stinging itself to death?

Please forgive a new thread but i have searched and searched and maybe am not putting in the proper words but found not one matching thread. My female H. petersii is STINGING HERSELF?!?! I think, she has her tail raised way over her body to the front of her head, she has thrown it to the side under her belly and back over again and is standing with her rump in the air and her tail raised as far as possible. She is out in the open and alone in the tank which has proper humidity and heating so I don't know what could be causing this. I was thinking maybe she was getting ready to give birth as I questioned her possibly being gravid when I rescued her but all videos I've seen that show the birthing process show nothing like this. Any advice? I thought maybe too hot as this can be a symptom of over heating but it doesn't appear the case here as the tank ranges between 80-90. Thanks in advance,

Kelly

Hi Kelly.

Your scorpion isn't stinging itself, much less to death. For starters, scorpions are immune to their own venom. Any stories about scorpions stinging themselves to death under any circumstances are complete myth.

Feel free to post a video, but it simply sounds to me that your scorpion is cleaning itself. Other than that however, it could be that something has effected the scorpion's nervous system and caused it to spasm, thus giving the appearance of it stinging itself. Again, feel free to post pictures or video if you're really concerned, but there's probably nothing to worry about.

Best,

Collin

Hey Kelly, as Collin posted above it is not stinging itself. And, I believe the scorpion in the photo looks to be a Pandinus imperator. I can see heavy granulation, round chela. H. petersii have very little to no granulation on their chela. Hope she/he is doing well

Ranchibi wrote:

Hey Kelly, as Collin posted above it is not stinging itself. And, I believe the scorpion in the photo looks to be a Pandinus imperator. I can see heavy granulation, round chela. H. petersii have very little to no granulation on their chela. Hope she/he is doing well

Yes it is, as it is not mine. I apologize for that. I found that pic on another site and as it was displaying the exact same behavior mine was I submitted here. I forgot, in my panic, to mention that. No answers yet as to what might be wrong. She managed later in the day to come down from her downward dog yoga pose and grabbed a cricket which she let go of after crushing it but not eating it. She is in her hide now doing her usual pet rock thing.

She is a rescue from deplorable conditions I've had for only two weeks or so now. No idea how old she is. She might be dying, or maybe gravid as she is a bit plump.

Will check later for mites etc or anything that might have disturbed her to the point she freaked out the way she did yesterday.

Thanks for advice,

Kelly

She could be in premolt too! Good luck with her.

Hi all. Just an update. This lovely creature has gone to the great burrow in the sky. I thought she was rather old, and the conditions she suffered at the pet concentration camp (I won't even give it the recognition of calling it a pet store) I rescued just were too much for her. I am now on a search for a replacement H. petersii, should anyone have one f/s. Thanks for all your replies,

Kelly

okay, this is just bizarre beyond bizarre!! i went to collect my little friend, and boom, she was not in the spot she had 'retired" in! i swear i poked her and prodded her and even sprayed a mist of water on her and not a movement, not a twitch, nada! She was in a prone position with her tail flat on the ground circled around her and now she's happily in her hide munching on a wax worm.... maybe she is getting ready to molt but from her pics she seems fully grown....







Well, these critters haven't lasted over a million years for nothing...

le sigh... I'm just happy my friend and i get to spend a few more days together..... but WOW!! Y'all should have seen the expression on my face!!!

Great to hear kellysaxez! One of my emps lays with her tail flat to the ground. She must have been in lala land when you prodded her the first time! LOL But, that sure was a bad scare from her. Glad she is doing well.

???? Okay this is way too much.. went to check on her this morning and she was lying in her water bowl as if she just laid down to die in it.... she is, most certainly this time, dead. I will leave her in the tank until the morning just to make sure and avoid any more close calls, but I picked her up and she is pretty lifeless...

I feel sooooooo sad She was pretty old, I thought perhaps she was gravid or something but just struggling to stay alive apparently.

I cried

I am so very sorry she passed on...you took good care of her in the short time you had her.

Sorry to hear that.

My condolences

Thank you all for your kind condolences. Should anyone know of any H. petersii for sale do let me know.
They are my fave Het spp.

I have heard that they do this behavior when the habitat is too hot for them

The behaviour originally asked about is called Stilting and is quite common,amongst a variety of Australian scorpion species anyway,most Urodacus species do this at least some of the time,some use that stance most of the time. Some think it may be to regulate heat or as a response to a damp substrate,but it is observed in the wild too. I'm not sure if it's natural in the species you have,but the pose in the original picture is exactly the pose natural to some Australian species I keep,I think it's a stance they take while waiting for prey,my Urodacus armatus,Urodacus elongatus and Urodacus novaehollandiae strike this pose most times while out of their burrows,both of my Urodacus manicatus and my Urodacus yaschenkoi do it less frequently.

Sorry to resurrect an ancient thread, but this sounds, to me, like like the scorpion had a parasite known as a mermithid worm. These parasitic nematodes infect invertebrates through them ingesting eggs in their drinking water. They are not a parasite found in captive born animals, but can be found in wild caught specimens.

The parasite grows inside the host until it reaches maturity. This makes the host look distended or gravid. Once the parasite is mature it causes the host to behave in a very strange fashion, ultimately causing the host to seek out water. When the host reaches water the parasite breaks out of the host and enters the water to release eggs, ready for the cycle to repeat.

It's not a common sight, the only time I have ever seen it IRL is in a grasshopper that I rescued from a puddle in Scotland. It immediately jumped back in. I did this a number of times before giving up and watching. Within minutes of the grasshopper entering the puddle there emerged about a foot and half of dark, slender worm that seemed totally at home in the puddle.

Just like this:

Youtube: Ap8Ts6lv_k0

While not often seen in the wild as this final stage of the life cycle is over very quickly, it's more commonly seen in invertebrates that are killed with bug spray, as the death of the host prompts the parasite to emerge. As per this lovely video from YouTube:

Youtube: 4E5vUUtSWT4

It would not completely surprise me that a scorpion that felt something moving within it might try and sting the source (perhaps assuming that is was on top of the animall?) and I do wonder if perhaps infection with these parasites is what is responsible for the reports of scorpions that look like they are "stinging themselves to death".

Cheers,

Lee.