Considering a scorpion; any suggestions?

Last year I picked up my first tarantula to celebrate completing my fieldwork for my graduate degree; that quickly morphed into two tarantulas, a wolf spider, and six of her young that I have been raising up. I've enjoyed keeping millipedes in the past, and just really love inverts in general.

Anyway, I'm about to defend my thesis and graduate, so I've been contemplating getting a scorpion to celebrate. I was thinking about an emperor scorpion because they look impressive and have pretty mild venom, but I wanted to post on here and ask for suggestions just in case the rumors are wrong and those aren't good beginner scorpions! (By the way I've done a bit of research on keeping them, and I have a reptile room with 80 ambient temp and years of experience monitoring humidity for sensitive tropical frogs, so I'm confident I can get the husbandry correct)

I'm open to suggestions if you guys don't think this is a good beginner species, or if someone with my level of experience should stay away from scorpions altogether.

I have two desert hairy scorpions (Hadrurus Arizonensis) which are much cheaper and also a beginner species. They are more aggressive and pretty interesting to observe. If you haven't looked into those yet, i would do that. I believe they are easier to keep than emperor's.

If you can keep tarantulas and wolf spiders, you can keep scorpions. Emperors are a good but expensive way to start now with the export ban. Scorplings are running around $50. They'll take a while to grow. If you want a more active and defensive species, try Heterometrus (Asian Forest). They're being imported in droves to keep up with the former demand for Emperors. Cheap, big, better looking and just more personality, in my opinion. They aren't prone to stinging, but they do like flip around and confront your tools/fingers/etc. with a pinch. So, mostly a hands-off species.

Flat-rocks like Hadogenes paucidens and H. troglodytes are also fine. Long-lived, long-bodied, harmless sting. They don't do much though. Set them up with some flat rocks, and you'll only see their claws every few weeks.

Hoffmannius spinigerus from Arizona are another good choice if you like smallish, active scorpions. They dig and walk around frequently.

Choose whatever you want, really. I'd avoid Buthids for a while, but most of the rest are fair game. There are a ton of species out there now that are worth a look.

TheHonestPirate said:

I have two desert hairy scorpions (Hadrurus Arizonensis) which are much cheaper and also a beginner species. They are more aggressive and pretty interesting to observe. If you haven't looked into those yet, i would do that. I believe they are easier to keep than emperor's.

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Honestly, they're not that great of a beginner unless you buy adults. Getting juveniles to molt reliably was always an experiment for me. They never did well when kept on coconut fiber or artificial mixes. I used hard-packed dirt from the areas they were collected in, set them up in big tubs with 6+ inches of substrate and kept them with a moisture gradient. Then they molted.

They are fun though. Lots of digging and a huge appetite.

I think I'll look into the Asian forest scorpions. I haven't really kept up with what's going on in this particular hobby so I wasn't aware of the import ban. I'm okay with somewhat aggressive guys; my rosehair is absolutely psychotic. Just adds to their personality :biggrin:

I've got a couple more quick questions too...
Are there any vendors you'd specifically recommend? It looks like JamiesTarantulas has forest scorpions for sale and I've had good experiences with them in the past, but they don't have any variety. Just the one species.
Also, is it fairly easy to raise them from a young age? I've raised tarantulas from pretty small, I just don't want to deal with something extremely sensitive that's going to die on me.
Finally, is there a big difference in lifespan between male and female?

DVirginiana said:

I think I'll look into the Asian forest scorpions. I haven't really kept up with what's going on in this particular hobby so I wasn't aware of the import ban. I'm okay with somewhat aggressive guys; my rosehair is absolutely psychotic. Just adds to their personality :biggrin:

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Yeah, I just slowly started getting back into the hobby community and was really surprised at the prices of P. imperator. I remember when you could buy adults for $10-15.

I've got a couple more quick questions too...
Are there any vendors you'd specifically recommend? It looks like JamiesTarantulas has forest scorpions for sale and I've had good experiences with them in the past, but they don't have any variety. Just the one species.
Also, is it fairly easy to raise them from a young age? I've raised tarantulas from pretty small, I just don't want to deal with something extremely sensitive that's going to die on me.
Finally, is there a big difference in lifespan between male and female?

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The classifieds usually have a few people selling them. There's a post there right now with Heterometrus madraspatensis which are pretty cool looking. Reptile shows would be a better bet for dirt cheap ones though. Ken the Bug Guy has Pandinus cavimanus right now (Red Claws; same genus as emperors) for $12.99. Could be another choice.

Never raised them from a young age, but my subadult Heterometrus is doing well with a lot of burrowing room, lots of food and moist substrate. Males and females live about the same span.

I'm going to put in a recommendation for Hadrurus sp. "desert hairy" scorpions. H. arizonensis and H. spadix are both large and impressive, easy to keep, and harmless. Plus, they don't need to be kept as moist or as warm as the emperor scorpions.

Thanks for all the info. I'll have to check out when the next reptile show near me is. Picked up a wonderful B. smithi and some useless dubia roaches that absolutely refuse to just die already at the last one lol. Don't recall seeing any scorpions but it never hurts to check it out.

One problem with Hadrurus most people face is a supposed "mysterious death".

hadrurus are obligate burrowers, and a Hide is not enough, without a stable burrow, they will eventually stress to death. You'll need a stable sandy substrate with clay, mixed, then saturated heavily, then allowed to dry completely. this will result in the perfect substrate. I personally dont consider them a beginner species at all for this reason. Adults need DEEP substrate, as their burrow diameter can be 2.5-3" wide, they certainly need at least 10-11" of stable substrate! Deeper substrate also maintains stability better. This genus is highly active and regularly wanders a considerable distance from their burrows at night, in search of prey, so they're definitely not a pet hole!

I've had a blast with my Emperor colonies. They do better in a group than singly. Deep substrate for burrowing. There are a variety of plants that do well for a nice planted tank.
There are usually CB emps available. Shop around. You can get them for less than $50 a piece.