New to Scorpions, need questions anwsered(U. Mordax)

Hi, I'm new to caring for Scorpions. I've recently caught a Uroctonus Mordax(PNW Wood Scorpion) and am keeping him in a 1/4 sheet cake plastic container turned upside down. Currently I have about 3in of Coco fiber, and two hides, the rock, a peice of hardwood with a lid halfway full of water. There is a 2 holes with metal screens, providing a draft. Heat strip is reading around 70' deg. How often should I be misting it?



In the following picture, look at her Metasomal and you will be able to see some kinda of White buildup, looks kind-of like mold to me. Is this a stage of Premolting? I've fed a meal worm, and I'm going to be getting crickets soon. How do I go about keeping them? do I have to have another tank?



DolbyR, Had posted some useful information on the other thread. thank you very much for responding with this information. He had also informed me that it might be a gravid female. After I posted the topic I took a look at her again but, I don't know what to look for. With the moisture, does it have to be Damp?

Addon #1
- Here is a Picture of Stoney next to a Penny (Size comparison). You can also see the "White build-up" in more detail. DolbyR had also mentioned it could just be poop.



I appreciate any help I can get, I will be periodicity checking back on this thread to check for replies.

Welcome to the forum Outlaw!

First of all, I advice you to take a look at Uroctonus Mordax caresheet if you use our search function, you can also find several threads regarding these scorpions.

I've never kept these so I can't give you very detailed species-specific advice, just general info.

On your first picture, the substrate looks pretty dry, these like high humidity so keep that in mind.

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some kinda of White buildup

That is probably just scorpion poop, I wouldn't worry too much about it. All my scorpions have looked like that at some point.

Quote :

Is this a stage of Premolting?

Your scorpion could indeed be on premolt, but it could also be a gravid female. How big is it?

Quote :

I have a heating pad underneath the enclosure.

That's a No-No. Never put a heatpad UNDER the enclosure. Put it on the side instead. Scorpions burrow to escape from heat, and heating the enclosure from underneath is against their natural behaviour. In the worst case, you can fry your scorpion this way.

You say you caught it. If you live in the same region you caught it, you could safely keep it at room temp.

+1 to everything Dolby said. Also, the enclosure should be kept moister than that.

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U. mordax do well in a slightly humid environment. Not as moist as you would keep a tropical emperor scorpion. You should provide a hide for it. Something it can get under. They like moisture in their hides. When you go to the forest and roll a log over it is usually a bit moist underneath it. That's what you should try to replicate.

As for the white stuff on the metasoma, I'm not sure what it could be. Could be hard water mineral deposits, or a fungus of some sort. I'd just keep an eye on it and switch to distilled water that way if it spreads you can rule out mineral deposits.

Gravid females can be hard to spot, especially if you aren't positive that it is in fact gravid. If it's fed well it will get tubby and can look gravid while just being overfed. If it is gravid and fed lightly it will still put on some girth even with the lighter feedings. Gravid females may also show the embryos through the pleural membrane when close to parturition. Scorpions in premolt do not develop the white markings in question, and judging by the reference shot you posted I'd hazard a guess that it is and adult. It does however look as though you can see it's heart line in those pictures which can be used as an indicator that it is gravid, though some individuals will show this when simply overfed. A good starting point would be to accurately determine it's sex as female. Here is a link to a writeup our seldom seen admin Mr. Mordax did on this species. Give it a read.

Finally, breeding crickets is a smelly and often times frustrating endeavor. you'd do much better to just buy them as you need them I'd say. If you catch the scorpion bug and expand your collection I'd suggest breeding roaches as a food source. They live much longer than crickets, don't smell as bad, and breed like... well, roaches. There are certain species like Blatta lateralis that can't climb slick surfaces so they won't escape.

Sorry for the lengthy post here. I hope it helps you out!

-Nate

Thanks for the Reply, Streettrash!
I regret to tell you that all the pictures in your link are 404'd. But the text was quite knowledgeable and I still learned from it. For the Coco Fiber do I wet it first, let it dry out a little, then put it in the tank, or just directly into the tank and spritz some water onto it? I found it outside on my porch about four days ago. Two days ago she was fed a meal worm.

Yes, that thread is old but the info is good.

You can spritz it if you want, or pour water directly onto it in the corners. I'd say keep a side moist, and the water dish full.

Yeah, I poured water in two Corners and She went directly to it and started to barrow. And a waterdish on the other end, got a humidity gauge to solve my problems for good. It's been a good start, im gonna give it a few weeks, then I think I'll be getting an Emp.