Scorpion ID (Santa Ana Mountains, Orange County, California)

I found these scorpions in Trabuco Canyon, California, located in the Santa Ana mountains of Orange County, California.

I've got a male and a female, plus 11 scorplings now.

I'm guessing this is a Anuroctonus pococki, but would like to have that confirmed.

Male














Female & Scorplings

Definitely A. pococki.  Good luck on the brood, they look pretty good.

You don't need to keep the substrate so wet, this species has a chance of getting mycosis.

Glad you got an ID on them. And Glad to see they are off there mommas back.

kellakk wrote:

Definitely A. pococki.  Good luck on the brood, they look pretty good.  

You don't need to keep the substrate so wet, this species has a chance of getting mycosis.

Thanks for the confirmation. There is a nice culture of springtales in all my damp cases, but I'll let their case dry out a bit then. I separated them from the mom, should I have done that; I read that she could possibly eat them?

baphomet wrote:

Glad you got an ID on them. And Glad to see they are off there mommas back.

Hey what's up man, haven't seen you around lately. Yeah, the ID on this one was starting to seem pretty obvious to me, but I figured I'd just get it confirmed before I sell or give any of the babies away.

Been busy, working, school, busy busy busy. Not allot of time to frequent forums any more.

Obligate burrowers, you'll need enough substrate to allow them to build a stable burrow- 4 inches is enough.

Mix together 40 percent sand, 40 percent silt, and 20 percent finely-pulverized clay well, then moisten it, and tamp it down firmly. after that, push a flat rock firmly into the substrate, so about 10 mm of it is underground, then give a final liberal drizzle with water, which will ensure the substrate binds properly. If water pools on the substrate for longer than three seconds, add more sand.

It doesn't have to dry out completely- once the top layer of the substrate has dried, it's okay to put her in. There is no need to keep the substrate moist. But DO keep a corner of the sub soaked, leaving the rest dry. You should separate them now, 2nd instars only need about an inch and a half of substrate in a small cup.

I still have these babies, and was going to try to sell them or give them away. The only thing I will need to know first is whether they are male or female. Can anyone tell me how I can determine what gender they are at this age? They're still 2i I think, and quite small.

dspdrew wrote:

I still have these babies, and was going to try to sell them or give them away. The only thing I will need to know first is whether they are male or female. Can anyone tell me how I can determine what gender they are at this age? They're still 2i I think, and quite small.

It's near impossible to sex them properly when they're that small. Wait a couple instars, save the molts, and Google "laser pointer camera lens". That ought to help you out big time.

Also....I'm very interested in some.

Thanks. Not exactly sure what you mean by googling "laser pointer camera lense", but I actually already have a home-made macro lens that works pretty good. What I would need to know, is what to look at with this lens. I did a little reading, and it looks to me like the key to sexing this species is the telson, which I remember reading something about a while back. The differences between the male and female telson look pretty apparent to me, but I'm just not sure at what age this obvious difference will show.

If you are interested in a few of them, I'll definitely let you know once I accurately determine their sex.

it will be obvious around their 4th-5th instar.