- ~Abyss~ wrote:
- Im getting a few of these myself next week
so I welcome any tips
I know there's not a lot online about these scorpions and to be truthful it's been a trial and error affair for me. I brought an adult pair a year and a half ago and was told by the seller that i should have one half of the substrate damp while the other half should be kept dry. So that's what i did. He also told me that i should otherwise treat them as bark scorpions so i kitted their enclosure out with plenty of climbing surfaces. Lastly i was lead to believe that although they came from Madagascar they didn't like it to hot so i kept their enclosures between 23-26 degrees Celsius.
Within approx 3 months the male died for no apparent reason. The mated female died again for no apparent reason approx 3 or 4 months later.....I was gutted. Both dead specimens were put into the freezer for later inspection and that inspection came early last year.
The first thing i noticed was that both had mycosis around their spiracle's which was not immediately visible to the naked eye but showed up well at 10x magnification. It looked as if the mycosis had infiltrated the interior. The male also had mycosis on the underside of it's chelicerae.
I kicked myself for not being more observant but vowed to try a different approach when i next had the opportunity to buy some of these scorps.
This time around i've kept them on dry substrate, just dampening a corner of the enclosure once every week and a half. They usually lay on this dampened corner at night time for one or 2 nights before moving off and hiding back under their hides. I also give them a small water bowl which is filled and then allowed to stand until it's been dry for about a week before refilling it.
I also noticed last time that they basically didn't use any of the climbing surfaces so this time i've put the emphasis on ground based hides. They moult on the substrate and not hanging from vertical surfaces as other bark scorpions. I've also increased the temperature slightly so that now it's approx 26-30C with a drop to approx 20-24C at night time.
Both male and female remained on the dampened area for approx double their usual stay very shortly before moulting and in fact when i my noticed my latest male doing this earlier in the week i was sure it was getting very close to moult which it did a day or 2 later.
They are more seclusive than many other scorpions and seem easily frightened by disturbance. After i noticed that i placed both their enclosures on small polystyrene padded bean bags in an effort to eliminate any unwanted vibrations when i open and close my scorp room door. Since doing that i have noticed a slight frequency increase in their activity level but it's still not on a par with, as an example, C. bicolor.
Their feeding strategy also seems to be hardwired as sit and wait ambush predators. I have yet to notice them actively going after prey.
Incidentally i've examined both the males and females shed exuvia for any traces of mycosis and thankfully haven't been able to find any trace of it...So if you've also thought about using the half damp half dry routine i greatly advise against it....As you can see from the pictures they are both on dry substrate and i'm convinced this is the way to go with them although sure, young will undoubtedly require a different regime with a slightly higher emphasis on humidity.
Oh yeh, one last thing....even though they are quite large scorpions neither male or female seems to be to happy for full grown adult crickets...sub adult and semi sub adult crickets are taken much more readily.
) ... Hopefully before the year is out i should have a shed load of young from these pair..
this literally gave me goosebumps they're beautiful. Im getting a few of these myself next week 
