Setting a future scorpion goal

The result of my downsizing is that I now have almost exclusively communal scorpions that I'd eventually like all in display setups . . . so I thought to myself today in class, "how exactly do I want to go about that?"

The dimensions I came up with arbitrarily put the two left tanks at 6' x 2' -- if they have square cross-sections, then around 150 gallons!



Clockwise from upper left: H. longimanus, C. margaritatus, T. stigmurus, C. vittatus, H. judaicus, U. mordax, and P. imperator. The whole display would be about 12 feet long by 4 feet high. I'd have to spend a lot of money for a system where I could slide the tanks out to work on each one, especially 'cause false bottoms will make the two on the left VERY heavy.

Each tank has a background photo from the country the species is native to (in the case of the US species, from a specific area they're found in).

Each will also be labeled:


I wonder how long it will be til I have this setup. (This also assumes that I'll be able to raise my one C. margaritatus to maturity and find it a mate.)

Awesome plan, i would love to do something similar when I get my own place

yeah, sounds like a sweet idea, those background shots are great!

Nice...I like your prototype. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while with about 200 5 gallons. But the more and more I observe scorpion the more I think tupperware might be the best choice.

I'd definitely have another shelf full of tupperware and vials that contained the juvies that weren't ready for the communities yet. I'm just tired of only having a small window into each of my tanks without taking them off the shelf.

For some reason my label prototype file got screwed up, but it would include a map of each species' range done in Google Earth and Photoshop. All I need to find are maps of C. margaritatus and H. judaicus ranges.

that's pretty sweet mike. I am in the middle of buying a house so I need to start a project of my own. I show my animals off a lot so something like that would be cool. The only problem is that they always hide.

Athlon2k2 wrote:

The only problem is that they always hide.

Hence the sliding shelf system for easy access.

Of course, if the way my juvie emp and het communities have burrowed is any indication of what adults would do, I'll have a big fancy display tank of dirt. That's why it would be nice to have a couple bark species since they're always out.

I've also seen some people cut PVC pipes in half and place them against the glass as starter burrows -- I could try doing that with a layer of something on the plastic to make it look more "natural."

wide bits of bamboo work well and look natural

I used a piece from the base of a palm branch.

I did a few calculations in class . . .

For the substrate depths I want, I would need 14 cubic feet of coconut fiber and almost six cubic feet of gravel for false-bottoms. (The only tanks without false-bottoms are the C. vittatus and H. judaicus, and the latter is the only tank without coconut fiber.)

The coconut fiber translates to 56 compressed bricks. At $5 a brick that's $280, or $185 if I can get the "three for $10" deal. Hopefully I could find it in bulk (though most of the places I found it in bulk, it's in unground (stringy) bales).

As far as the gravel goes, I found expanded clay pellets at $30 for a 50-liter bag. I could pick up four of those for $120 and have a little extra. (If it turns out that they absorb water, then I wouldn't use them -- I'd rather have something that would displace the water and reduce weight a little bit.)


Total cost of substrate (minus sand): $400

wow, that's pretty pricey, but! i'm sure it would be worth it

Thats a lot for substrate. Are you sure 54 is accurate?

No, but I'm sure 56 is accurate.

The two large tanks on the left have base dimensions 2' x 6', the bark tanks on the right each 2' square, and the mordax tank underneath is 3' x 2' (these measurements do not reflect heights).

I want the two large tanks to have four inches of coco fiber on one half, with a slope covering one half that reaches a depth of 10 inches on one side.

The bark tanks will each have one inch of fiber, and the mordax will have it to a depth of four inches.

. . . . . . . . . . . . "wedge" of slope . . rectangle . depth
(2 large tanks) x [((0.5 x 6" x 36") + (4" x 72")) x 24"] +
(3 bark tanks) x (1" x 24" x 24") +
(1 mordax tank) x (4" x 36" x 24") =
24,192 cubic inches =
14 cubic feet

One brick expands to 7 to 8 liters, and that equates to ~0.25 cubic feet. Ergo, 56 bricks yields 14 cubic feet.

See signature . . .

Yeah I understand Mike. I'm working on my degree in Electrical Engineering. I think I misunderstood how large your project will actual be. So is the depth you are looking for before or after settling of the substrate and how packed do you want it? You have to account for some lose in depth.

what happens when you have to do a full clean of the cages and change the substrate??????

More money...

If there's significant settling, I'd probably just top it off as necessary.

_scorpio_ wrote:

what happens when you have to do a full clean of the cages and change the substrate??????

Since when do you have to do a full substrate change?

Tank-cleaning can be accomplished with isopods and removal of leftovers and casualties.

True that...I have only done a few full substrate changes. That is generally because of I'm revamping the setup.

yeah, scorpions don't make much mess anyways... apart from the cricket legs, and mushed up balls of cuticle they leave behind.

When I've dug around in tanks that I haven't changed in a year or more it has a nice "earthy" smell to it. The coconut fiber takes forever to decay and when it does it's like it just turns to soil.

Thank you, Google Sketchup.


(work in progress)

This arrangement puts the heaviest tanks just on the floor, and with front access panels, I wouldn't have to worry about sliding shelves and whatnot.

sweet! I never knew there was any such thing as google sketchup.

To do:
Color substrate appropriately where it meets the glass
Add in tank decorations (could be awkward doing corkbark in Google SketchUp)
Color front glass panels
Get a bigger home
Build it!!

I cant wait to see it finished mate looks really awsome