Hadrurus Arizonensis set up question?

Alright so I just bought one from The Spider Shop, asked for delivery specifically on Monday, so tomorrow I'm using my day off to buy a few things for it.

What would you suggest I put in it's tub, decoration wise? Also, I know they like to burrow, so is coarse sand, or fine sand better? And what could I mix with the sand to make it better at holding it's shape?

Fine sand should be okay, mixed with cocofiber, 70/30, sand/cocofiber mix should be ok. Make sure you wet it and pack it down really well in order for it to hold a burrow.

As for decorations, anything really. They like to burrow under things such as a large rock or piece of wood sunk into the substrate. One tip is, place the piece of furniture on the bottom, or on an inch or two of substrate, then add another 3-4 inches of substrate, that way the thing can't sink onto the scorpion.

Hope that was all understandable and helpful!

Don't worry I understood it haha.

Thanks dude

for ours we used 80/20 mix of 80 normal sand to 20 excavator sand/clay to make sure burrows hold and stuff, think it would look messy mixing sand and cocoa fibre together but each to there own heres a pic of ours..



and a guy on here made an awesome setup recently...Nev here is a link to his topic...

https://scorpionforum.darkbb.com/t5644-new-terrarium-of-desert-doom-or-something-like-that

231bex wrote:

for ours we used 80/20 mix of 80 normal sand to 20 excavator sand/clay to make sure burrows hold and stuff, think it would look messy mixing sand and cocoa fibre together but each to there own heres a pic of ours..

That's exactly what I've done. The shop didn't have any coco fibre, so I asked the bloke and he dug out the last 5lbs bag of excavator buried under some black sand.

Mixed it with 20lbs of Sonoran desert sand. It's worked quite well I think, definitely holding it's shape, and should be dried by tomorrow afternoon. Just have to wait for the little bugger to arrive now.

That sounds perfect! Glad you were able to find that stuff

Hope you enjoy your new little guy.

Okay, I just had a peek at the hygrometer and the thermometer.

Problem: The humidity is at 80 bloody percent and the temperature is at 76°F.

New fella arrives on Tuesday, so obviously I really need to dry the tank up quickly. I need to bunk up the heat aswell. It's only being heated with a heat mat at the moment (because it was the cheapest option at the time).

Suggestions?

You will need more than a heat Matt for these guys get a infrared heat bulb, and it will take about a week to dry out normally, it will e fine in a temp box of loose sand, we had to do the same when ours didn't dry out in time, a small box of sand with a hide will be fine for it for now

Surprisingly, I've managed to almost completely dry it out. I buried about 50 tissues in the substrate with the ends sticking out of the top. Sucked up the moisture like there was no tomorrow. I've managed to get the humidity down to 50-55%, which if I'm not mistaken is ideal for Desert Hairys.

About the heat, okay I'll get a heat lamp, he'll have to deal with a heat mat and my radiator being on full blast for now though. I can usually get the heat up to about 81°F that way. Shouldn't be too much of a problem for him, considering it's winter. It'll be toasty when the weather improves.

The roof of the tank I made myself so it looks like I'm going to have to dig the drill out again and put a hole suitable for a light fitting in it.

Now I'm annoyed/confused.

I dried the tank up before and got the humidity down to 45%, but as soon as I put it back on the shelf it started rising again, and now it's at 65%.

HELP???

Is it possible that the shelf is restricting air flow and you didn't get all of the moisture out of the sand yet?

Nope, the sand is bone dry, I can tell because I'm picking up big clumps and none of it sticks to my hand. It's truly arid.

It must be the air, I think a miniature dehumidifier is in order.

For the time being though the new arrival should be fine.

you did not mention were the heat source was or anything but
some times if the water dish is to large it can change the humility by more than you want
if it is by the heat source just a thought..

There isn't a water dish in there. I'm putting a bottle cap of water in there tomorrow, to see how it deals with it, incase it just ignores it or something.

And the heat mat is on the side panel of the tank.

I literally have no idea what is causing this. I'll move the Hygrometer around the tank, it might just be around a wet patch.

Have you tried taking the hygrometer out and seeing how it reads the air? Often hygrometers can be unreliable...

That's what I've been thinking. I moved it to an even drier part of the tank and the gauge shot up to 80%.

I bet I just have a broken gauge.

sasha beet me to it but my next Q was about the gauge, lol
sounds like it is broke man,