New Hadrurus Arizonensis

Hi all. Tomorrow I pick up my new scorp. As you can see from the picture, it's a fat little bugger. Would you say this is due to an imminent moult? If so do any of you have any tips on a Hadrurus moult as I believe they can be difficult in comparison to an emperor.

Anyone? I don't want to go pick this up if it's in an already stressful state, this is my first desert scorpion so don't want to find my feet with it if it's ready for a moult or gravid. Forget it being a waste of money, it wouldn't be fair on the scorpion to stress it more and possibly kill it off.

Any help here??

I would say ask if it's been fed allot recently. It could simply have pigged out. If they say no then it is most likely going to moult if it's a younger adult (i would ask its age and if they know the sex). If you can determine the sex before official purchase and it's a female and hasn't been fed much and is adult(even a younger adult) then you may want to be suspicious. Especially so if they got the scorp as an adult. I hope that helps in some way

Thanks for the help.

It's here at home with me now. I asked pretty much exactly that when I was in there earlier. The woman said that the other shop, from which they brought it in, had been over feeding it. It's last molt was about a month ago and it's been kept on it's own. Now it's home it doesn't look as chucky as it does in the pic i was sent. Still a porky bugger though.

Fingers crossed they've told the truth and all will be fine. Time will tell i suppose.

I'm being really presumptuous here, but I doubt that the scorpion moulted a month ago. Whilst adults of this species are very easy to care for, juveniles are amongst the hardest scorpions to raise in captivity because it's so difficult to get them to moult successfully.

Those that have had success raising juvenile H. arizonensis usually did so by providing a humidity gradient in a deep substrate that allowed the creation of burrows. Not on unconsolidated, slightly damp looking sand, as pictured above.

The scorpion will definitely be a wild caught animal, so finding out its age is impossible. Adults will be 4'' + in size (end of telson to chelicerae), so if it's this size you shouldn't have to worry about it moulting. If it's smaller then it's probably a sub-adult and will at some point try to moult to the next instar. My advice in this case would be to do plenty of research on housing this species correctly (there are some good threads on here and some of the other scorpion forums) and hope luck is on your side .

Can we get wild caught Haddies in the UK?

Question for anyone if they can help. I put a thermometer and hygrometer in when I got the scorpion and it read temp 65-75 C (Cool side to warm side) and humidity 70%. So I promptly ordered a top canopy with a day heat bulb to raise the temp and lower the humidity. While I've been awaiting delivery the humidity has dropped to 45%.
Is this too low for a Haddy as all the care sheets say 50-55%? I'm concerned that raising the temp will lower the humidity more so.

Any H. arizonensis in the UK will almost definitely be wild caught. Whilst this is one of the most commonly available scorpions, it is extremely difficult to raise young in captivity so captive bred specimens are never available.

If you have one of those cheap analogue hygrometers made by exo terra etc., ignore it. They're useless. If it's a reasonable quality one and is reading 45% then this is ideal. This species is highly prone to mycosis, a fungal infection normally caused by too high humidity. It causes black patches that often first appear on the legs and pedipalps. If the infection continues to spread, such as when the scorpion is kept long term at high humidity, then it will spread into the spiracles, lungs etc. and can kill the scorpion.

As general rule for adults and juveniles that are not nearing a moult, keep them as dry as possible. Hot during the day 28c+ with a drop at night. So long as your house isn't freezing, turning the enclosures heat source off at night is all you need to do. A winter cooling for a few months is also beneficial. For juveniles/sub-adults you will need to try to create some kind of humid area when they are nearing a moult, whilst also providing a mostly bone dry enclosure. Hence the mention of a deep substrate with a humidity gradient a few posts above.