Has anyone experimented with keeping other inverts with scorpions? Either to have them breed and be eaten by scorpions,or as 'custodians',eating leftovers and other organic material that may otherwise grow fungus,mould or rot if left.
The danger of course is that they may feed on moulting scorpions or disturb females giving birth.
Originally I added scorpions to my wood cockroach set-ups,these enclosures were already set up in a manner such as you might set up for rainforest or mesic scorpion species,a gravel false bottom and 100% coir peat,with plenty of wood,bark and leaf litter. However,since doing this I've been told by a couple of people that wood roaches may eat a moulting scorpion,although no examples were offered. Three Cercophonius squama were added to one enclosure,three Liocheles waigiensis (Hormurus waigiensis?) to another. I haven't checked on the waigiensis as yet,I will soon when I receive the UV flashlights I've ordered,there's just too much decor to search by eye alone. A couple of months after the Cercophonius squama were added I did look in that enclosure and found two quite easily lifting wood,they were healthy and fat,the third may have been buried in the substrate,or perhaps eaten by the other scorps or roaches,I haven't ruled out it still being in there though,I plan a thorough search using the UV light soon.
Currently I am trying Slaters/pillbugs in the scorpion tanks,I figured the soft babies may be eaten by scorpions,and they will eat left over cricket bits and any fungus present. I chose Porcellio scaber over Armadillidium vulgare as they are less omnivorous than A. vulgare,largely preferring decaying vegetation and fungus as their diet. I can report that adding one large P. scaber to a small tank all but eliminated the white fungus/mould growing on the wood in that tank. I added them to three communal tanks,containing colonies of Isometrus melanodactylus,Lychas marmoreus and Lychas 'spinatus'. Of course it's hard to tell if any scorpions are missing,you wouldn't expect them to all be visible at the one time,but they seem to be co-inhabiting quite well.
Has anyone tried similar 'natural' type situations where these or other inverts are kept with scorpions? My ultimate aim is to have as close to self contained scorpion enclosures as possible.
