What do people like about Nebo Whitei?

[Butterbean83]

So I'm getting a Nebo Whitei Scorpling for my first Scorpion. What does everyone think of this species. Have you kept them? What did you like about them the most?

 

[gzophia]

Nice, good luck with your first experience!

I think they're pretty neat; I don't know much about them but their looks kind of remind me of Uroctonus mordax, which is my favorite species.

But obviously I'm biased since they are everywhere where I live haha

 

[Butterbean83]

Thanks.

I wish we had scorpions in the North West of England!! We do have a small population of Euscorpius Flavicaudis though (I believe there's been a change in the genus name now although I forget what that is) in the South of England.

It looks like a cool little Scorpion. Quite a few hiding in cracks in rocks in Sheerness in Kent on the South Coast of England.

They are believed to have came over accidentally in a shipment of Italian masonry around 200 years ago or thereabout. It's much too far to travel for me though or I'd go and get myself one or two of them haha.

With this Nebo Whitei being so small (1cm) I've ordered a mini Exo Terra Faunarium. I just hope the thermostat probe isn't too big for the enclosure.

What depth substrate do you give your Scorpling of that size, I'm thinking an inch maximum?

I know you have to be able to see them and keep an eye on progress and them be able to see and get to their food. I know they're a fairly arid species but I'm assuming you'd need to very lightly mist when you notice them about to moult?

 

[gzophia]

Of course!

Yeah, they are nice little creatures to have around when they aren't life-threatening haha. Nothing wrong with those; it's just that I'd be scared to put on my shoes.

Correct, I believe the taxonomic name is now Tetratrichobothrius flavicaudis, and WOW. One look at that color scheme and I love it! Black and yellow.
My family might visit England one day, so it will certainly be on my lookout list. I don't know much about non-US scorpions, so it will be nice to see them and learn more!

That's some neat history behind the population; I didn't know they were introduced. And yes, travel is always a big pain for me; I don't think I'd even go to SoCal (which is only 400 miles away).

Ooh, the smaller sized versions of those enclosures are pretty neat! The mini one might be too big for a 1 centimeter long specimen though-- a small deli cup might be better.
That much substrate should work fine; a quick search of this species shows that a dry sand/coco fiber mixture (with more of the former) is good.

Yeah, finding your scorpion without stressing it out might be a problem in too big of an enclosure if you add decor. You'll need a UV light for sure.
I have heard about helping arid species molt successfully like that, but I don't know how it works exactly... mycosis scares me. I'm actually still doing my own research regarding that as I'll be getting a Paravaejovis sp. soon, which are somewhat arid species. I'd wait for someone more experienced to chime in; hopefully they can help us both!

In the meantime, indexing the forum through the search bar always works; I've spent a good few hours doing that during my time here at AB and the information is always useful.

 

[Butterbean83]

Yeah it's a great forum. ONLY 400 miles That would be most of this country. A 50 mile journey is considered long enough in the UK haha. Yeah I was worried about Mycosis. I was advised just use dried loose excavator clay, the fella that sold me it has kept them like that for years, the Arid species I mean. The mini faunarium is 7" long but only 4" wide and 5" high. It has to be a fair height as the probe itself for the thermostat is a good size.

Where would I put the Probe? On the side the heat mat is on or the opposite or the front or back of the faunarium? I read conflicting stuff but I did read it's just above the substrate but don't know what side to put the thermostat probe or if it matters. My digital thermometer/hygrometer has a built in probe so I guess I stick that the opposite side to the heat mat. My heat mat I ordered I thought was in centimeters.

Turns out it's 20.75" x 10" lol so should get a few enclosures on that just need more thermostats and digital thermometer/hygrometers.

England isn't the best place to visit, not up here but it's nice in the South West, the opposite end of the coast to London in Dorset and Cornwall. Any excuse I get to go down to Kent if I'm well enough to travel that far I'm taking some sort of equipment with me and a blacklight

Yes that's the genus name there was no way I could remember that despite my usual knack for remembering things like that (Aspie)

The Scorp breeder I bought from had some small 2" cube acrylic enclosures but with the substrate and the suction cup no chance the probe would fit in it...

He had deli cup like sling enclosures with gauze lids too but he didn't think they'd take the heat from a heat mat, it's getting too warm to heat the ambient temperature of the room up itself, but not warm enough yet that I can not use a heat mat. In Summer I probably won't have to use a heat mat some days, especially if we get close to the temperatures we've had the last few years. Pretty hot in Summer and terrible the rest of the year in North West of England.

I'm about 5 miles from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, River Mersey and The Irish Sea not far away so the weather is miserable, not quite Canada but nothing like Florida or California weather.

 

[gzophia]

Indeed. Haha, that's true-- should have thought about that
I say that because almost everyone I know around here loves traveling and has gone down to SoCal at one point. Some go quite often. Personally, I don't like to go anywhere more than 50 miles away either.

Huh, I always thought England looked lovely! Yeah, whenever my dad's available, we go to a park with a blacklight and some equipment... the joy of bug hunting!
I'm gonna be honest; I looked up the new species name on Google. It's not from memory. Names aren't hard for me to remember, but I can barely spell-- a bad combination

Weather around there must be crazy; I thought the Bay Area had unpredictable swings. But to be fair, my house is almost always a constant temperature.

As for your scorpion, I see what you mean regarding the enclosures. I'd avoid putting too much decor then-- maybe just a hide or two, and certainly not a water dish (too young-- mycosis + drowning risk).
That is a very interesting substrate choice; I don't know much about excavator clay but again there are a lot of people here who do.

I had a bad experience with my Heterometrus silenus a while ago and @Outpost31Survivor gave me some extremely helpful information; he seems to be quite experienced with scorpions.
To summarize, heating pads aren't the best, and neither are heat probes. And remember that scorpions burrow to avoid heat, so keeping the mat on the bottom might cook them.

Maybe try a heat lamp? And an infrared thermometer as well-- that's what I was advised to use. Both are better and more accurate than mats/probes.
Temperature regulation is probably important for this species; from what I see based on its range, the "lowest" temperature in its natural habitat is 73F (~22.8C) so keeping enclosure temps up is probably going to be quite important.

 

[Butterbean83]

The heat mat will be going on the side of the enclosure rather than the bottom. I may not need the heat mat too often in a couple of months. Yeah I'll be looking to keep it around 25 c but being an arid species usually temperatures drop of a night in deserts. That said, in the middle east I'm not sure they drop as much as they do in other places, I think it's more an arid scrubland species than a full on desert species and needs very slightly but not much more humidity.

Some places in England are absolutely beautiful. This town isn't it's awful but yeah there are beautiful rural parts and National Parks within 30 plus miles drive in pretty much any direction you've just gotta get out of the urban areas. It's not like when you think of London, it's nowhere near as affluent up here. South West of England, Scotland, and Wales are all beautiful though, The Peak District and The Lake District in Northern England are nice and The Yorkshire Dales.

I'd love to see The Rocky Mountains part of America and Canada and would love to visit Desert type areas like Arizona and New Mexico just to have a little look for Scorps, Ts and Scolopendra.

 

[gzophia]

The heat mat will be going on the side of the enclosure rather than the bottom. I may not need the heat mat too often in a couple of months. Yeah I'll be looking to keep it around 25 c but being an arid species usually temperatures drop of a night in deserts. That said, in the middle east I'm not sure they drop as much as they do in other places, I think it's more an arid scrubland species than a full on desert species and needs very slightly but not much more humidity.

Some places in England are absolutely beautiful. This town isn't it's awful but yeah there are beautiful rural parts and National Parks within 30 plus miles drive in pretty much any direction you've just gotta get out of the urban areas. It's not like when you think of London, it's nowhere near as affluent up here. South West of England, Scotland, and Wales are all beautiful though, The Peak District and The Lake District in Northern England are nice and The Yorkshire Dales.

I'd love to see The Rocky Mountains part of America and Canada and would love to visit Desert type areas like Arizona and New Mexico just to have a little look for Scorps, Ts and Scolopendra.

Got it; that definitely sounds better than underneath. Yeah, there is a temperature drop for most desert environments, but I don't know too much about that. I was thinking the same, but you'd be surprised at how low temperatures can go, say in the Arabian Desert... they can go down to 40F or 50F (4.4C or 10C). I'm not the most experienced with heating though-- I prefer to keep species that don't need it.

Yeah, I really like how the parks in England look. I'll keep all those locations in mind; thank you! The countryside holds huge appeal too.

For someone interested in arthropods, Arizona is a must-visit. The Sierras and Rockies are good as well. Can't forget Southern California and the Mojave-- lots of cool species in the latter, like Scolopendra sp., Hadrurus arizonensis, Asbolus verrucosus, and more. And the redwoods of Northern California have really cool species-- forest centipedes, which are uncommon in the hobby, forest scorpions, banana slugs, and more.

The point is, the more you see the natural habitats of inverts (scorpions included), the more general knowledge you gain. For example, I want to visit Arizona to see what kinds of habitats Paravaejovis live in so I can figure out how to support their molts (as is the case with your species). Overall, it becomes easier to understand what they need for care, and is something I highly recommend to anyone interested in bugkeeping-- pay the bugs a visit in their natural habitat, and take care to not disturb nature.

 

[Butterbean83]

Oh definitely I don't think I could go on a holiday abroad and not check out the wildlife. People can keep their holidays in Spain going to nightclubs if I was in Spain I'd be looking for Buthus Occitanus and to be honest it's just like England in the sun really Id rather go where the real wildlife is The Americas, Asia etc. I'd love to do what Ruud Kleinpaste does but specifically concentrating on the venomous arthropods and mostly arachnids. And yeah that makes sense seeing how they behave in their natural habitat should carry over into keeping them as much as it can I'm those circumstances. I'd imagine with Nebo Whitei for example though if you have dry substrate that doesnt hold much moisture anyway and keep it warm, a very light spray in one corner or something may provide enough water or a couple of droplets with a pipette to the side of the enclosure dripping down may provide them with a little drink and very slight increase in humidity, I know they need it 50-60% whereas Hadrurus Arizonensis is probably 40-50%... I wonder if that's why some have trouble with Hadrurus Arizonensis moulting in captivity though?

 

[gzophia]

Yep, me neither. I don't like going anywhere without wildlife. I really missed my chance when we went to Vegas; I could have looked for some interesting scorpions but I went to the arcades instead 🫤
Ooh, Ruud Kleinpaste seems like an interesting guy. I'll look at some of his work; I'm only really familiar with Justin Schmidt so it will be nice to read about another professional.

I'd say what you have with N. whitei makes sense. I think a full grown adult should have several inches of burrowable substrate to escape from the heat into cooler areas. I made this mistake with my H. silenus; I don't think it's why he died but he could definitely have had a happier life. Also, I think a light watering of one corner for moisture would be good, but again, I'm not an expert on this. Weird how there is so little care info for this species; it seems like a pretty neat one.

Humidity numbers are important in big natural environments, but one thing most keepers learn is that chasing them in captivity is a huge pain and waste of time. Plus, hygrometers are usually extremely inaccurate. Don't bother; just aim for a general climate and focus on the substrate.

Yeah, I probably won't be getting a Hadrurus arizonensis simply because of the molting problems-- it's really hard for me to find an adult one. I never understood why they have issues with that unlike species like S. mesaensis; probably a poor comparison though since I am quite new to arid species. It could be humidity, but I really don't know.

 

[Butterbean83]

Just messaging to say I think I've came across a species you were talking about earlier in our conversation, while watching TV.

Uroctonus mordax. What a beautiful species. Red Forest Scorpion. I'm not a lover of the usual huge bulky Forest Scorpions but these are one of the best looking Scorpions I've seen with long slender claws almost like a Buthid in that sense. Being part of the Vaejovidae family I imagine they're pretty small though.

 

[gzophia]

Just messaging to say I think I've came across a species you were talking about earlier in our conversation, while watching TV.

Uroctonus mordax. What a beautiful species. Red Forest Scorpion. I'm not a lover of the usual huge bulky Forest Scorpions but these are one of the best looking Scorpions I've seen with long slender claws almost like a Buthid in that sense. Being part of the Vaejovidae family I imagine they're pretty small though.

Ah, unfortunately, I think the species you saw is different. The "Red Forest Scorpion" you saw on TV is different from the California Forest Scorpion, which has bulkier claws. It does look really neat though.
There is some debate about whether U. mordax should be in the family Chactidae or Vaejovidae, but yes, it's a small species maxing out at a little over 2.5 inches.