do people seriously feed (attempt to feed) mice to their scorps?

Am I the only one that finds this ridiculous? I'm guessing it's for the pure pleasure of watching the mouse slowly die from the toxin.

i don't see the practicality in doing this.

hate to break it to ya but some scorpions are known for eating vertebrates in the wild

I think it's a dumb idea because it makes the tank nasty. Anyone who gets their jollies watching something die is pretty twisted, too.

(Which isn't to say that you can't enjoy watching your scorpions demonstrate their natural predatory prowess.)

I don't think it is a horrible idea... well feeding a full grown mouse to a smaller scorp is just too stressful on the scorpion and not worth it imo... but....

I've tried feeding pinkies to both of my scorpions, both Pandinus, neither ate the mouse... I guess I might be a little twisted... would make sense... but I hate crickets and the roaches at my pet store are too big...
Variety is the spice of life... plus it is amazing watching them eat... and i would like to see them eat not-another-bug. Would probably give me some good inspiration...
I do feel guilty wasting those couple pinkies that I bought for food and ended up feeding the ants/cats outside. If my scorp ever does eat a mouse, I'd also be sure to clean up after it.

I mean, those mice are there for food... why does it matter if a scorpion eats it compared to a lizard or snake?

amen!

let me re-phrase why I think it's just unnecessary:

you're wasting a good percentage of the mouse or lizard or whatever that's exceptionally large for the scorp. i highly doubt that a scorp can really ingest an entire pinky (at the least). plus, I was under the impression that scorps only feed on things they can use their chela to grasp.

i'm a n00b when it comes to feeding my scorps since I raise mine on a diet of either roaches or crix.

I personally stick with crickets. each keeper is different when it comes down to feeding.

i think pinkies are aceptable, but a full grown mouse is to much, and the scorp probably wont eat the whole thing anyway. plus, it leaves a hell of a mess. guts and blood everywhere. although , some scorps do eat small vertabrates in the wild. lizards and stuff.

Rasputin wrote:

hate to break it to ya but some scorpions are known for eating vertebrates in the wild

That only makes up about 5 percent of their diet. Not neccesarry for a stable diet.

~Abyss~ wrote:

That only makes up about 5 percent of their diet. Not neccesarry for a stable diet.

it still happens and that's my point

I'm not arguing...just detailing.

I've seen videos of people feeding goldfish to their scorps on youtube. When you search for scorpions on there, I'd say a good 85% is Scorpion Vs Other large animals, in a deathmatch :\ another 14% is Scorpions eating something.. and that 1% left, are habitats, molts, mating, etc.

I don't quite see the difference between cock fights, dog fights, and scorpion vs giant centipede fights etc. There's even apparently a japanese game show based off pitting "bugs" against each other.

As for me, I think I'd like to get off crickets completely. I worry about what would happen if a bunch of roaches got loose though, as I've already had massive cricket spills and thats no fun. I can't find any locusts locally, maybe I'll have to go online for them.

I don't see a point to feeding pinkies to a scorpion. I'm still considering it for my CWD when he's fully grown, but not sure if even that is necasarry.

Would / could Emps eat earthworms?

Most roaches wont thrive unless you live in SoCal like I do.

Mice, lizards are okay once a year.
Adn even then a small one.

Oh snap I just wrote in my regular screen name. Ugh... Yeah anyways I still disagree you dont ever have to feed a mouse or lizard to your scorp.
-Eddy

You don't.
But for those who do.
Once a year for health reasons.

what health benefits? They dont NEED inverts. Where the hell have you been vato.

That's why once a year minimum not to be detrimental for their health.
You think I mean once a year for them to get a good nutrition

and I've been in la pinta

W.e...

Haha

You think in the wild if a lizard or small rodent happens upon them they are going to turn it down? chances are they wouldnt.
Isnt it proven that people that eat meat as part of there regular diet, more healthy then the ones that dont. so why would it differ if you give them a treat every once in a great while..
When I breed my Tarantulas I always give my Females a pinkie a couple of days before introducing the male, less liklely to attack the male on a full stomach..

wburke17 wrote:

You think in the wild if a lizard or small rodent happens upon them they are going to turn it down? chances are they wouldnt.
Isnt it proven that people that eat meat as part of there regular diet, more healthy then the ones that dont. so why would it differ if you give them a treat every once in a great while.

because a human is a mammal and a scorpion is an arachnid. they have claws. different brain structure, and more importantly there not going to chop up the mouse and add loads of preservatives and put it in a sandwich!!!!

Their siginificant differences betweej non meat eating humans vs. meat eating ones. Just by looking at them you can see the difference I have know a few that take supplements and what not for their protein but it's still not the same.

The difference is happening upon a lizard/mouse that's an appropriate size for a scorpion to take down in nature, is not the same as being chain fed pinkies. The health problem to the scorpion comes form the over load of fat that's found in pinkies. Also, while I'm not sure, I'd assume that exercise works the same in arachnids as it does mammals, when they are out hunting, they don't stay in a 12inchx12inch area, and patrol it. They are much more active, so eating lizards/mice/birds probably won't have any detrimental effect on them in the wild. But being in captivity with nothing even close to their natural hunting grounds, over loading them with fat is obviously bad for them. Just like eating a box of twinkies a day is a bad idea for a human.

As to feeding them once in awhile, that's a personal moral choice. Some say it's not necessary to put the mouse/lizard through the slow painful death, and feel much more at ease putting roaches/crickets through it, which would generally be killed quicker by the scorpion than it could kill a mouse. Others enjoy watching their scorpions take on the larger prey, for their own personal reasons.

People are arguing that, it's not a necessity for the scorpion to get the big prey in captivity. Another point to look at is, just because a scorpion wouldn't pass up a mouse/lizard when they were hungry in the wild, doesn't mean that all scorpions come across one they can capture in the wild.

TL;DR: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.