How Far Do Scorpions Range?

I'm sure it depends on the species, but I'm curious as to how far scorps range from their hide/burrow in the wild (at least for scorps that don't dig deep burrows). Also, how long do scorps use a particular hide/burrow as home base? Are some of them vagabonds that always move around to new hides? If so, how far do they range?

It would be interesting if anyone has placed a single scorp in a very large enclosure and watched his movements at night. I have thought about placing a desert scorp (maybe an Androctonus or Parabuthus species) in a 40 gallon breeder tank and see if he uses the whole thing at night (after he is settled down and found a hide in his new encosure). However, my house is chilly and I don't think it would fit in my invert room (closet). I would have to use heat lamps and he would probably hug the warm side. Has anyone tried this type of experiment before?

Very tricky question because a study would have to be done. There are too few field researchers out there at the moment imo and not enough behavioural research is being done because most of them are still discovering new species. I also think scorpions will react different when observed in the wild than in captivity.
Here is a link to some papers:
http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/euscorpius/pubs.htm

there might be a paper in there about scorpion movement behaviour.

Thanks Shadow. I took a quick glance through there and didn't see anything but I will check more. Boy that is a great link to a lot of scorp research though!

What got me thinking about this was trying to figure out how large an enclosure to leave maie and female noncommunal scorps togeter for mating. It seems like if the cage were large enough it might simulate nature somewhat. If so, maybe they would coexist for mating.

However, it would be interesting to see if a lone scorp would utilize all of a very large inclosure. Maybe when it warms up (here "above" the equator LOL) I might set up an A. bicolor in a 40 gallon long tank and see if he uses the whole thing. You might be right though that a scorp would behave differently in the wild.

robert44 wrote:

It would be interesting if anyone has placed a single scorp in a very large enclosure and watched his movements at night. I have thought about placing a desert scorp (maybe an Androctonus or Parabuthus species) in a 40 gallon breeder tank and see if he uses the whole thing at night (after he is settled down and found a hide in his new encosure). However, my house is chilly and I don't think it would fit in my invert room (closet). I would have to use heat lamps and he would probably hug the warm side. Has anyone tried this type of experiment before?

I haven't tried it with scorps, but I have tried it with my Avicularia (40 gallon) and found that yes, they do occasionally wander around considerably.

I imagine that scorpions would do the same from time to time.

Thanks for feedback! It would be an interesting experiment.

I used to have a huge 50ish gallong tank (oddly shaped, never got exact mesurements) and had a community of 1 H. arizonensis and 2 H. arizonensis pallidus and I noticed at night on hot days the pallidus would venture out of their hides and explore the complete tank. The h. arizonensis would come out of it's hide but never leave more than a few inches, but it would burrow often. I don't think I had a sample big enough of each specie to make an actual conclusion but that was observation. So it might just depend on specie, or just on individiual scorpion.

I used to have 3 emperors in a 3ft reptile tank with plenty of decor and burrows for them to use and found they use the whole tank and moved between burrows, spending a day/night or couple days/nights in each before moving to another, they also used to climb the hanging plants (plastic) to the top of the tank. Its amazing to watch I did find that they had a favourate hide that they used more than the others.
my desert scorp uses the whole of the tank its in now 35x35x35 and I get the impression it would like a bigger one (especialy deeper), I do have a 45x45x45 tank with hoppers in for my beardy that i was considering puttin it in but would struggle holding the temp and wouldnt think it fair if I had to move it back into its small tank having it had a larger area. It could cause depression or something (possibly)

Thanks guys!