Hottentotta jayakari substrate/husbandry

by lazydonut Sat Jul 05, 2014 2:07 pm

Hey GS.
So my 2i H. jayakari had an uncomfortable experience before when I used a wrong material for substrate.
I posted about it on SF here.

So anyways, I replaced the substrate with 80% coco peat and 20% sand, as I only had so much sand I could borrow from another enclosure. I keep it fairly dry, mist very lightly once every week, the cup is well-ventilated and kept at normal temps.

The problem is he hasnt taken any food since I had him, about a week now. So it might be a sign that he's getting ready to molt, thing is, he's still pretty active, walking around the enclosure, trying all he can to climb the plastic walls and all.
And he doesnt look really fat yet, not dull either.
He just doesnt take the feeder when i give it, so I take it out and offer it to him again the following day or day after. I tried feeding him four times this week already. Each time with both animals running away from each other.

It's not exactly unusual scorpion behavior but I cant help but worry for it coz I worked hard to buy him.
You think he might molt soon?
Thanks man

by GS Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:58 am

Hi Lazydonut,

Sry for the late reply on this. Just saw it and was wondering how is it going for your little guy?
Any images to share to get a better "picture"? Smile

by lazydonut Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:46 pm

Hey. Sorry for the late reply.
Hottentotta jayakari substrate/husbandry Photo2_zpsd11c3e5e

Here's a snap of his tiny crib. removed his hide.
I offered him incapacitated and normal healthy roach nymphs, but still no success. It's been more than 21 days since his last meal.

by lazydonut Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:13 pm

So the little guy finally ate two days ago.
Finally got me to take a sigh of relief.

by tdark1 Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:56 pm

lazydonut wrote:So the little guy finally ate two days ago.
Finally got me to take a sigh of relief.

Glad to hear he ate for you! However, just a couple suggestions. H. Jayakari like it very arid, its hard to tell but in your pics the substrate looks fairly damp.

Also they are also prone to stress, just like any other animal. I'd give your little one a small piece of cork or small piece of clay pot to make a "scrape" and hide under, as they are not diggers. That would most likely help in feeding, also keep one side dry and one side of the cup "damp" as they are more sensitive at 2i, obviously, and you want to have both ends of the spectrum so they can choose! Temps, i'd shoot for mid to low 80's at 2i, maybe 82-85 degrees ambient!

Cheers,

Rob

P.S. - Cedar / Cedar Oils are known to be toxic to reptiles, some people house their feeder rats/mice on it, this can cause issues in all reptiles (death if you kept the reptile directly on cedar bedding). It's hard to tell what type of fume was in your sand, however, I have seen reptiles die due to keepers utilizing Cedar bedding as a substrate... I hope some of this helps

by lazydonut Tue Aug 05, 2014 10:37 am

I just misted during the picture. I prefer to give more humidity to younger scorpions as they're more tolerant. I know some other people who do the same and have had success. The humidity would last for about a day before drying out.
Rest assured as it grows it'll move on to more sand and less coco fiber.

Of course, I do have a bark hide for it, if you can see above I mentioned I removed the hide to show the animal.
Also i live in a tropical country, and temps reach above 80 at the coolest time of day so I tend to worry less.

Yes it turns out the sand I used was bedding sand for furry animals. It was not actual sand but more of a synthetic chemical type sand, containing deodorizers and perfumes. I removed it immediately and replaced with coco fiber and some normal sand as soon as I noticed. I went into more detail in the linked post but that's the bottomline.

I notice that Hottentotta spp. are rather slow growing scorpions. Which may explain the inactivity.
Thanks!

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