Molt? Gravid? Just a fatty?

What do you guys think about my LQ? I'm sorry if the picture of the pectines is too small. That's about as magnified as I could get with my current set up (Smart phone...) Hopefully you can tell the sex from that, but if not, no worries. I will see if I can borrow my dad's awesome camera and get better pictures later this week.

I'm a little worried, too, about the divot in the side (circled in red). Never seen something like that. It wasn't like that a couple days ago. I'm thinking it's just about to molt (scorp is only about 2 inches long) and I'm being paranoid, but I love my LQ and don't want anything bad to happen. It was wild caught, so you never really know.

Here's the size comparison again with a penny so you can see the size.

Was just reading around and found a spectacular idea! Had never thought of doing this before... I just put my scorpion on the copier and magnified by 400%. This should be what you need to tell sex if the scorp is old enough... Whatcha think?



Let me know if you need something bigger. I can do 500% if need be.

I don't think its good for your scorpion to be put in a copying machine.

I actually read it on arachnoboards. Lots of people there apparently do it. I dunno... the scorps didn't seem to mind. They didn't go all stressed out and crazy like they do when you shine bright UV lights on them.

TheKevil wrote:

I actually read it on arachnoboards. Lots of people there apparently do it. I dunno... the scorps didn't seem to mind. They didn't go all stressed out and crazy like they do when you shine bright UV lights on them.

Did you like close the lid?

Noooooooo.... Most definitely left the lid open. Lol. And this is like a household/home office copier/printer/fax. Not like a huge, corporate "PC Loadletter... what the f*** does that mean?!?!?" kinda thing.

TheKevil wrote:

Noooooooo.... Most definitely left the lid open. Lol. And this is like a household/home office copier/printer/fax. Not like a huge, corporate "PC Loadletter... what the f*** does that mean?!?!?" kinda thing.

Oh, I understand. Haha.

Copy machines are fine, but never, and I repeat, never, fax a scorpion. I would say it is premolt for sure. When the tergites (back armor plating) are spaced like that and it chubs up, then a molt is on the way...estimated time is always a surprise. Be cautious when feeding...if it doesn't eat, remove the feeder...crickets have been known to chow down on freshly molted scorpions. Roaches and meal worms won't eat them but they just stress them out. Lack of feeding response and sluggishness are also signs of an impending molt. The side dimple and sexing question are up to someone with LQ experience.

Lol. I'll keep that faxing tip in mind. Scorpion pancakes...

It seems to be eating, but not as voraciously as my other specimens. This is my first LQ, but I figured it's feeding habits would be like my other buthidae.

Ok... so if it's premolt... should I mist the enclosure to make the molt easier? I'm worried about that mycosis spreading further. I don't want it to die during molt, though.

Just lightly mist one corner...very lightly. High temps help desert species...if still in the 93F range you mentioned in another post, you're golden. Rumor has it that laying down some fat lines through an SVT head will cause an immediate molt...

Hahahaha. I'll move the enclosure on top of my cab and turn it up to 11!

Video, or it never happened! Good luck on that molt!

I also think it's premolt.

What do you make of that dimple?

That dimle thing is strange I once had an LQ with a swollen "tumor" like thing on the side. Probably impact or scar tissue. They're might be a small chance it ate something with parasites and it your seeing a parasitic process going on...but I doubt it...just saying it's a possibility. Most likely it's just damage scar. Keep an eye on it and most likely it'll heal up after a molt.

Also...IMO this is a male.

Alrighty. Thank you, sir.

Comparing it to the spacing on one that you guys said was female on another thread, I can agree that it looks like a male. I need to try to get a better picture of the pectines with my dad's camera so I can count the teeth.

From arachnoboards: "males have 31-36 while females 26-29 pectine teeth" Looks like more than 29 to me, but I'm eyeballing.