P.gracilior observations

Tennacious little buggers. I fed the lot of them today and decided I'd give them particularily large items. As a result, I got to see a mature P.gracilior repeatedly sting a cricket slightly larger than itself. At one point it held the sting into the cricket between the head and thorax for just over 16 seconds. It had to be pumping this thing full of venom and yet the cricket managed to stay alive for a considerable amount of time -- about 3-4 minutes. During this time, the P.gracilior held on with alternating palps most of the time but sometimes with both palps. It is no wonder they are this tennacious when you take into consideration their environment and apparently weak venom -- and yet they are everywhere. The population densities we witnessed in the Carlsbad area was just stunning. I digress. I just checked on them with the blacklight and found that all the adults were fat and the young'uns seemed to all be eating. The size discrepency between the scorps and their prey (larger) was quite impressive and yet they seem to have all gotten their meals. Next time I will have to wait and observe the juveniles under blacklight, since they don't seem to hunt as readily under lit conditions as the adults. It would have been quite a site to see a 1/2" P.gracilior taking down a 1" cricket.

Cheers,
Dave

Nicely descriptive account Dave, I really wish that I had been interested in scorpions when I was in Carlsbad. Those are some fearless little devils, I must reaquaint myself by studying photos of them. Thanks for sharing the observation.

carpe scorpio said:

Those are some fearless little devils,

Click to expand...

Yes -- but when dealing with humans they are the wooses of New Mexico. They seem to take the "hunker down" approach to defence -- but they don't even have the same convincing execution that something like O.rugiceps does.

Cheers,
Dave

dave,
it is funny you say that, because you were there with me when i caught mine, so they are from the same area, but i never see mine attack. they only eat the small crickets, and left the large ones, untill they died off and i had to remove them. of course then again, the little ones are always gone within a day or two, so i guess SOMETHING must be eating them. Mine just appear to be very docile. I have handeled them a few times, and am not sure they can even peirce my skin. it tried to sting once or twice, but did not succeed. maybe they were warning jabs.

John,

You are giving them a choice, though. Of course they are going to pick the smaller items in "times of plenty." Since I only offered them one cricket in the last two weeks and these were big, they probably figure it is a "time of not-so-plenty" and take what they can get.

As for them being able to sting, I believe Troll posted a sting report a couple weeks ago.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave, do you think you could post some pics of them?I am very interested in seeing what they look like as I am not too familiar with my local New Mexico species.

Here is one -- but I just noticed that it is a bit plain. Some of them have a dark masking on the prosoma that is actually quite attractive. I will have to take more pictures at some point.



Cheers,
Dave

It looks like a she to me. And being that fat she might be pregnant.
Lucky you! ;P

Thanks for the pics Dave

Dave,How strong is the venom of this species

for more pics of gracilior, check out this thread http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=27138&page=1&highlight=2004
i think they have a rather weak venom, but am not sure.
hope this helps the curious.

John

Pandinus,How are you caring for the P.graciliors?Are they communial?

yes, i keep 2 in a small sized critter keeper with sand, rocks, and an occasional water dish. i have no heating method, as my room seldom drops below 75 farenheit, and about 50-55% humidity.

About how small of a kritter keeper?

Since there seems to be some demand, I will provide the following information based on my observations of P.gracilior on the field and in captivity, along with information I've scammed off various people (Kugellager, Troll) etc.

In the wild they are found in flat, dry areas. While they are occasionaly found in the open at night, they are much more commonly found around the bases of the various small bushes that can be found in these environments. There seems to be a rough correspondence between the size of the bush and the size of the P.gracilior, but this has not been scientifically verified. It should be noted that there seems to be a significant spacing between specimens and you will not find them clumped together.

In captivity, I keep mine in small containers (1-2 cups or so) with a mixture of peat/sand (50/50 or so) and some dried sphagnum moss on top for them to hide in. I spray one side of the container lightly when I feed them every 1-2 weeks. I do not house them communaly, as several people have suggested that they do not do well communally. The spacing in the field would also tend to suggest this. I feed them crickets. An account of their prey capture behaviour can be seen above.

Their venom is not medically significant, though as Troll's sting report suggests, they are capable of producing some pain. I have found them quite docile at room temperature. They tend to hunker down and cling to the substrate with their chela over their chelicera moreso than either taking a defensive stance or fleeing. Once heated up to the mid 90s, however, they are quite a bit more active and prone to fleeing as well as lashing out with their metasoma. I have yet to see one take a classic defensive pose, though.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave, great photo, I really like the look of these scorpions. The only tiny scorps that I have kept were U. mordax, very similar woos factor also.

I highly recommend that they (P.gracilior) are NOT kept communally, as everyone I have tried this with ends up with one fat scorpion (usually a female) left in the enclosure.

It may happen overnight or in several months but you will only end up with one in the end with this species...even male-female pairings don't work like it does with some non-communal buthids...the smaller less bulky male usually gets munched.

John
];')