Buthacus leptochelys, strange death

I picked up a Buthacus leptochelys at my last expo in late January 2012. Tonight i tried to feed it. He refused te food for about 2 hours so I removed the food and then tried to offer a small water dish about 3/4" wide and 1/8" deep. He drank from the dish and then sat in it. I didnt think anything of it until my girlfriend came home and we realized the scorp had drowned itself, literately in 2 hours. what the ? how does a scorp kill itself in less than 2 hours in a water dish that is small enough for it? before you smoke me, this isnt the first time ive fed or watered this beast, he has done fine until now.

Sorry for your loss man.

Are you sure the scorpion drowned? As you say, the waterdish wasn't to large for it to be a danger to the scorpion, if it was an adult anyway.

Could there have been anything toxic in the water?

That would be my guess as well...either something in the water or it was already on it's way out with old age or illness.
I'm sure it's instincts would have forced it to try and get out of the water in the same way as any living thing will shy away from fire if it had been in danger of drowning .. especially considering the small size of the water container, it shouldn't have been a problem.....Maybe it did drown (or more rightly, suffocated) and because of it's diminished strength associated with an illness or old age, simply couldn't get out of the water.

Tough luck mate......

Off-topic discussion relating to the surviving nature of scorpion in harsh conditions has been shifted to the following thread:

https://scorpionforum.darkbb.com/t8129-discussion-scorpion-s-survival-over-adverse-living-conditions#95193

Please continue.

Regards,
GS

:EDIT: I didnt state this before, but the scorpion was about 1 inch, also I am mistaken, it came from a shipment about mid February:
on the death of my Buthacus leptochelys it had no interest in the food. After I removed the food and offered water ( in the small pill bottle cap that holds about 6 drops of water) I noticed it holding and trying to pull around the cap, holding it by his chelicerea and trying to sting it several times. After that I noticed it crawl into the water and then be found to have died in a 2 hour time. The water I provided it with was some Good Value brand wal mart water. It was labeled spring water but was also labeled to have been UV treated, reverse osmosis processed. None of the other inverts I gave the same water to have shown any ill effects from the water.

i also use good value spring water from wallmart and have never had a problem. do you know what kind of medication the pill bottle cap contained?

Quote :

do you know what kind of medication the pill bottle cap contained?

Good point and well spotted....There could definitely be an answer there..