Empty water dish

JLPicard

JLPicard

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So for two days in a row the water dish in my enclosure has completely been emptied overnight. I've checked for leaks, but there aren't any. At the moment it holds one female H. Troglodytes of about 6-7 inches and two medium-sized crickets. Input would be extremely welcome, since I'm at a complete loss here.

It might also be unrelated, but my scorp doesn't seem interested in eating.
 
F

Formerphobe

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What kind of dish is it? I've had a couple of those molded dishes intended for animal use that ended up being sieves. Not sure what kind of material they're made of but after a few months they don't hold water.
 
JLPicard

JLPicard

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It's a small Exo Terra molded water dish, yeah. I've taken it out and filled it up to see what happens. Do scorpions bathe? The substrate around the dish is moist.
 
F

Formerphobe

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JLPicard said:
It's a small Exo Terra molded water dish, yeah. I've taken it out and filled it up to see what happens. Do scorpions bathe? The substrate around the dish is moist.
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Yep, those are the ones I don't bother with any more. If it's leeching water, then it would stand to reason that the substrate surrounding it would be wet.
I'm not familiar with H. troglodytes, but my P. imperator will 'bathe' periodically.
 
miss moxie

miss moxie

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Mmm, I have had something similar happen! I bought two dishes for water, and overnight it'd disappear. So I filled it up and let it sit on a counter, and yep. It all leaked out through the bottom. I think it's made out of a very porous material and isn't intended for water, but rather food. The two have become cricket feeders now, since their gel doesn't seep through.
 
JLPicard

JLPicard

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Really? Wouldn't a scorpion just pinch them and be done with it? Thanks for the tip, I'll get them out if they pose any threat.
 
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Galapoheros

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Those water dishes slowly "wick" water over the edge. Imagine a paper towel in the water hanging over the edge and into the dirt, that's what's going on with the rough edge of those dishes. If you want to try and keep using it. Dry it out really well and then don't fill it very high, they work better that way. Another idea would be to spray it with non-toxic material that dries smooth. Fiberglas resin would probably work also but it's kind expensive, haven't tried it. btw many dishes will do that in a humid environment esp. if there's a wet trail over the edge made by the animal or something else.
 
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Patcho

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JLPicard said:
Really? Wouldn't a scorpion just pinch them and be done with it? Thanks for the tip, I'll get them out if they pose any threat.
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I'm certain you're all familiar with Androctonus bicolor right? I had two that wouldn't eat so I left them with their own cricket over night, and the next night they were nothing but bits glowing under my UV light. Seriously, crickets belong to one of the 9 circles of hell. Every time I feed them off I'm avenging the deaths of those two scorpions.
 
G

Galapoheros

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Oh yeah a great idea to remove crickets that aren't eaten. They usually aren't a problem for adults that aren't hungry but it's often the case that the crickets aren't eaten because young scorpions have come up to a molt and they just stop eating. As time goes by before they molt, the crickets get really hungry. The crickets(and roaches) do learn a little and so over time they aren't so afraid of the scorpion and other predatory inverts since they haven't been attacked often for several days. I've seen roaches hide under centipedes that aren't hungry and have seen crickets walk over other pred inverts. The pred inverts usually don't kill the feeders out of defense but I have some centipedes that will do that, it seemed so anyway. So as they get hungry, the pre-molt invert starts to molt and the crickets just start chowing down on scorpion veal, seen that with some roaches too.
 
JLPicard

JLPicard

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Okay, so I got rid of the crickets. Is there any way in telling whether my scorpion is hungry or not? She hasn't eaten for nearly two weeks now. I also make use of a shot glass (for lack of anything better) as a water dish. Anyone got some good recommendations on decent water dishes?
 
miss moxie

miss moxie

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JLPicard said:
Okay, so I got rid of the crickets. Is there any way in telling whether my scorpion is hungry or not? She hasn't eaten for nearly two weeks now. I also make use of a shot glass (for lack of anything better) as a water dish. Anyone got some good recommendations on decent water dishes?
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Shot glass seems too tall? I don't know. But I would use something like a wider lid. Small peanut butter jar lid maybe? I used the lid from a fish food container for a little bit. Now I'm using small ceramic dishes meant for hamsters. I don't have any scorpions, but I don't see how offering water could be much different between scorpions and tarantulas.
 
Smokehound714

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It's a good idea to crush their heads before tossing them in. I just use my forceps to crush the head
 
Blue Jaye

Blue Jaye

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I go to international markets they always have a section of small to large flat bowls used for things like soy sauce and dips,they work really well and are usually cheap. I have a variety of stainless steal bowls that i found in the Asian market they are my favorite they hold just the right amount of water and are easy for Ts to drink from, super durable and easy to clean and they come in all sizes I will try to post a pic of them
Cheers
 
darkness975

darkness975

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Feeding scorpions is a very simple task. Throw a feeder item in there, wait a few hours, and take it out if it does not eat the prey and try again next week. I tend to throw a feeder in before I go to bed and remove them in the morning if they're not eaten. My feeders are well fed themselves prior to feeding my pets so they're not starving and ready to chomp on anything they can get immediately.
 
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