Is my girl molting or dead?

She was pretty active the last few nights. This morning I noticed she was laying there, her tail to the side, but on the ground...still curled. The rest of her body looks normal, claws in a good position, legs in normal resting position. As far as I can tell, she hasn't moved at all though. I didn't want to disturb her in case she is molting, and I don't handle her anyways. We have the mutual "i wont hurt you if you dont hurt me" pact Anyways, I've taken out the crickets and have done the daily moisturizing of the tank. Any comments or suggestions? I hope she's ok...Ava is a sweetie.

Sound like you are all prep up for her incoming molt. She'll do just fine.

to the forum

Thanks for the quick response. I hope you're right. It would break my heart if she passed away. And thanks for the welcome

This is a kind of silly question, but when they molt, is it kind of like when tarantulas do and it looks like a shell of what they are, or more like beardies who loose a little at a time?

It's more like Ts do.
Check this thread: WHO MOLTED TODAY? "Share your joy here!" lots of good molting and post-molt pics there. And please do post yours too.

sarah242k wrote:

Thanks for the quick response. I hope you're right. It would break my heart if she passed away. And thanks for the welcome

This is a kind of silly question, but when they molt, is it kind of like when tarantulas do and it looks like a shell of what they are, or more like beardies who loose a little at a time?

I do not have a sample for forest scorpions but the molting process is similar to the following:



However, they have a few methods of going through a molt. Other than the above demonstration..

They can molt back-flipped (just like some tarantulas):
http://gsscorpions82.multiply.com/photos/album/1/Parabuthus_transvaalicus#photo=33

Or handing upside down from a piece of bark:

Click here to view:

Feel free to post some pics of Ava's molting at the molting thread which DolbyR has provided..
When you are are ready and comfortable of cos

Would depend if she is an adult already or not, or if she is in pre molt. The easiest way to tell is it will blimp up. She could just be sitting around. Either way I wouldnt worry too much. A pic would help determine pre molt or not. Goodluck

I'm not sure how old she is. I'm obviously no expert on this, and a friend has a son who gave her to me. I'm kind of the go to girl for unwanted critters lol. But he had her about 6 or so months. How old she was when he got her is unknown. She seems kind of small to me.

I'll see about getting a pic. I never give her much light at all, other than the red light. Camera phones dont tend to work well in that situation About how long does this process last once she starts becoming inactive? I'm out of town for a few days later this week (got a roommate i'll update whats going on with her to, so she gets extra quiet and care) and hope I don't miss it!

Thanks for those photos GS. Especially the back flipped one. I would have assumed she's dead if I came home to that. Although I guess I wouldn't bury her unless she started smelling. The only thing worse than a dead girl would be burying one alive in the cold ground to die

Hmm...as of this morning, she wasn't really "blimped" up. Of course I'm just comparing to pics I saw on google where they were massive. Ugh, I'm stressed

how is she doing now?

Sadly, Ava passed on. Poor girl. I have no idea what went wrong. But I can say I'm not going to be doing anymore scorps for a while. This is quite traumatizing since I don't know if it was my care, or if she was sick when I got her (I'd only had her about a month or so) or what. Either way, I wish she was still here trying to climb out of the enclosure and making her underground caves and continually rearranging her "decor".

Since I had nowhere to bury her and refused to throw her in the trash, I gave her a nice send off in the ocean. I miss her

sorry to hear that

Aw no sorry for yr loss but don't be put off keeping more if I had a list of the scorpions and T's I've lost so far it would be quite long it is very rarely a death due to the owner especially if they are a member here don't be down hearted get another scorp maybe one a bit older if yr that worried about molts, it goes without saying that you have all the help here you need so it won't be you causing deaths unfortunately sometimes it just happens, well a lot of the time it just happens it does,from experience , take a while to realise but chin up try again

+1 to Bex.
Definitely do not give up on scorps. I don't even want to count how many I've lost until now. After the 3rd loss I was ready to give up, but I'm glad I didn't.

Sorry to hear about your loss

Sorry to here about your loss, don't give up on them, I agree with BEX sometimes it just happens (in nature also)....get a little older one, you'll be glad you did!!! (smiles)