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<blockquote data-quote="Dave Jay" data-source="post: 130939" data-attributes="member: 27677"><p>Scorpion Starter Kit Instructions.</p><p></p><p>Small Scorpion Starter Kit.</p><p></p><p>Setting Up The Enclosure.</p><p></p><p>1 - Empty half of the Substrate Mix into a bowl and using your syringe dribble 10ml of water over it and mix thoroughly.</p><p> Allow to stand for 5 minutes for the water to be absorbed evenly, stirring occasionally.</p><p></p><p>2 - Place two heaped teaspoons of substrate into the enclosure leaving one corner bare.</p><p></p><p>3 - Hold the straw/tube upright in the bare corner with the angled end down.</p><p> Pack the substrate around the base of the straw so that it stands by itself,</p><p> compress the substrate evenly on the bottom of the enclosure.</p><p> Add substrate two teaspoons at a time pressing it down firmly and evenly before adding more.</p><p> When finished the surface of the substrate should be approximately halfway up the side of the enclosure.</p><p> It is important to compact the substrate as much as possible so that a burrow will hold it's shape and not collapse.</p><p></p><p>4 - Add your decor as you wish but a small amount of Sphagnum Moss should be located near the water tube,</p><p> this will be your "wet area".</p><p> If keeping a scorpion the use of the plastic plants are your choice.</p><p> Where a solid piece of decor has been provided make an indentation in the substrate and place the decor over it.</p><p> This allows the animal to easily form a cave/burrow if it desires.</p><p></p><p>5 - Lightly spray the entire enclosure to set the surface of the substrate.</p><p> Use the water to clean stray substrate from off of the walls and decor if needed, a small paintbrush can speed the</p><p> process and reduce the amount of water used.</p><p> Set the enclosure aside with the lid off for 10 minutes or more to allow water to be absorbed and equalised,</p><p> and for the entire enclosure to reach room temperature.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Unpacking Your Scorpion.</p><p></p><p> - Locate a tub or container large enough for the enclosure and the shipping tub to fit in easily,</p><p> this will be your work station.</p><p></p><p> - Place your tongs, your UV torch and a teaspoon next to the work container.</p><p> - Place the enclosure into the work container.</p><p> - Cut and remove the tape from the shipping tub.</p><p> - Using your UV torch locate the scorpion in the tub, you should be able to see some glowing area within the moss.</p><p> - Place the shipping tub into the work container, taking note of the scorpions position and remove the lid.</p><p> - Using the tongs carefully remove the moss until the scorpion is exposed.</p><p></p><p> - All scorpions will act differently at this point.</p><p> - Sometimes they behave, you uncover them, lift the tub with the tongs and tilt it over the enclosure and they just walk in.</p><p> That is the most common scenario, calmly coaxing them out of the tub and into the new enclosure and shutting the lid.</p><p> I find the back of the teaspoon is good for gently prodding them to direct them where to go as it is smooth and rounded.</p><p></p><p> - The thing on our side is that most scorpions can't climb smooth surfaces very well,</p><p> so "pouring" them out of one container into the next will work,</p><p> you just need to make sure you don't add too much unwanted material to your enclosure.</p><p></p><p> - If during unpacking your scorpion escapes the shipping tub or enclosure and is loose in your work container</p><p> simply find a bigger work container. You can then remove the shipping tub and spilled moss and put them out of the way.</p><p> Then put the enclosure into the new work container and tilt the old container so that the scorpion runs along the corner and into the enclosure. If it doesn't go in or jumps out you just have to repeat the procedure until success.</p><p></p><p> - Once coaxed or manouvered onto a clean shiny spoon they will run on the spot,</p><p> my most used method is to remove as much moss as I can and manoeuvre the scorpion onto a spoon,</p><p> then once over the enclosure the spoon is tilted enough for the scorpion to run off but not enough to spill debris.</p><p> </p><p> - Some cling to moss and wont move from it, if so using the tongs and the spoon try to pick up the moss the scorpion</p><p> is clinging to, manoeuvring the spoon beneath the scorpion and place both moss and scorpion into the enclosure and</p><p> close the lid, excess moss can be trimmed or removed later once the scorpion has moved.</p><p></p><p>Your scorpion enclosure can now be placed in the room.</p><p></p><p>It should be somewhere where the heat stays fairly even.</p><p>Although scorpions are often found in arid areas they avoid the heat and dry of the day by burrowing and hiding where moisture levels and temperatures are very stable.</p><p>They can thrive in a wide range of temperatures, from 15c in winter to the over 30c extremes in summer but large swings in temperature can be fatal.</p><p>Never have them too close to a heater, not only might they overheat or dry out quickly but the sudden up and down swings in temperature as the heater is turned on or off might be fatal as they can't adjust quickly enough.</p><p>It is better to have a constant low temperature than to have swings in temperature.</p><p>In most situations room temperature will be fine for them, between 18 and 25 are the preferred temperatures but unless where you keep your scorpion is constantly going below 15c a heater will not be needed.</p><p>The kit includes a thermometer that should be placed on or next to the enclosure to check ambient temperature, check it throughout the day to gauge if the temperature stays fairly constant, a slight difference between evening and morning should be expected but if it approaches a 10% difference a more stable position should be found.</p><p>Sunlight can rapidly heat and dry an enclosure so they should never be located where sunbeams fall onto the enclosure.</p><p></p><p>Moisture</p><p></p><p>In a couple of days check the enclosure to see if the sphagnum moss is still damp, and if the surface of the substrate is lightening in colour.</p><p>If the moss is drying out mist it and the wall near it. The moss should be kept damp, when it has light tips it needs to be misted. Water shouldn't be added to the surface of the enclosure other than this.</p><p></p><p>Which brings us to the straw. In nature scorpions will dig or burrow to find a moisture level that suits them, the deeper it digs the more moisture it finds.</p><p>The straw allows us to add water to the lower levels of the substrate without it being too moist on the surface.</p><p>Load the syringe with 5ml of water and slowly inject 3ml into the straw. If there is a great difference between the colour of the newly wet substrate and the rest of it then it has dried quickly in which case the remaining 2ml should be added.</p><p>Humidity levels vary greatly so how often water will be needed to be added can't be specified but usually a routine can be established based around your feeding schedule. Initially checking every few days is recommended.</p><p>You are aiming for the sphagnum moss to be damp, but the surface of the substrate to be almost dry, perhaps dry in parts.</p><p>Not having it too moist on the surface is important because one of the biggest dangers to scorpions in captivity is Mycosis which is a fungal infection caused by constant high humidity and excessive moisture.</p><p>If large areas of your substrate go mouldy you will need to replace it and cut back dramatically on how much water is added.</p><p>Twice the amount of substrate needed is included in the kit for this reason, as is ample sphagnum moss to replace that as needed. If a small amount of substrate becomes mouldy just scoop it out and replace it if needed.</p><p>Condensation on a cold morning is fine but it should be gone by the afternoon. Heavy condensation is usually a sign that too much water has been added but it can also be a sign that the temperature is swinging too much over the day/night cycle and the enclosure should be moved to a different position in the room.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Food</p><p></p><p>Scorpions eat mostly insects.</p><p>The most readily taken food are crickets of an appropriate size.</p><p>The smallest sold are "pinhead crickets" and these are fed to very small baby scorpions.</p><p>Your scorpion is larger and can eat the size "small crickets".</p><p>They should be half the size of the scorpion or smaller, a very hungry scorpion will tackle larger prey but best feeding results are had with prey a third the size of the scorpion.</p><p>When an insect is not eaten immediately I add a tiny piece of carrot into the enclosure so that the prey does not nibble on the scorpion, crickets in particular will chew on scorpions if hungry.</p><p>Scorpions will often be startled by you opening the lid and a live insect dropped in and flinch away from the prey, particularly if it is bigger than ideal.</p><p>If the prey seems to have the scorpion on the run for a long time you can swap it for a smaller size or crush it's head.</p><p>Young scorpions will often scavenge and so will sometimes eat freshly killed or cut up insects if small prey is not available. Mealworms can be good for this if your scorpion will take the pieces. Some people feed the hind legs or cut up crickets to their small scorpions.</p><p>Not all scorpions will take dead prey, but if they do it can make caring for them easier if you can't source the right size feeder insects.</p><p>Of course insects of an appropriate size could likely be caught in your yard but the risks are high. Apart from parasites or other "hitchhikers" there is a risk of them having been in contact with poison or even having eaten plants poisonous to scorpions.</p><p>Any food items live or dead should be removed with the tongs the next day, as should remains of eaten prey.</p><p>Scorpions have a very slow metabolism and require very little food to survive.</p><p>How often they feed varies according to how warm they are and how much moisture they are losing to the air.</p><p>As long as they are not becoming desiccated they can go months without food, they simply wont expend any energy.</p><p>Once a week is a standard feeding schedule but young scorpions will often take food twice a week.</p><p>Some will only eat once a fortnight or even once a month, particurarily in winter when they would usually be dormant anyway.</p><p></p><p>Moulting</p><p></p><p>Scorpions require a high humidity environment to moult successfully.</p><p>Because you are adding water via the straw it can find the environment it needs by digging a scrape or burrow under the decor. It can dig to find the required moisture level to moult.</p><p>It will most likely block the enterance to it's home when it needs to moult.</p><p>If you see your scorpion has blocked its self in you should not disturb it, no food should be added.</p><p>It may or may not be moulting, but a moulting or newly moulted scorpion is very vulnerable and can be damaged by feeder insects.</p><p>Disturbing a moulting or newly moulted can result in an injury or death through the humidity being lowered and the exoskeleton getting stuck. Blocking themselves in a burrow is common behaviour and should not cause panic.</p><p>The water usually added as per your routine should still be added, but monitor carefully so that you keep moisture levels constant.</p><p>When you see your scorpion perched outside its home again you can commence feeding, perhaps it will be the next size up.</p><p></p><p>Light</p><p></p><p>Included in the kit are a UV torch and a small led light.</p><p>The UV torch should be used sparingly, it stresses the scorpion and may be harmful if used constantly.</p><p>The UV light can be damaging to the human eye and care should be taken. Never shine a UV torch into anyone's eyes ever.</p><p>The led light can be used to light the enclosure for viewing, some scorpions will hide from it if it is too bright for them.</p><p>Coloured light seems to be tolerated well, white light needs to be positioned so that it does not shine on the scorpion intensely.</p><p></p><p>Pesticides and sprays.</p><p></p><p>All sprays can be considered hazerdous to scorpions, pesticides in particular of course.</p><p>The enclosure should be removed from the room any time sprays are used and not brought back until all traces have left the air.</p><p>If the enclosure cant be moved it should be covered well and the outside wiped with a wet tissue or clean cloth when the danger is over.</p><p>Be aware that your hands can be a source of contaminants. Soaps, detergents and many other substances can be present on your hands. Be aware you can pick up pesticides and other chemicals from your other pets too, patting your dog or cat could leave pesticide residue on your hands even if you use tablets or other ingested treatments due to the ingested pesticide being present in the animals skin or hair.</p><p>Always wash your hands carefully before and after handling any equipment or food for your scorpion or the feeder insects.</p><p>The same care taken to avoid contamination of your scorpion should be taken for your feeder insects too.</p><p></p><p>Enjoy your new pet!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dave Jay, post: 130939, member: 27677"] Scorpion Starter Kit Instructions. Small Scorpion Starter Kit. Setting Up The Enclosure. 1 - Empty half of the Substrate Mix into a bowl and using your syringe dribble 10ml of water over it and mix thoroughly. Allow to stand for 5 minutes for the water to be absorbed evenly, stirring occasionally. 2 - Place two heaped teaspoons of substrate into the enclosure leaving one corner bare. 3 - Hold the straw/tube upright in the bare corner with the angled end down. Pack the substrate around the base of the straw so that it stands by itself, compress the substrate evenly on the bottom of the enclosure. Add substrate two teaspoons at a time pressing it down firmly and evenly before adding more. When finished the surface of the substrate should be approximately halfway up the side of the enclosure. It is important to compact the substrate as much as possible so that a burrow will hold it's shape and not collapse. 4 - Add your decor as you wish but a small amount of Sphagnum Moss should be located near the water tube, this will be your "wet area". If keeping a scorpion the use of the plastic plants are your choice. Where a solid piece of decor has been provided make an indentation in the substrate and place the decor over it. This allows the animal to easily form a cave/burrow if it desires. 5 - Lightly spray the entire enclosure to set the surface of the substrate. Use the water to clean stray substrate from off of the walls and decor if needed, a small paintbrush can speed the process and reduce the amount of water used. Set the enclosure aside with the lid off for 10 minutes or more to allow water to be absorbed and equalised, and for the entire enclosure to reach room temperature. Unpacking Your Scorpion. - Locate a tub or container large enough for the enclosure and the shipping tub to fit in easily, this will be your work station. - Place your tongs, your UV torch and a teaspoon next to the work container. - Place the enclosure into the work container. - Cut and remove the tape from the shipping tub. - Using your UV torch locate the scorpion in the tub, you should be able to see some glowing area within the moss. - Place the shipping tub into the work container, taking note of the scorpions position and remove the lid. - Using the tongs carefully remove the moss until the scorpion is exposed. - All scorpions will act differently at this point. - Sometimes they behave, you uncover them, lift the tub with the tongs and tilt it over the enclosure and they just walk in. That is the most common scenario, calmly coaxing them out of the tub and into the new enclosure and shutting the lid. I find the back of the teaspoon is good for gently prodding them to direct them where to go as it is smooth and rounded. - The thing on our side is that most scorpions can't climb smooth surfaces very well, so "pouring" them out of one container into the next will work, you just need to make sure you don't add too much unwanted material to your enclosure. - If during unpacking your scorpion escapes the shipping tub or enclosure and is loose in your work container simply find a bigger work container. You can then remove the shipping tub and spilled moss and put them out of the way. Then put the enclosure into the new work container and tilt the old container so that the scorpion runs along the corner and into the enclosure. If it doesn't go in or jumps out you just have to repeat the procedure until success. - Once coaxed or manouvered onto a clean shiny spoon they will run on the spot, my most used method is to remove as much moss as I can and manoeuvre the scorpion onto a spoon, then once over the enclosure the spoon is tilted enough for the scorpion to run off but not enough to spill debris. - Some cling to moss and wont move from it, if so using the tongs and the spoon try to pick up the moss the scorpion is clinging to, manoeuvring the spoon beneath the scorpion and place both moss and scorpion into the enclosure and close the lid, excess moss can be trimmed or removed later once the scorpion has moved. Your scorpion enclosure can now be placed in the room. It should be somewhere where the heat stays fairly even. Although scorpions are often found in arid areas they avoid the heat and dry of the day by burrowing and hiding where moisture levels and temperatures are very stable. They can thrive in a wide range of temperatures, from 15c in winter to the over 30c extremes in summer but large swings in temperature can be fatal. Never have them too close to a heater, not only might they overheat or dry out quickly but the sudden up and down swings in temperature as the heater is turned on or off might be fatal as they can't adjust quickly enough. It is better to have a constant low temperature than to have swings in temperature. In most situations room temperature will be fine for them, between 18 and 25 are the preferred temperatures but unless where you keep your scorpion is constantly going below 15c a heater will not be needed. The kit includes a thermometer that should be placed on or next to the enclosure to check ambient temperature, check it throughout the day to gauge if the temperature stays fairly constant, a slight difference between evening and morning should be expected but if it approaches a 10% difference a more stable position should be found. Sunlight can rapidly heat and dry an enclosure so they should never be located where sunbeams fall onto the enclosure. Moisture In a couple of days check the enclosure to see if the sphagnum moss is still damp, and if the surface of the substrate is lightening in colour. If the moss is drying out mist it and the wall near it. The moss should be kept damp, when it has light tips it needs to be misted. Water shouldn't be added to the surface of the enclosure other than this. Which brings us to the straw. In nature scorpions will dig or burrow to find a moisture level that suits them, the deeper it digs the more moisture it finds. The straw allows us to add water to the lower levels of the substrate without it being too moist on the surface. Load the syringe with 5ml of water and slowly inject 3ml into the straw. If there is a great difference between the colour of the newly wet substrate and the rest of it then it has dried quickly in which case the remaining 2ml should be added. Humidity levels vary greatly so how often water will be needed to be added can't be specified but usually a routine can be established based around your feeding schedule. Initially checking every few days is recommended. You are aiming for the sphagnum moss to be damp, but the surface of the substrate to be almost dry, perhaps dry in parts. Not having it too moist on the surface is important because one of the biggest dangers to scorpions in captivity is Mycosis which is a fungal infection caused by constant high humidity and excessive moisture. If large areas of your substrate go mouldy you will need to replace it and cut back dramatically on how much water is added. Twice the amount of substrate needed is included in the kit for this reason, as is ample sphagnum moss to replace that as needed. If a small amount of substrate becomes mouldy just scoop it out and replace it if needed. Condensation on a cold morning is fine but it should be gone by the afternoon. Heavy condensation is usually a sign that too much water has been added but it can also be a sign that the temperature is swinging too much over the day/night cycle and the enclosure should be moved to a different position in the room. Food Scorpions eat mostly insects. The most readily taken food are crickets of an appropriate size. The smallest sold are "pinhead crickets" and these are fed to very small baby scorpions. Your scorpion is larger and can eat the size "small crickets". They should be half the size of the scorpion or smaller, a very hungry scorpion will tackle larger prey but best feeding results are had with prey a third the size of the scorpion. When an insect is not eaten immediately I add a tiny piece of carrot into the enclosure so that the prey does not nibble on the scorpion, crickets in particular will chew on scorpions if hungry. Scorpions will often be startled by you opening the lid and a live insect dropped in and flinch away from the prey, particularly if it is bigger than ideal. If the prey seems to have the scorpion on the run for a long time you can swap it for a smaller size or crush it's head. Young scorpions will often scavenge and so will sometimes eat freshly killed or cut up insects if small prey is not available. Mealworms can be good for this if your scorpion will take the pieces. Some people feed the hind legs or cut up crickets to their small scorpions. Not all scorpions will take dead prey, but if they do it can make caring for them easier if you can't source the right size feeder insects. Of course insects of an appropriate size could likely be caught in your yard but the risks are high. Apart from parasites or other "hitchhikers" there is a risk of them having been in contact with poison or even having eaten plants poisonous to scorpions. Any food items live or dead should be removed with the tongs the next day, as should remains of eaten prey. Scorpions have a very slow metabolism and require very little food to survive. How often they feed varies according to how warm they are and how much moisture they are losing to the air. As long as they are not becoming desiccated they can go months without food, they simply wont expend any energy. Once a week is a standard feeding schedule but young scorpions will often take food twice a week. Some will only eat once a fortnight or even once a month, particurarily in winter when they would usually be dormant anyway. Moulting Scorpions require a high humidity environment to moult successfully. Because you are adding water via the straw it can find the environment it needs by digging a scrape or burrow under the decor. It can dig to find the required moisture level to moult. It will most likely block the enterance to it's home when it needs to moult. If you see your scorpion has blocked its self in you should not disturb it, no food should be added. It may or may not be moulting, but a moulting or newly moulted scorpion is very vulnerable and can be damaged by feeder insects. Disturbing a moulting or newly moulted can result in an injury or death through the humidity being lowered and the exoskeleton getting stuck. Blocking themselves in a burrow is common behaviour and should not cause panic. The water usually added as per your routine should still be added, but monitor carefully so that you keep moisture levels constant. When you see your scorpion perched outside its home again you can commence feeding, perhaps it will be the next size up. Light Included in the kit are a UV torch and a small led light. The UV torch should be used sparingly, it stresses the scorpion and may be harmful if used constantly. The UV light can be damaging to the human eye and care should be taken. Never shine a UV torch into anyone's eyes ever. The led light can be used to light the enclosure for viewing, some scorpions will hide from it if it is too bright for them. Coloured light seems to be tolerated well, white light needs to be positioned so that it does not shine on the scorpion intensely. Pesticides and sprays. All sprays can be considered hazerdous to scorpions, pesticides in particular of course. The enclosure should be removed from the room any time sprays are used and not brought back until all traces have left the air. If the enclosure cant be moved it should be covered well and the outside wiped with a wet tissue or clean cloth when the danger is over. Be aware that your hands can be a source of contaminants. Soaps, detergents and many other substances can be present on your hands. Be aware you can pick up pesticides and other chemicals from your other pets too, patting your dog or cat could leave pesticide residue on your hands even if you use tablets or other ingested treatments due to the ingested pesticide being present in the animals skin or hair. Always wash your hands carefully before and after handling any equipment or food for your scorpion or the feeder insects. The same care taken to avoid contamination of your scorpion should be taken for your feeder insects too. Enjoy your new pet! [/QUOTE]
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