Scorpion hunting in winter? Does anybody know?

okay I know it is probly a stupid question.
Have any of you ever tried to find them in winter? I live in central NM the winters here are semi mild. The sun is usually shining and bright. It is about 17-20 degrees @ night and 50 degrees average in the day. I know this is too cold for them to be active. But they must still be around dormant right? mainly what I find are texas yellows and arizona bark. I read that they congregate during winter months in groups of up to 30.

Should I look in usual spots or do they burrow in for winter?

I've tried scorpion-hunting in the colder months both in the Columbia Gorge (December) and in Western Oregon (October) to no avail, both in areas where U. mordax had been found in the summer. I'm not sure where they go -- maybe they just burrow deeper -- but we sure had a hard time finding any.

You could give it a shot, 'cause the species you're looking for are less prone to burrowing than the ones I was trying to find.

(Also, you need to be more specific than "Texas yellow" -- common names are all but useless.)

Well what I am going for is Centruroides sculpturatus Arizona Bark scorp. I will try this weekend and let you guys know.

hey, good luck! Always fun hunting for inverts

You won't find the barks in below zero. You can try. Maybe you are better than I. But I've been hunting this winter, I was out a couple days ago....

I still find them under rocks in their scrapes. But the "chilling" groups are hard to find. I look in the tree trunks, and everywhere else too, usually just find lizards in there....

I've found C. vittatus and P. reddelli in 45*F weather. But sometimes, they are seemingly frozen. Be really careful if it's below freezing as they are brittle. I haven't broken any,.. but I could see it happening.

Oh, and I'm hitching out to the desert next week for hunting! Good luck. and send updates!

***edit*** Okay, so I find lizards pretty boring. But, I did get a great surprise last week or two, hiking and flipping rock, and grab this giant rock, hoping to find a nice big scorp, flip it, and it's a 12" bodied Texas alligator lizard showing me it's blue tongue. That's a cool lizard. And a nice surprise for someone flipping rocks, expecting to find a 2" scorp!

btw, I don't collect reptiles in my house or nature. I had a gecko once, and snakes as a kid, but I'm all invert now....

I will temporarily house a reptile if I disturb it during winter in a way that it cant get into a safe place, or if I find it unable to fend for its self. I had to that with a western diamondback he was so cold I found him in a walmart parking lot.about 8" long had only 2 rattles. Let him go in mid spring. as far is it goes i prefer inverts. I am waiting for my UV flashlight to come in. Ebay rocks it is a 51 UV LED light for $11.00 with shipping. so man I cant wait.



[EDIT] If you want to see the store/ buy one PM me and I will email you a link

Oh, this lizard was fine. Extremely defensive. Nice deep burrow under 80 lb rock. Plus, you have to be careful.
Many people refuse to "rewild". Unfortunately, there are higher incidences of mites (foreign?), disease, nematodes, etc, in our feeders. Our roaches are much safer, particularly if you are a maniac about keeping their cages clean.

If you are feeding from pet store feeders, from most lpss, re-wilding is extremely risky, not for the animal, but the entire ecosystem!

I don't know what you use for feeders, and I am guessing that YOU know all of this info, but for any that follow and don't...


Check out the Alligator Lizard!

https://s619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/Nomadinexile/Current2wedJan20/Reptiles/?action=view&current=IMG_4294.jpg


**Edit** I have two A49's. And I have people here in town that will build me custom ones....

nice alligator lizard! I went hiking in the Los Padres Nat. Park area and saw one that was about 1.5 feet long! It had a gorgeous color too, nice deep black color patterns on its back and along the tail. It was a perfect specimen, the tail was flawless - I should've caught the bastard!

I went this weekend and found a lot of grubs wolf spiders, crickets, ear wigs, and I collected some rollie pollies. No scorps though. Maybe next weekend, with my new flashlight