i need help with heterometrus spnifer

hi
i am a complete newbie to this sort of animal i own tortoises, bearded dragons and boe constrictors but i have no experience with scorpions at all. i brought an Asian forest scorpion about to weeks ago he seems to be fairly active he is about 2 inches long and im worried about a few things.

1. molting has been a massive worry for me as i know they can lose limbs and possibly die from it. i have searched the internet and found next to no information on molting so i don't know if it needs a specific temperature and what the humidity should be and what happens if it goes wrong.

2. the tank has an artificial rock look background (exoterra) he climbs this often and then climbs on the mesh which it the top to his tank he doesn't climb down he just falls from the 1.5 feet down to the floor.

thanks
James

Hi there and welcome to the forum!

Here's a link on the care and such:
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/reptiles/scorpions/AsianForestScorpion.php

And here is one I found right on our forum
https://scorpionforum.darkbb.com/caresheets-f29/pandinus-imperator-and-most-heterometrus-spp-tropical-forest-scorpions-t38.htm

The first one is pretty good and even talks about molting.
Make sure your conditions match with what the care sheets say.
The main problem with molting seems to be the humidity, so you want to keep that high.
Often times during molting, people increase both the temperature and the humidity to help the scorp molt.
You can increase humidity by dumping water onto the substrate.
Usually forest scorpions don't have much of a problem molting--it's the dry desert ones that usually have trouble.

Also, I'd remove the artificial rock background if possible. It's probably not doing the scorpion any good fall 1.5 feet like that and continuously, too.

Good luck with your scorpion, they're one of my favorites!
Do check out the Breeding Reports section on the forum and look for anything Heterometrus; very interesting stuff to read and look at. Great pics in them as well.

hi i have taken the backing out so he cant fall down anymore and about the molting, that has put my mind at ease a bit because everything i have read says that if the conditions are wrong then it will get stuck to its shell and die. i have also read the if they get stuck you can help them by pulling a little bit and spray them with water. but is there any heat requirments they need i use a heat mat and a red heat bulb. i never leave it on all the time but i do my best to try and keep the tempreature above 25 degrees. i was told that scorpions only molt in the autumn is this rubbish or is it true. sorry to ask so many questions i just like my scorpion a lot its the first pet ive had like him. what scorpion do you have just out of interest?

many thanks

Just pour some water onto the substrate (assuming you are using coco fiber or similar) and that will be fine for about a week before you repeat the process. Don't worry if it gets stuck, just pour some water like I said above every week (don't spray as it is ineffective and won't last long) then your scorp will be fine during the molting process.

As for the heat requirements - using a mat and a red bulb is fine. You should really aim to get the temperatures at about 28 celcius.

Scorpions will molt regardless of the time of year if they need to. Saying that they only molt in autumn is absolute rubbish.
As long as they feel that the conditions are correct, they will molt (this means getting the temps and humidity right - thats all)

I had two adult emperors, one gave birth. I currently have two 5th instar emperors left (from my own brood) the others were sold.
I have two Hadogenes Paucidens, and one Bothriurus CF Demayi.

I used to have a pandinus cavimanus, heterometrus spinifer and a heterometrus petersii.

so all i have to do really is raise the temperature and keep the humidity up. because i have a large tank and a powerful bulb i found it hard to keep it high but that maybe because i was just spraying the surface with water then the lamp was drying the water up. so i just get, for example a jug of water and pour it on the substrate (spider life) and during the molt, i do the same if it gets to dry, correct me if I'm wrong.

thanks a lot you have taken my worry away as before i was being told that when he molts if he molts then there is a very high chance it will go wrong which now i know is not true lol

Yup that's it.

But like I said, don't absolutely soak it so that it becomes a bog - just plenty so that it goes a darker colour and is nice and damp to the touch.

thanks sounds simple enough i dumped a litre of water on there and it just sunk to the bottom lol