new to scorpions and have a couple of questions

im looking into getting a scorpion prob a forest scorpion and was wondering whats the best substrat is? can the heat mat go on the bottom of the tank aswell?

The best substrate in my opinion for the forest types would be Eco Earth which is coco fiber....most all pet stores carry it. Peat without fertilizer is used by lots of people, but coco fiber doesn't go bad for a long long time. You'll like it. Just make sure you give it 4 to 6 inches or so to make burrows in as they like to dig. Because scorpions will dig down to escape the heat it is never a good idea to put the heat mat on the bottom...stick it to one side of the tank. This way you get a warm side and a cool side so your scorpion can choose their own temp...I think the technical term is that it allows the scorpion to thermoregulate to their preferred temp. Welcome to the forum. You will learn a lot of great info here.

thanks so what is a nice type of forest scorpion i dont like emps tho i would like a type that uses its stinger

"forest" scorpions are generally quite large and don't waste venom on prey when they can easily just crush it. (if you are feeding small prey items, that is)

you might try looking into Heterometrus if you don't want an Emp. they are asian species, very simmilar to emps. well, most of them are. species like spinifer, longimanus, etc. can be kept the same way.

H.spin is a giant forest scorpion. They hardly sting. They would prefer to use their claws. Any scorp with large strong "pinchers" aren't likely to sting. Scorps with long slender pedipalps sting more often but usually aren't recommended for beginners. Also don't feed your scorp large prey so you can watch it sting. Larger prey can often turn the tables especially larger mice who are often immune to scorpion venom.

Look who it is

thanks every one are WC scorps ok to keep iv found a spinifer its about 7cm atm

AshMashMash we must stop meeting like this

WC scorpions are fine to keep! Most in the trade are WC. Spinifers are menacing looking always seem to be in threat positon. I've just got a couple of those.

BTW welcome to the forum

firstly welcome to the forum.

spinifers, as mentioned, are a good starter scorpion with a little more attitude than an emperor. and they are absolute bulldozers!!! in the last month mine have shifted a good 2 litres of substrate!!!

Wild caught are usually fine... adult females tend to be gravid most of the time when you get them

All the different hets I have show a lot of attitude. They are pretty neat scorpions. And the only time I have ever seen a spinnie sting is when i fed locusts to them.

thanks well iv hurd they get quite big aswell any idea what size they normaly get to?

usually around the 6" mark

unless of course you fancy a h.swammerdammi then you will have a monster on your hands lmao! they are the worlds largest scorpion in weight mass!
I think the hadogenes beats them slightly in length though.

so what size does the biggest get?

a good 8-9" long and weigh in at about 56g

I saw an adult female at the newark show last year... she was chuffing ma-hoo-sive!

LadyRiotControl wrote:

a good 8-9" long and weigh in at about 56g

I saw an adult female at the newark show last year... she was chuffing ma-hoo-sive!

thats a monster lol i know iv asked loads of questions but iv got just one more lol

should the eco earth be wet or dry? iv just soaked a block in water and put it in a large eca-terra and its quite wet should i leave it or squeeze most of the water out of it?

it doesn't want to be soaking but wants to be fairly wet. lightly squeeze the substrate if it's soaking wet as you are putting it into the enclosure to get rid of the excess water.

squeeze most of the water out of it you don't want it dripping wet so did you get a spinifer?

thanks

and i havnt got it yet im just messing around trying to set it up and get the heat right atm im going to ring up the place in the morning and see if they have any instock and get them to post it monday and hopefuly it will be a spinifer

i keep reptiles so hopefuly i should be able to look after a scorpion

you cant really go wrong with spinnies, unless you dry them out lol! pretty robust scorpion.

It's good to get an enclosure ready so that it is at proper temperature for your new additions.

LadyRiotControl wrote:

you cant really go wrong with spinnies, unless you dry them out lol! pretty robust scorpion.

It's good to get an enclosure ready so that it is at proper temperature for your new additions.

well that gives me best part of 5 days to play around with the set up its will be in a eca terra large plastic viv for a couple of weeks intill i can get a clearseal tank

LadyRiotControl wrote:

a good 8-9" long and weigh in at about 56g

I saw an adult female at the newark show last year... she was chuffing ma-hoo-sive!

the biggest scorp ever caught was a hetrometrus swammerdami I think it was just under 10 " long

diabollicallycursed wrote:

mice who are often immune to scorpion venom.

Excuse me?

Like grasshopper mice? I'll send you the link.

ok there are two species of grasshopper mice (common feeders here) that are totally immune to any scorpion venom. Sorry not ALL mice.

he be speakin' da truth :spidey:

Citation please? I'm not aware of anything that's immune to scorpion venom besides other scorpions (of the same species). Though I am aware that most scorpion venoms' functionality is primarily tied to arthropod physiology.