Basking C. gracilis

I think I have mentioned this before, somewhere, but my female C. gracilis seems to prefer to bask

When the sun is quite low (around 5 PM) and comes in her enclosure, she seems to pick the spot that gets most of the light, and turns her back/side in the direction of the light. I have seen the scorpion move to get a better spot.

The room temperature is around 75F (24C at the moment) so I doubt it's because she is cold.

I recall seeing her move to the side of her enclosure in the night, that receives some light from a terrarium next to it (containing a snake).

Will observe her more and come back with more info

John Bokma said:

I think I have mentioned this before, somewhere, but my female C. gracilis seems to prefer to bask

When the sun is quite low (around 5 PM) and comes in her enclosure, she seems to pick the spot that gets most of the light, and turns her back/side in the direction of the light. I have seen the scorpion move to get a better spot.

The room temperature is around 75F (24C at the moment) so I doubt it's because she is cold.

I recall seeing her move to the side of her enclosure in the night, that receives some light from a terrarium next to it (containing a snake).

Will observe her more and come back with more info

Click to expand...

she might be gravid

is it possible?

i've heard/read that gravid scorps like to heat up their abdomen
i've seen it myself

i suspect this helps the embryos to develop

or maybe non-gravid scorps do it to aid digestion

Scorpions will seek out and bask in heat, I've seen this especially in pregnant female buthids who will seek out the hottest part of the enclosure and sit there (even if that means lying across a heat mat, probably at temperatures above 35C). It’s likely done to help development of the embryos. I’ve never seen it in males/ sub-adults or non pregnant females.

Thanks, and yes, I suspect she's gravid, but it seems that C. gracilis females have a well fed look even if not gravid. I took a picture, will post it later

edit: link to the page containing picture of the female basking: http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/01/16/female-scorpion-basking.html

When my C. vittatus gravid all the females will bask as close to the lamp as they can.

So question: the room temp is around 23 Celcius (73.4F). Should I provide more heat for the lady? I have no idea if I can buy heatpads here (Mexico). This month the temperature will slowly rise, and next month it will be around 26-27C in the house. She comes from a warmer part of the country (current temp probably around 26-27C during the day).

I have mine in the critter room which is always 75*F and then I run a lamp above there tank with a 25 watt bulb during the day. That brings the daytime temps up to about 80-85 during the day. Seems to work well for me.

My C. gracilis is once again doing the same. When she did this last year, she gave me a brood of 35. The rest of the year she just hides.

Last year I didn't even suspect she was gravid, she certainly wasn't large by any means

Ok, thanks for the info. I will put a lamp above the tank during the day to get the temp a bit up. On one hand I am curious about having scorplings, on the other hand what am I going to do with 30-50 scorps. In Mexico this is probably considered almost as odd as breeding cockroaches for fun.

somewhat related q: currently the scorpion lives in a tank with several pieces of wood, but the substrate consists of stones and sand mixed. I am aware that this substrate is quite not the right one. Should I change it to a mix of sand and organic material (which is what I have seen in the wild)?

About a year ago I lost all scorplings of a C. flavopictus, so I want to do it right this time. (She popped when we had a very very hot week, and I guess that the humidity was not right, or who knows)