Please ID this new Scorpion of mine

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I just got this from a Reptile show in MI. All I remember being told is that it usually lives in the jungle so it will burrow some but that's how it finds food. Also when a blacklight was shined over it, it glowed. It's approx 2" from head to beginning of tail. I'm not sure if I have the right substrate for it. Also I don't have any heat going to it. Any extra info than just its species on how to care for it, including food, would be extremely appreciated. Thank you so much.

Welcome to the forum!

First off, please get it off the bark substrate. Coco fiber is generally considered the best, you can buy it in a compressed brick (which you then soak in water to expand it) in nearly any pet-store. Do take a look through the caresheet section.

It's either a Heterometrus laoticus or a Heterometrus petersii, I'm leaning towards H. laoticus as I don't see any granulation on the carapace. Could you try to get close up pictures of the pedipalps and carapace?

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OK I'm heading to the pet store now to get the Coco Fiber. I wanted to get you these pics first. Thank you for your help.

Okay, normally the picture would be fine but quite recently I've been having some vision problems. I'm still leaning towards H. laoticus as I don't see any granulation, but I don't want to make that call with my vision as it is.

So, I'm going to show you how to differentiate the two species, and let you (or someone else who still has clear vision and functional depth perception) decide.

There are two main distinguishing features between the species.

H. laoticus has no granlution on the carapace, while H. petersii has some.





The other is the presence or internal tubercle (it should be noted that the tubercle is NOT pronounced, as it is in H. spinifer for example) on the patella in H. petersii, whilw it is completely absent in H. laoticus.




If you're unclear as to what I mean by granulation, basically they're small bumps on the scorpion's exoskeleton.

Here's an example with C. gracilis:




Sorry I'm not able to make a definite call on what it is, hopefully I'll have my vision issues sorted out soon.

Thank you so much on the all the details. I was wondering what exactly you meant earlier. From what I see, I would agree that it's a H. Laoticus. Really good to know, helps my OCD side.

Scorpion19981000 wrote:

Okay, normally the picture would be fine but quite recently I've been having some vision problems.

dude, you're getting old! I second H. laoticus