Hadrurus arizonensis Or Vaejovis spinigerus?

Not sure I even got those right, but I captured about 23 scorpions, ranging in size from tiny (happily sit on a penny) to large - 3 or so inches?

I got them in white pine county, Nevada.
They were found under rocks most often with a high moisture content, fairly well into the ground but still very easy to get up - and most often on a hill side.


They look a lot like this one: http://bugguide.net/images/raw/9RRQNRQQCRSQDRQQFRXQS0IQCRQQL0U03RQQOR20H0P0Q050JQYKTRQQWRX0ARLQAR80Q0U0K0E0.jpg and are even really fat like that... but they also look a lot like this:
And also a lot like this one:http://www.lotsalegs.tenczar.net/Hadrurus/Hadrurus_arizonensis_Soda2.jpg

I am thinking they are probably Hadrurus arizonensis -- but they were found right dead on that red dot: http://pics3.city-data.com/ccdmapsf/ccdmf901.png

I don't think Hadrurus arizonensis lives up that far?

So what ones do? perhaps it does?
I just want some confirmation on what scorpions live there...

Also - I will get a real nice picture of them soon but I cannot for the love of me find a AA battery for my camera... so hopefully I was descriptive enough!

I really hope they are Hadrurus arizonensis for I want some large scorpions

Perhaps it is the northern scorpion?

Also - I just saw them mate.. and there is a spermatophore on a rock

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the mating! Can't really help without a photo of the scorps in question

*~BEX~* wrote:

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the mating! Can't really help without a photo of the scorps in question

Yeah - but location wise that doesn't boil down the species to maybe like 2 or 3?

I will get a photo soon.

http://www.thelaboratory.org/talk/off-topic-conversation/scorpions/?action=dlattach;attach=730;image
http://www.thelaboratory.org/talk/off-topic-conversation/scorpions/?action=dlattach;attach=732;image
http://www.thelaboratory.org/talk/off-topic-conversation/scorpions/?action=dlattach;attach=740;image
http://www.thelaboratory.org/talk/off-topic-conversation/scorpions/?action=dlattach;attach=746;image
Also there are ALL of the images I took on this forum post: http://www.thelaboratory.org/talk/off-topic-conversation/scorpions

Id put my money on spinigerus. They are no Hadrurus imho....

split tergites...

How is it you can tell? What morphological features stick out?
I look up images of both and they seem to be pretty similar... compare my images to the originally linked images...
Are people just mislabelling them?

Looks vaejovis to me too

All right cool. Anyone ever breed these, have suggestions on how to keep them, etc?

Also any guesses on the exact species? I know there are a few vaejovis but not sure if there are more than one type in this area?

My money is on Vaejovis confusus. They are found in the area you pinpointed on the map. To my knowledge there are only three species of Vaejovis found in nevada, V. confusus, V. hirsuticauda and V. waeringi. Of those three yours looks most like a confusus. I recently did some digging on the Vaejovis species found in Utah. I found confusus literally straight east of where you found yours.

If you look on the chela(pinchers) of your scorpions you can see some reddish brown lines of bumpy ridges. This is absent on the Desert hairy, as the striped markings on the tail.

Here is a picture of my desert hairy


as you can see it clearly lacks the ridges of red bumps on the chela, and the tail is not striped at all.


Here is a picture of one of my V. confusus


This photo is a bit less clear, but you can see the ridges and stripes in it.

My V. confusus were collected under rocks next to a lake in the high desert. I give them a water dish once or twice a week due to their close proximity to the lake. If yours were collected in a drier region give them water once every two or weeks to a month.

Mine were collected during daytime temperatures of fifty degrees, and they were very active. only a few weeks prior to collection, that whole area was covered in snow. I keep them at room temperature (72-80) right now and they have had no problems. They feed as they should and actively explore as soon as the lights go out. I'm keeping them on dirt from where I found them. I have read that they usually avoid living on straight loose sand, but rather prefer more hard packed sandy dirt. They will readily excavate scrapes under flat rocks to hide in.

As far as raising the young I'm afraid I do not have hands on experience... yet. I have read that the young are prone to molt issues in the first few instars while in captivity. Also they will be quite small, so have your fruit flies ready!

Hope I have been of some help!
-Nate

Yep! very much so and thank you so much - you live in utah? I also live in utah!

I found them also a week or two after snow was on the ground, in rocky-soil, on a hill side under rocks, at a fairly high elevation; no lake near by though.. however it was moist under the rocks. I put in a dish of water for them.

I will try to get some fruit flies... not sure where to get them?

Will ants work?

I wouldn't feed ants to the slings. They have formic acid in their bite, and are known to eat baby scorps. You can buy flightless fruit flies at petsmart or petco, or short of that you can order cultures online.

Mine were collected in a similar area with rocky soil and at the base of a hill.

What part of Utah are you from?

Box Elder county - brigham city.

All right, will get some flies. I've grown them before so its not to hard to do.

Also aphids are probably a decent option

Oh yeah Brigham. My buddy dated a girl up there. We used to drive from Salt Lake a few times a week.