Do juvenile scorpions ever eat their exuviae??

My 2i E. flavicaudis have begun moulting to 3i. I have found some skins in the enclosures where a scorpion has moulted but in others, a scorpion looks like it may have moulted i.e. it looks bigger, but there are no exuviae.

Do they ever eat their exuviae after a moult?

Please don't say "shed" for a scorpion

I know T's sometimes eat their molts to regain faster their chitin levels. I've never witnessed a scorp doing it, but I guess it's possible.

Edited just for you Dolby lol

How come you don't like using that word anyway??

Maybe DolbyR's royals has patented the word "shed" last weekend

Back to topic, not that you need to but you sure to have ransacked the whole place with a stick excavating the substrate on one hand and a black light torch on the other? Else it might be hidden there somewhere..

If it has been more then a week of lying around, perhaps they get shattered into pieces by the feet trampling of your E. flavicaudis... blaming you for not visiting them more regularly!

Since the first one moulted I have been checking them every day or 2. I also had a scout around with my UV torch and found nothing.

To be honest I reckon they just haven't MOULTED (just for Dolby haha) yet. I've had a look at them again and I just think they're all in different stages of nearing a moult. A couple are still taking food.

We'll see, hopefully a load more skins will turn up over the next few weeks as they go from 2i to 3i.

Callum B wrote:

Edited just for you Dolby lol

How come you don't like using that word anyway??

I'm a terminology whore. I have nothing against the word, I just think it should be used for reptiles. For inverts "moult" should be used.

Anyway, what kind of moisture levels do the flavicaudis have? Moisture could degrade it pretty fast.

Personally, I just can't see them eating their moult. By the time they've hardened up enough to eat it, it will be dried out and will just break up. Got to remember baby E. flavs are damn tiny.

Off-topic: Moult or Molt? What's the difference between these, or which one is right?

JamieLawrence wrote:

Off-topic: Moult or Molt? What's the difference between these, or which one is right?

Moult = British English
Molt = American English

So for you Jamie, moult would be the right one... I'm not a native speaker so I can use whichever I want

Ahh I see. I've always said molt so I've been wrong the whole time LOL

Dolby, is moult the correct word or is it just your personal choice? The immediate thing that comes to mind when I hear the word moult is when my pooch is moulting hairs all over the carpet lol.

I give the young E. flavs a good spraying in a corner of their tubs around once a week. Humidity probably ranges between 50 - 70 % over the course of a week. I've ruled out them eating their moulted, molted, shed, sloughed skins. I think it's just my impatient eyes wishing they'd hurry up and playing tricks on me haha.

Callum B wrote:

Dolby, is moult the correct word or is it just your personal choice? The immediate thing that comes to mind when I hear the word moult is when my pooch is moulting hairs all over the carpet lol.

Are you referring to moult vs. molt or moult/molt vs shed?

With the dog thing, moult vs shed. I'd say something like ''Mum, the dogs bloody moulting again, my bed's covered in chuffin hairs'' haha

You use moult for dogs?

Maybe it's a UK thing

Honestly, I don't use neither of them for dogs... I'd just say say he's losing hair

But I'm a foreigner, what do I know

Quote :

Personally, I just can't see them eating their moult. By the time they've hardened up enough to eat it, it will be dried out and will just break up

I'm with Jamie on this one

DolbyR wrote:

JamieLawrence wrote:

Off-topic: Moult or Molt? What's the difference between these, or which one is right?

Moult = British English
Molt = American English

So for you Jamie, moult would be the right one... I'm not a native speaker so I can use whichever I want

lolz.. nice 1.
I needed this too. Thanks

Back to topic:

JamieLawrence wrote:

Personally, I just can't see them eating their moult. By the time they've hardened up enough to eat it, it will be dried out and will just break up

True, even if the exo is still intact after the scorpion has harden up in a week's time. It is unlikely they will choose nachos over cricket juice

GS wrote:

after the scorpion has harden up in a week's time.

Does that mean that after a molt, even the chelicerae are too soft for a meal? That's something I had actually never even though about.

Thats right. A freshly molted scorpion is like a plastic straw. Looks complete on the outside but "hollow" on the inside. As in they can be easily crushed without their usual strong exterior that are able to withstand drops from a table top.

As the day passes by, their chelicerae gets stronger and transform to a cutting knife