Perl programmer for hire: download my resume (PDF).
John Bokma MexIT
freelance Perl programmer

Scorplings: no survivors

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 | 2 comments

Today I checked on "Romy", a scorpion (Centruroides flavopictus) I keep as a pet, and I didn't see any of her babies on her back. I had already removed 5 scorplings from her terrarium, all of which had died.

I checked her terrarium and found 2 more dead ones. Since Esme and I counted 9 scorplings two are missing, but I am afraid they either have been eaten by the mother, or are just dead and we haven't been able to find them yet.

So, yeah, that was quite a sad discovery. I didn't expect all scorplings to survive, especially since I didn't know the required temperature and humidity. I did record the temperature and humidity however, hoping that they were the well within the optimum range. I have no idea why the little ones didn't make it. I know that the mother hadn't been fed for some time, and maybe that was more the cause instead of the temperature or humidity being wrong.

I try to cheer myself up with the idea that a lot of people here in Mexico probably would have killed the scorpion, babies or not, on sight.

Millipede drinking
Millipede drinking

If that wasn't enough for today, I found out that my millipede is very likely dying. I know that those animals don't live for years, but it was quite unexpected. Also it looks like my Centruroides gracilis is still stuck with his tail in his exoskeleton after molting last Sunday. This is bad, since it might die or get a deformed tail.

Scorpion related

Also today

Please post a comment | read 2 comments, latest by John Bokma | RSS feed