again, what with changes in the air an so forth (DIABLO 3 WOO!). I just acquired a new addiction the other day, guess what it is.... SCORPIONS! That`s right, I care for scorpions now! So far I only have a pair of female Pandinus imperator but, I will soon be enlarging my collection. So my question is this: Does anyone else in the lounge care for/collect Arachnids?

Nomad

[--Pete]

Hi,

Long time no communicate!

So, welcome back:)

Does anyone else in the lounge care for/collect Arachnids?

I like garden spiders since they control the population of pests like mosquitoes and flies. But past the threshold, I have no real love for them.

Is keeping scorpions risky? I've known people that kept poisonous snakes, and I never could understand why. It doesn't seem that you can form much of an attachment to something you have to be constantly wary about -- then again, that could describe some successful marriages I've encountered.;)

--Pete

[Nomad25055]

Greetings.

Thanks for the welcome! As for keeping scorpions, yes there is a risk but it`s more or less relative to the species. P. imperator or Emperor scorpion is fairly docile and are low on venom potency. Their sting is most often compared with a hony bee`s. Risk goes up with handling obviously:), but the stress it can cause can also shorten a scorpions life sadly. In any case handling isn`t recommended no matter the species. I personally find scorpions very interesting, hence the attraction. Not much on spiders though lol.

Nomad

[eppie]

Greetings Lurkers!

Long time no communicate! Looks like a good time to be active again, what with changes in the air an so forth (DIABLO 3 WOO!). I just acquired a new addiction the other day, guess what it is.... SCORPIONS! That`s right, I care for scorpions now! So far I only have a pair of female Pandinus imperator but, I will soon be enlarging my collection. So my question is this: Does anyone else in the lounge care for/collect Arachnids?

Nomad

Apart from having some ethical objections to holding exotic animals (and people holding pets because of a hobby, even though scorpions are not really the same as smuggled parrots of course) which are sometimes stronger than other times, I find these animals very 'cool'. I am not sure I would want them myself, but in zoos i really love the terrarium exhibits with insects and arachnids.

I would love to see some pictures of your animals once, maybe with some nice story about how you keep them and what you feed them and such. I hope you try buy new ones from 'good' sources, which is often is a problem with the acquisition of pets. Dogs and cats (so no exotics) are despite the fact that they are not being robbed from their mothers by killing them as happens with apes, still often tools from individuals that only care about making a quick buck and don't care at all about animal well-being.

[Nomad25055]

Greetings.

I try not to aquire anything from the wild. I try very hard to go with captive bred animals. As for how I came by my sub adult female emperors, I "rescued" them from a petco. I was there, had the money and was/had been wanting to take up scopions, so I saved them from less than ideal conditions (sorry, no time for a rant hehe). I found a nice local source for all future reptile, amphibian, and invertibrate purchases. It`s an lps (local pet store) run by people who are into what they carry, so it`s small, the conditions are good and they actually care:). As for pictures, sadly I currently only have web access with my env3 and I don`t know anything about posting images on the web with it. Any suggestions there?

Nomad

EDIT: I am looking into a photobucket acount. I may be able to post some links to a few pictures in the near future. When this is done I shall also post some info on the setup for my ladies:).

[Nomad25055]

Greetings!

Sorry for the delay, my mobile does not like the creation of large bodies of text so all previous attempts at posting this have failed:(. At any rate here is a picture of one of my ladies relaxing. Sorry about the quality of the picture, my mobile likes to resize pictures to send them. And on that note ladies and gentlmen, get comfortable, this may be the longest post I have ever posted in the lounge:).

Scorpions and you. My guide to the care of Pandinus imperator.

SCORPIONS ARE NOT PETS. HANDLE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Pandinus imperator, more commonly known as the Emperor scorpion, is a tropical species which hails from Africa (Ghana I believe). They are one of the largest if not the largest species of scorpion known to man, easily obtaining lengths of 6-8 inches or more. Emperors are a docile species of scorpion and rarely sting anything, not even their prey. They prefer to use their pedipalps (pincers) for hunting and defense, although if you ever get pinched you may wish you had been stung as they are capable of crushing a pencil in half. Their venom is fairly mild, and in most cases the sting of the Emperor has been compared to a bee sting. These traits combined with the low maintenance encountered with many species of scorpions, have made Pandinus imperator the golden standard for beginers and popular in the trade overall. Note that the popularity of this species led to them being placed on the CITES II list as threatened. The capture rates of this species have dropped and the prices have gone up as a result. This means that most specimens you find are captive bred. Which is as it should be with any exotic animal in my opinion.

As Emperor scorpions are a tropical species with burrowing tendencies you will need several things to care for them. The first being a suitable enclosure. The general rule on this is 5 gallons per scorpion minimum. So for two Emperors you will want at least a 10 gallon tank. I am a fan of large enclosures so I would say use a ten gallon for just one specimen and add five gallons for each addition. Next, you will want a suitable substrate (bedding, floor, etc.). Coco fiber is the best choice as it holds moisture well and can support burrowing activity. If possible set your tank up ahead of time with a minimum of 4 to 6 inches of eco earth (coco fiber found in pet stores) and dump pure water (NO TAP WATER) in the enclosure. Use enough water to soak all the material, by all means make a swamp in there. Now, give it time to dry out before adding your scorpions! This will allow the material to settle in such a way that it will support burrowing activity. Be sure to rehydrate the material, they like high humidity. You should keep the humidity at 75% to 90% for this species. Don't mist the enclosure, this does very little for them. Instead dump water in there to ensure all the substrate gets moisture. You should be able to take a small handful of substrate and squeeze water droplets out of it. Be sure to have a water dish in the tank. It should be large enough for the scorpions to fit in but not deep enough for them to drown in.

Now you will need a couple of places for these guys to hide. The rule of wrist here:rolleyes:is to have more hiding places than you do scorpions. Those reptile logs you see in stores work just fine, but a more popular choice is cork bark as you can easily break that up however you want. You should partially bury your hides as it encourages burrowing, which is a healthy activity for these guys. Don't be worried if they spend most of their time hiding, these guys are often called "pet holes". If they are happy they will spend most of their time hiding. Next, you will want to add a heat source. There are three choices here, under tank heaters, infrared heat bulbs, and ceramic heat emitters. If you go with an under tank heater, do NOT place it under the tank, place it on the side of the tank. You can accidently cook your scorpions with it underneath. They dig down remember? Infrared bulbs work good, but they evaporate the moisture faster plus they give off light. All scorpions are nocturnal and do not exactly love the light. This choice also has greater power consumption. The final choice here would be the ceramic heat emitter. They use more power than a UTH but they do not produce light which is a bonus, however they evaporate the moisture quickly and may be prohibitively expensive for you. No matter your choice of heat source you should keep your temperatures at 75 to 85 degrees. During the day 80 degrees (F not C people hehe) would be about perfect, alowing for deactivation of the heat source at night depending on your rooms ambient temperature. My room stays at about 72f so I just turn of my heater at night and my ladies seem to like this just fine.
You will know if you have it to hot for them, as they will run about acting funny and trying to "sting" themselves. If this happens do not panic, just cut the heat and try to adjust the temperature. You will know when it is too cold when their movements seem sluggish.

Feeding. You should feed your scorpions once every seven to ten days. What do I feed them? Well that's easy, you feed them insects of course! The bulk of your scorpions diet should consist of feeder crickets and or roaches. You can feed them the occasional meal worm or wax worm, and even a super worm. Try to stay away from the worms though, they are high on fat and aren't very nutritional but are ok for a treat. Depending on the size of you Emperors, you should feed them one to two crickets/roaches every week to ten days depending on the size of the prey items. Do not worry if they don't eat! They can go for several months without eating, especially the males. If you find prey items have not been eaten simply remove them and try again in a day or two. It's a good idea to tidy up after your scorpions as they can leave uneaten parts laying about. If your good about cleaning up after them you never really have to change out your substrate and clean the tank.

Well, I guess that about covers it. I will be happy to answer any questions and correct any mistakes.

-Nomad

P.S. The tab key does not seem to work on this keyboard and using space bar doens't seem to do anything for the final appearance. Sorry folks.

[Taem]

Greetings.

Thanks for the welcome! As for keeping scorpions, yes there is a risk but it`s more or less relative to the species. P. imperator or Emperor scorpion is fairly docile and are low on venom potency. Their sting is most often compared with a hony bee`s. Risk goes up with handling obviously:), but the stress it can cause can also shorten a scorpions life sadly. In any case handling isn`t recommended no matter the species. I personally find scorpions very interesting, hence the attraction. Not much on spiders though lol.

Nomad

When you say, "handling" do you mean holding them? I heard you can remove their stingers if you keep them as pets. Is this true? The large black Emperor scorpions they have at the local zoo here have their stingers removed. Their exterior also turns green in a black light which is interesting to see.

I also heard the poison isn't bad at all in some species, more of an annoyance, and the small brown scorpions in Mexico can be especially deadly. I don't believe I'd ever keep one as a pet, especially not with my kids or dogs.

[eppie]

Greetings!

Sorry for the delay, my mobile does not like the creation of large bodies of text so all previous attempts at posting this have failed:(. At any rate here is a picture of one of my ladies relaxing.

Cool picture....that is a big one!!

I indeed also heard that the smaller ones are usually the most venomous ones, so you should be fine here.:)

[LemmingofGlory]

Greetings Lurkers!

Long time no communicate! Looks like a good time to be active again, what with changes in the air an so forth (DIABLO 3 WOO!). I just acquired a new addiction the other day, guess what it is.... SCORPIONS! That`s right, I care for scorpions now! So far I only have a pair of female Pandinus imperator but, I will soon be enlarging my collection. So my question is this: Does anyone else in the lounge care for/collect Arachnids?

Nomad

A friend of mine caught and kept a female black phase Brown Widow Spider (Latrodectus geometricus) which she named "Matilda." Despite living alone, Matilda laid egg sacs regularly, which would have to be carefully fished out of her dwelling before they hatched, and Miss Spider did not take very kindly to being robbed of her egg sacs. Matilda lived high on a steady diet of crickets, each named after a different distasteful celebrity (Ben Stein, Joel Osteen, and so on). Spare crickets were kept in a most desolate container dubbed "Cricket Auschwitz" where they often cannibalized each other for food. At the moment of Matilda's death, she fell from her web onto a rock landing upon her back with a single foreleg outstretched heavenward, cursing her own mortality.

-Lem

[Nomad25055]

Greetings!

As for removing the stingers, yes you can do this. But why would you mutilate an animal like that? It makes me sad to see one with a broken stinger, let alone an intentionally removed stinger. As for the small ones from Mexico, I believe you are referring to Hadrurus spadix, which is either the Arizona or Texas Bark Scorpion (not certain). They caused some deaths down there back around the 1930`s - 1960`s. As far as blacklights are concerned, DO NOT put your scorpions under a blacklight. It may look cool but UV light actually harms them, and long term exposure can kill them. By handling I do in fact mean holding/touching them. And my emperor scorpions are sub-adults. They are still growing:D. As usual Lemming, you excite the party haha.

-Nomad

P.S. Despite what people say, size is no indication of toxicity in scorpions. The rule here is: The larger the pincers, the better the fighter. The larger the tail, the better the assassin. So if you see a small scorp with huge claws your safe. If you see a big scorpion with tiny pincers run away:). The most toxic scorpion know to man is Androctonus australis, the Yellow Fat Tail scorpion. Number two is Leiurus quinquestriatus, the Deathstalker.

[NuurAbSaal]

Androctonus australis, the Yellow Fat Tail scorpion

Man, those look SCARY!


clix for larger image


take care
Tarabulus

[LemmingofGlory]

P.S. Despite what people say, size is no indication of toxicity in scorpions. The rule here is: The larger the pincers, the better the fighter. The larger the tail, the better the assassin. So if you see a small scorp with huge claws your safe. If you see a big scorpion with tiny pincers run away:). The most toxic scorpion know to man is Androctonus australis, the Yellow Fat Tail scorpion. Number two is Leiurus quinquestriatus, the Deathstalker.

This convention is quite well ignored in Deadly Creatures, an interesting (if short) game that gives the player control of a tarantula and a scorpion, where the scorpion balances its use of claws and tail in beat-'em-up gameplay. But then the game doesn't strive for much realism with respect to the animal behavior (e.g., spiders attack in packs). It's very good at presenting a world at the ground's-eye-view perspective, and for some reason it includes a storyline involving Dennis Hopper and Billy Bob Thornton. Nobody plays the game for the story. You play it to be a goddamn spider. Or scorpion. But even with the unnecessary addition of a storyline, Deadly Creatures remains less strange than either Bad Mojo or Mr. Mosquito.

-Lem