which Androctonus species...

CopperInMyVeins

Arachnolord
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Ok, out of the dark colored Androctonus species, which one really has the thickest tail? I know it seems like kind of a silly question, but I'd like to know which fat tail has the fattest tail. Based on the pictures I've seen, it looks like it would be A. mauritanicus or A. crassicauda, but I've seen other people say it's A. bicolor. Unfortunately for me, the only live Androctonus I've seen in person is A. australis, and that one still has a lot of growing to do. For people who have kept all of these species, what do you think?
 

Ryan C.

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I think it would be A. mauritanicus since it grows larger than A. bicolor and A. crassicauda.
 

CopperInMyVeins

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That's what I had figured too, but someone made a point of saying it was A. bicolor instead, I just don't see it in the pics.
 

canadianscorp

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Relative to its size, A.bicolor could be the largest. But in referall to overall size, I think Mauritanicus would be larger.

cheers
steve
 

azatrox

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Well...

I keep both A. mauritanacus and A. bicolor, and as far as "fattest" tail, I gotta go with the A. mauri....However, A. bicolor is a more "slender" animal so the fat tail it has is in stark contrast to it's body type....As far as overall "fat" though I think A. mauri is the fattest of all....

I can't really speak regarding A. crassicauda as I have not been lucky enough to acquire any specimens...

-AzAtrox
 

sick4x4

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true that ,hands down A. mauritanacus has the thickest tail and is more of a black grey so a truer black then the bicolor which is a brownish black either or are nice...but for shear looks go with the maur!!!!who ever said size didnt matter!!!!!!!! didnt take public showers!!!!!!!!
 

Androctonus_bic

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A. hoggarensis has the biggest tail copared with their body in this genus ( until I have seen). But inside of the group of the most common captive keep, A. mauritanicus has the biggest tail.

Cheers
Carles
 

Prymal

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Copper,

A. mauritanicus being large in TBL typically has the thickest tail. A. crassicauda can also possess a thickened metasoma (typically not as thickened as A. mauritanicus). However, A. bicolor has the most heavily serrated and keeled metasomal segments thus; in some specimens, the actual thickness of the segments are not as large as those of A. mauritanicus but in large A. bicolor, the heavy serration and elongated keels give it the appearance of having a truly massive and "wicked-looking" cauda.
Also, as A. bicolor is generally not as large as A. mauritanicus (very rarely) and tends to be either football-shaped (well fed specimens) or very streamlined (typical of wc specimens) plus, the gracile, elongate chelae makes the cauda appear even more massive.
In large fems of A. mauritanicus, the thickness of the cauda is lost due to the large body size.
Overall, while A. mauritanicus is the largest (generally) and most impressive of the 3 dark-colored species, in my opinion, A. bicolor is the "best looking" of the three, with A. crassicauda (as always) falling somewhere in the middle).
However, A. crassicauda can also possess large, heavy cauda and can move and articulate their cauda faster than the others!
 

quiz

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CopperInMyVeins said:
Ok, out of the dark colored Androctonus species, which one really has the thickest tail? I know it seems like kind of a silly question, but I'd like to know which fat tail has the fattest tail. Based on the pictures I've seen, it looks like it would be A. mauritanicus or A. crassicauda, but I've seen other people say it's A. bicolor. Unfortunately for me, the only live Androctonus I've seen in person is A. australis, and that one still has a lot of growing to do. For people who have kept all of these species, what do you think?
I will get a pic of the tail for you. 3 different species of A.crassicauda from 3 different places have some big thickness difference. So far, the A.crassicauda from Israel have the smallest tail. Some from Jordan are really thick and some are the same size as the one from Israel. A friend of mine will be getting some A.crassicauda (Turkey) and I will try to take a pic of it. He said that it will arrive next week or so. As for A.mauritanicus, they look ok at 5th instar but i'm sure it will get more thicker and I will most likely post a picture of it as soon as it hits 7th instar :D. You know, Androctonus species tails (metasoma) isn't all that big. When you check out the pictures, it sometimes depends on how the photographer angles his camera because that can make the metasoma's look really really big. Overall, I like all Androctonus species because of their fat tails. They look like bodybuilders with their fat tails and they look good especially if you keep them on a diet in my opinion.
As for the colors, Tityus have some amazing coloration that I've seen in pictures. For small weird looking scorpions , Isometrus maculatus will be number 1 in my book {D . Hopefully, I can acquire some of it sometime soon :D.
 

CopperInMyVeins

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quiz said:
They look like bodybuilders with their fat tails and they look good especially if you keep them on a diet in my opinion.
I really think that's true of any scorpions, I'd much rather have mine look like wild scorpions than overfed captives, especially since I'm going to use them for pictures, glad I'm not alone on that view. I hope you can get those pictures, I'm still not sure which Androctonus species I'll start with when I start keeping them, leaning toward A. mauritanicus, but for the time being I have my P. trans to deal with.
 
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