How did you pick yours up the first time?

I havent held my female because she's a gravid ill tempered with lasers attached to her head.

But my male is so mellow and calm, he doesnt attack me when I pet his claws or his back but gets defensive sometimes if I touch his tail. Im newish in the hobby. And the only time ive held my emp was when the guy sold it to me and put it in my hand. And when I let him crawl outa the box onto my hand.

I know its not recomended to hold them but its kinda fun, plus its good for maintaning the tanks.
What im gettin to really is how did you work up to pick one up from the tail, and for the critters sake what do you grab?
I gues they have tongs but I cant really tell how hard im scqueezin thoughs, plus there like 8 bucks to do somethin I should be able to do free, I could get another scorpion for that much!!

Not using tongs is a good idea for the reason you stated -- so a point to you.

The way I do it is I gently grasp the segment behind the telson (the fifth metasomal segment) and quickly lift them up and set them on a flat surface, such as my hand. Minimal time in the air means minimal stress to the animal, and less time for them to bend back up and nab you with the pinchers, at which point most people will release the stinger and give the scorp an opportunity to use it.

I've used this for scorps as large as emps and as small as U. mordax. I don't think I'd use it on my H. longimanus because she's so large I'd worry about her weight causing injury. I've used it on H. paucidens as well, but that has been considered risky because their metasoma is not very robust and may not be able to support their weight, either.

Also, use caution when tailing species with very short tails -- it's easy to grasp the wrong segment, giving them enough flexibility to nail your thumb. That's how myself and at least one other person have experienced a Hadogenes sp. sting.

Ill have to give it a try, the spot you grab was my biggest question.
I never knew exactly where they grabbed, I knew the general area but I was scarred of pickin em up and breakin the telson off..
Never thought of it bendin backwards and clawin me hah

Mr. Mordax wrote:

The way I do it is I gently grasp the segment behind the telson (the fifth metasomal segment) and quickly lift them up .

only if its on something like coco fibre, if you do this when it is on something like cork bark where it can hold on you could do damage

I put my one hand on the ground and gently push them with the other so they walk onto my hand by themselves. Can also gently push with tongs if they seem ready to pinch.

_scorpio_ wrote:

if you do this when it is on something like cork bark where it can hold on you could do damage

Good point; forgot to mention that.

SickOfYou wrote:

Never thought of it bendin backwards and clawin me hah

See picture:



(Clickable for gallery)

I tail my scorpions. quick, easy, and shouldn'T damage if your gentle. sometimes they reach up though like in the pic, so just put a pensil in it's way or somethng and it should grasp onto that instead.

Uh, don't you mean shouldn't?

lol!

yes I mean shouldn't lol.

Cup method