Days of the Weak
The Making of..
After picking up some stuff in Ikea with my mum and brother, we dropped
by Ikano’s Pet Safari to purchase 3 Asian Forest Scorpions (Heterometrus spinifer). Here’s the best part, the price just dropped from RM55 to RM35 each. Here’s what I got for my setup:
1> Glass Tank, 44cm x 26cm x 30cm = RM99
2> Bogwood (something I kept from my aquarium days)
3> Exo Terra Desert Sand (Yellow) x 2 = RM28 each
4> Exo Terra Water Dish = RM10.80
5> Asian Forest Scorpion x 3 = RM35 each
Total = RM270.80 (RM252.40 after discount, thanks Nick!)
Tuessday. Wednessday. Thurssday.
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01> 3 SCORPIONS PURCHASED. Fresh out of the box.
02> Me with my favourite. I call her Thurssday.
03> Basic fact: Insects have 6 legs. Arachnids (scorpions & spiders) have 8.
04> I chose sand over soil or peat moss to give a light base colour against their contrasting black.
05> The male (right) grasps the female’s (left) claws during courtship.
06> Tank setup.
07> Who’s the lucky cricket of the day? Win a free trip to paradise!
08> Our lucky winner crushed between Wednessday’s claw.
09> This first batch are very tame and can be handled anytime.
10> SIX NEW SCORPIONS ADDED (10/11/06). Two of them eating a giant cricket and cicada I caught from the Serendah forest.
11> The youngest and tiniest of the six - in defense mode. She has a unique white sting with a black tip.
12> I’ve switched from sand to peat moss. This second batch are ferocious and rather active.
13> Mouth to mouth in the ‘promenade à deux’ courtship dance.
14> A spermatophore is deposited by the male. It enters the female’s genital opercula, which triggers the release of sperm, thus fertilising her.
15> Thurssday brutally murdered and consumed (04/07/07) by the new batch. Tuessday and Wednessday were earlier released and left to die due to poor health conditions. This marks the end of the first trio.
16> A robust female with a greatly increased appetite while gravid has given birth to 20-30 young (13/09/07).
Can You Handle It?
^Thurssday performing her balancing act on my hand hehe..
Quick Tutorial
Here’s a very basic tutorial if you’re interested in keeping scorpions. The Asian Forest Scorpion (Heterometrus spinifer, native to Thailand and Malaysia) is very similar to the Emperor Scorpion (Pandinus imperator, native to Africa) in terms of appearance and habits (an example of what biologists call convergent evolution), thus sharing almost identical care requirements.
Please do a lot of reading and research before running off to the petstore!
