Euscorpius flavicaudis Discussion Thread

Hi all thought we should start a discussion thread about these lovely scorps, specially as they are the only species colonising anywhere in the UK.

Will be good to hear peoples thoughts on what substrate you think they should be on considering they live in a wall and wether the should be kept communally or not so anyways im gonna start off with a few pics and a link to the original Sheerness post

Sheerness Post

Pictures :

Sweeet pics!

I'm really not sure about the substrate, maybe they don't want to be on the substrate at all and stay up in between rocks like they would be in the wall.

This pic belongs in here, I'll add more soon.

Euscorpius flavicaudis:

awesome pics cant wait till we have our macro lense

and yeah i guess as long as there is rocks they can choose for themselve that way at least you have the humidity if they need it who knows maybe they go down behind the wall to some soil when they need it lol? who knows, actually i dont even know whats behind the wall...

good idea bex... nice pics, jamie's pic is better

*~BEX~* wrote:

and yeah its up to you but we use a coco fiber sand mix with more sand about 70/30 as the way i see it they live in a wall they have no contact with soil or anything that perticularly holds humidity atall so am scared of putting them to close to moisture, i know that the E.flavs from other places may be burrowers and stuff but ours deffo are not lol you should get down there sometime and see for yourself

not one of ours has ever burrowed and tend to prefer sitting on whatever rock/brick piece/bark there is in the enclosure.

what are yours doing we have one that will go under the brick but hang upside down so they are not touching the substrate at all...

I think I will swap to a similar mix to yours. Less substrate and more rocks would maybe be better as well, also dryer. I wouldn't be too worried about moisture though, think of our winters. I need a brick to break up aswell, only got slate at the moment.

Mine are sitting under a rock and on a rock if you know what I mean, between rocks.

Definitely got to get my self down there at some point, maybe after SEAS would be easier for me but that's a way off anyway.

right the bit of wall where we find them has a large green area behind it, between two rows of houses/buildings dunno if that means anything?

how far away is it for you Jay? it only takes us about 45mins-1 hour to get there

is that google m aps screenshot where the wall is? looks amazingly different..
i think we're only about half an hour away

Erm I'd have to check but I think a couple of hours so easily do-able. I've been saying since last year I've got to get down there

These are soon pics fom the other gut that came with us to sheerness, this is his first time with scorpions and i think he likes them lol im pretty sure one of his are deffo gravid lucky git lol












and heres some of my most recent enclosure for our baby EFS (gonna call them EFS lol)

nice pics bex.. what is EFS then? any relevance to scorpions lol?

yes lol EFS=Euscorpius flavicaudis

makes sense.. stupid tom
*slaps self*

lol silly tom *bex slaps tom also*

my brother is called Thomas

People over here have kept them succesfully.

They made sure it had 25-28 degrees during summer, with a decline in temperature at night.
They gave it 20-22 degrees during winter months, after which they flourished.

Best to keep them on gravel, dry clay stones.. Not too humid, just like our humidity but a bit more arid.

They misted the enclosure lightly once a week.

Basically what bex is doing! And in reference to the first picture.. you have quite the chubby checker over there!

wow.. 25 degrees.
i don't think these ones would do as well at those temps.. they have been adapting to it for 150 years, how many generations is that? i'm trying to figure that one out, but they must have acclimatised to our climate.

Hmm you could be right. It is 31 degrees here now though

ours survive below 0° temps through some bad parts of winter! i found a write up that says this...

30°C (86°F) at daytime and around 22°C (68°F) at night in the summer and around 15/13°C (59/55.5°F) in winter, but in nature they live at higher and lower temperatures, even below 0° (32°F).

we just keep ours at room temp not heating need just leave them to it lol

Family: Euscorpiidae
Subgenus: Tetratrichobothrius
Species: Euscorpius flavicaudis
Common name: European yellow tailed scorpion
Distribution: West of Europe (Italy, France, Spain), North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia). Introduced in Great Britain (South South-East of England) and South America (Uruguay)
Habitat: Temperate zones in humid areas
Venom: Not considered medical important. It is Harmless for healthy humans


General

Euscorpius flavicaudis is one of the largest members of the genus, and it can reach lengths of 3.3/4.5 cm (1.3/1.7 inch).
This species is a small/medium-small scorpion, with a blackish/black-brownish body and with a yellow/yellowish-beige telson and legs. The chela manus can be brown/reddish. The Patella of pedipalp has an internal tubercle.
It is a typical harmless scorpion with large and strong pedipalps, a stout body and a thin "tail" (metasoma).
This scorpion is found most of all in tyrrhenian regions, in humid areas as forests, fields, woodshed, under stones and can also be found in old houses, in cracks and crevices in walls and ruins etc.



How to differentiate the E. flavicaudis from others Euscorpius spp

To start getting a valid ID of these scorpions, you look at the telson and leg colour. If the telson and legs are darkish/brownish, it is likely to be E. Italicus. If they are bright or yellowish, then you look at body's colour. If it is reddish/brown , it is likely to be "E. carpathicus complex" (E. tergestinus, E. sicanus etc.). If it is blackish/brown dark with yellowish/beige legs and telson, it is likely Euscorpius flavicaudis.
But the most accurate method to determine the species is looking at the trichobothria ventrally on the chela manus and/or the trichobothria ventrally on the patella:
Euscorpius flavicaudis usually has 5 (sometimes 6) trichobothria ventrally on the chela manus just before the movable fingers, and it usually has 13 (sometimes 10/13) trichobotria ventrally on the patella.
Euscorpius italicus has at least 7 trichobothria ventrally on the chela manus just before the movable fingers.
"ex Euscorpius carpathicus complex" has 4 trichobothria ventrally on the chela manus just before the movable fingers.
To differentiate E. flavicaudis from subgenus Alpiscorpius, you look at the telson and leg colour, at the size (Alpiscorpius doesn’t overstep 3.8 cm (1.5 inches)) and above all the areas of discovery.

Sexing

To distinguish the sex the following factors can be taken into consideration:
The line of the body; the male is more slender than female.
The size of pedipalpi; the male has larger claws and strong and aven have most pronounced teeth on the chela manus.
The size of the telson; it's larger in males.
The length of the pectines; the male has longer pectines, with a larger number of teeth than the female. The male has from 9 to 11 teeth that overstep the first strnite, whilst the female has 7-9.

Childbirth


Gestation period should be 10/14 months, according to the quantity of food available and the climate.
The mother-to-be will look for a hidden and humid place to give birth directly to the living scorpling, from a few to about thirty scorplings white, soft and swollen.
The mother will be placed raised forelegs, to facilitate the release of children, then they will climb on the back of their mother, where they will remain until the first molt (approximately six days).
After that, the scorplings will start to wander in the surrounding areas but remaining around the hole all together for a few days. The scorplings should be separeted to avoid cannibalism.
The young scorpions will reach the adulthood after one or two years from birth, In this time it may happen from time to time that we see the scorpion "swollen" and it stops eating. It hides itself for a lot of time, probably the next time it shows itself it will be more larger.
The moment of molt (ecdysis) and of the post-molt are the most delicate and dangerous, because they are helpless, unable to defend themselves and the exoskeleton isn't still hard.

Keeping in captivity

The Euscorpius flavicaudis are solitary, they aren't communal scorpions.
The only contact with others Euscorpius flavicaudis (besides from attacking them) they are for the opposite sex only for the time required for mating. there are known acts of cannibalism.
As all Euscorpius sp , this is an easy scorpion to keep, It is suitable for a beginner.
The container should be 15x20 cm (6x8 inch) for one scorpion, 25x25 cm (10x10 inch) for two scorpions. Give them a layer of peat at least about 5 cm (2 inch). (you can use a peat sand mix)
These scorpions can live in temperatures around 30°C (86°F) at daytime and around 22°C (68°F) at night in the summer and around 15/13°C (59/55.5°F) in winter, but in nature they live at higher and lower temperatures, even below 0° (32°F).
The humidity should be around 70/85%. Provide high ventilation to prevent mildews.
Like all scorpions, the Euscorpius flavicaudis accept crickets, mealworms, cockroaches and also Oniscidea and others Aracnidae etc.
Give them food once per week and remove the prey if they not eaten after 2/3 days. also remove left-overs, this helps reduce the chance of attracting mites.
The Euscorpius scorpions are timid and feel easily annoyed, especially when they eat, and they could leave the prey .
These scorpions do use their sting enough to capture prey, specially if the prey is strong.

nice bex.. again, does this apply to native specimins?
the sheppey ones are quite communal apart from when you have a gravid fmale

Well I'm not so sure now lol but yeah I would say this applies more to the foreign species I know ours live in the same wall but they have a lot of room to escape each other in said wall, so I suppose as long as yr communal setup has enough space and hides they should be fine!

I plan to keep all our babies together in one tank so will see what happens i guess lol

yeah. one would think that the siblings should get on far better than any other scorpion.

well lets hope so a lol they have all scurried off to there own hiding places atm need to leave them a few days to harden up then will feed them this is my first lot of babies so really worried lol

Neat scorpion. At least you guys find them there. I live in Louisiana and I can't seem to find a single scorpion. It's actually quite frustrating.

they are quite cool, they are the most sctive out of all of ours by far too