Behaviour in scorpions seems to be quite variable between individuals, I have two A.bicolor, which everyone says are exceedingly agressive, mine however are very timid and run to their hides the moment they see me move and will only take small crickets compared to their size. I suspect alot of it has to do with maturity, both my A. bicolor are juveniles prehaps they become braver when they reach maturity, my 3rd instar A. australis certainly seems to be in state of perpetual terrormeuhmeuh said:I am worried about my Hottentotta Hottentotta. He seems to be frightened by everything, and he never leaves its hide, even at night. He does not hunt and wait for the cricket to walk right in front of him to catch it. I am giving him a cricket once every 10 days (I used to feed it more often but I was told it might be the reason why he is so sluggish). I am keeping him in a 1 gallon plastic box (23cm x 15cm x 17cm / 9.2" x 6" x 6.8"), with a mixture of peat and sand as substrat. Temperature is 26C / 78F during the day and 22C / 71.6F during the night (I tried to raise the temperature to 30C / 86F during the day to create a bigger day/night difference but it did not change anything). Humidity is always between 50% and 70%. I was told he is an adult male, so he is probably not going to mold. I keep him in a quiet room where he is usually alone all day long.
Is this frightened behaviour normal ? I actually saw a cricket climb on him one time, and he did not even react, he remained in his "frightened" position (I mean this position http://img50.exs.cx/img50/1750/hh2.png as opposed to the classical buthid "alert" position with claws wide apart and stinger raised). I was told H. Hottentotta was an agressive specie so I am worried he might have a problem. Or maybe I am doing something wrong ?
Thanks for any help
Well if he can do all his hunting in there then perhaps he might not want to leave , but all scorpions I've kept generally go for a wander each night, it may just be that he'll only come out in the dead of night when you'll need a UV light to watch him, thats perfectly natural, don't expect him to wander round in the middle of the day.meuhmeuh said:I was just wondering if perhaps it might have something to do with the size of his hide. I made him a wooden "house", which covers one-third of the length of the box and the whole width. Perhaps his hide is so big compared to his size that he does not feel the need to go out ? Does this seem plausible ?