Communal Heterometrus Longimanus question

Hey all, I was wondering if you had any suggestions as far as how to put these guys together. Im going to a Repticon show tomorrow and want to find a buddy for my cyrrent one. What I really want to know is if it matters if I put two of the same sex scorp in the same inclosure or if I need to do two of the opposite sex in? I want to lessen the chance that they will fight. Thanks in advance!

1 male to 2 females is usually a good ratio. I've had 2 females fight before but that was more like just chasing around and not an actual 'fight'. Same sex or opposite sex H.longis normally go along together if they have a lot of hiding places so they don't encounter one another all the time.

How big is your setup?

I'll have them in a 66 qt container. There's a lot of room in there with a lot of hide space.

Try making/putting multiple platform levels so you can house a few without ever worrying about encounter clashes

That's a good idea. There are some places where they can climb up higher but I can put more substrate in there to make it even better.

They are good climbers so putting a tree stump, log or pieces of stacked up tiles/bark will do them just fine

Yeah they have a big cave in the middle of the enclosure and they do climb on it.

That's why you should have a thin layer of dried leaves scattered on top of the substrate to cushion their fall if ever they get too high

Tongue Flicker wrote:

1 male to 2 females is usually a good ratio.

Actually, that's usually a bad ratio..

Tongue Flicker wrote:

Try making/putting multiple platform levels so you can house a few without ever worrying about encounter clashes

Totally unrealistic. Scorpions won't remain at the levels you put them at and encounters will happen all the time. Whether that leads to fights/death is dependant on the individual scorpions along with environmental conditions and stress factors.

Tongue Flicker wrote:

That's why you should have a thin layer of dried leaves scattered on top of the substrate to cushion their fall if ever they get too high

Where do you get this stuff from!...do you make it up as you go along?....weight of scorpion plus height of fall times rate of acceleration = the scorp will bounce, wonder what happened and wander off......and if that don't work for you how weak do you imagine a scorps exoskeleton is...besides, unless you've fed them up to obese levels and only provided them with smooth surfaced furniture they aren't going to fall anyway.
You sure do state some weird things as fact throughout your posts on the forum....

Den TF is just trying to help. That being said I know some of what he said isn't totally realistic. I do have different levels but they have still clashed once that I know of. They do like to climb and one of them has fallen off of the cave while throng to scale up the side of the enclosure ( I have since moved the cave to the middle so that doesn't happen) and of course it landed just fine on the substrate and walked away. I think things have worked out fine so far. I have several hides and two water dishes on opposite ends of the enclosure. Any tips are welcome though.

guats85 wrote:

Den TF is just trying to help.

I don't see it that way....Not all help is necessarily good help. TF consistently gives out incorrect and fancifull advice which in a worst case scenario could be detrimental.
Not just that.....A lot of myths are started by someone throwing out a thought/idea, that thought/idea doesn't get challenged or is accepted because on the face of it, it seems reasonable and before you know it it's being regurgitated across the boards as lore by every noob and his dog.

No, these things have to be nipped in the bud less they take hold..

Regarding your call for tips, it seems to me as if you have things under control...although maybe more focus on giving them a deep substrate than decorating the surface with furniture might be worth a thought.

I understand your point. I have thought about increasing the substrate debts an additional few inches. It stands at about 4 now. They don't dig much though. They have a lot of hide and climbing options so they seem to keep occupied with those.