General description:
These wonderful scorpions (ranging between 70–110 mm in length) are a beautiful, glossy black, with slightly reddish brown chelae and telson. Hottentotta gentili occur in Morocco and Algeria, and they are one of the most dangerous scorpion species there, killing several people each year (primarily children). Their highly territorial behaviour is one of the main reasons for this. Instead of running, they tend to stand their ground. Several of my specimens even approaches and attacks anything that comes within its range, so care should be taken during maintenance, feeding and rehousing. They are very, VERY prone to sting. NEVER handle these!
Care:
I've been keeping mine on a substrate consisting of a mix of cocopeat (+/- 25%) and sand (75%). I provided some rocks and pieces of wood for them to be able to hide whenever they want, although they're generally out in the open (this differs among individual specimens: some hide a lot, while others are nearly always visible).
I keep them at a temperature of about 34 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, for 12 hours a day. During the night, I let it drop to room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 Fahrenheit, or a bit less during the winter). This following fact might seem quite controversial, but I keep the heating mat
underneath half of the enclosures, to heat the substrate during the day. Since these are a lithophilic (rock-loving) species that do not burrow, I guessed they would be used to high temperatures. I seem to be right, as most of my specimens have moulted into adulthood without any problems. The only losses I suffered were caused by rampant crickets that I had not noticed prior to their moult.
I fed them twice a week when they were younger (instar 2). After they moulted to instar 3, I started feeding them once a week, with an appropriately sized prey item. I lightly mist slightly less than a quarter of the enclosure once a week.
When I gain even more experience with these (i.e. successfully breeding them, etc.), I will expand this care sheet. For now, I hope this information was useful!
Young specimen, instar 3 (freshly moulted)
Juvenile, instar 4 (freshly moulted)
Sources:
www.hottentotta.com (for the general info)
Serket, the Arachnological Bulletin of the Middle East and North Africa, Volume 13, September 2012 (for the information about the venom potency)
My own experience
Pics were made by my father
