Pandinus cavimanus - Need advice

Hello,

I recently just bought a small Pandinus cavimanus to go with my female.

I thought they would be okay together but they weren't. the smaller of the two which is the male (sub-adult) is being aggressive towards the female which is also a sub-adult one shed in front of the male. i tried introducing them in a seperate tank away from territory spots to see how it went. He then circled the tank three or four times before he approached the female, he then nudged her about a bit which made her go into a submissive state, she dropped to the ground and her sting went flat.

I spoke to a few people and they gave me mixed answers about housing them together.

Im looking for some advice from experienced keepers on housing this species of scorp, also?

Was the fight for dominance? was it because he hasnt had contact with females before? or was it because they were trying to hurt each other?.

Many thanks.
Ant

hey Ant

Quote :

I spoke to a few people and they gave me mixed answers about housing them together.

That's because there are no hard and fast rules. Some people experience these scorps as almost docile while others experience them as outwardly aggressive.
I suspect that even within scorpions of the same species there are individual traits and knowing whether or not a "supposed" communal scorpion will tolerate others is always going to be a "wait and see" experience.

Enclosure size coupled with environmental factors might also have a role to play but there's not really any scientific study done on scorpion psychology .. so all that's really left is a guess based on our individual experiences. This is probably why you've received mixed answers to your questions about housing them together.

If you are at all in doubt about their mutual coexistence then the best bet is to house them separately. You might find that after an initial dominance match they settle down .. you also might find that one day the remains of one of them will be found on the substrate.

Personally i don't house any young scorpions together although i'd have no worries about housing adults together (not that that's a guarantee) of some species of scorpion.

Quote :

Was the fight for dominance? was it because he hasnt had contact with females before? or was it because they were trying to hurt each other?.

The quick answer to that could just as easily be "yes" . As i mentioned earlier, scientific papers on scorpions, almost all revolve around taxonomy or environment descriptions. The book on individual specie psychology is yet to be written......We're all basically guessing when it comes to that....There was obviously some tension between your 2 cavs when you put them together but what actually caused that tension, yeh, your guesses are as good as anyone else's mate..

Play it safe and rehouse them separately until they're adult or dance with the devil and see how it turns out. It's your choice at the end of the day ..

+1 to everything Den said.

Also P. cavimanus are known to be aggressive to cage mates. Bex had a male kill one of her females. Here is the link to that thread: https://scorpionforum.darkbb.com/t8185-pcav-babies