Not enough source to support that claim just yet. We normally talk about Heterometrus sp. or the occasional Lychas sp. and Liocheles Australasiae.

Have you seen any of the rest on the list so far?

Nop, i rarely see scorpion in jungle trekking
Because i din hunt for them
Will try hunt for them the next time i be in jungle trekking

Well, as of the current information we have on our local species, I don't think there are any medically significant ones but they might be some species yet to be discovered so yeah, not enough sources to support that claim.

TAG, Scutilus pleaseeee.

@.@ I'm kinda lost. Too many scientific names.

I think the prob wif malaysians is that they're not open minded and not educated. Worse, the combinations bring people who are not even open minded enough to be educated. I've told countless people that AFS were quite harmless as long as you respect them. And if you're not messing around with them enough to irritate them, they won't sting. They would just look unsure and unbelieving. geez.

Yeah, an AFS primary weapon would be its pedipalps(pincers), they rarely use their telsons(stingers) as a defense mechanism. Even if they do sting on rare occasions, it's nothing to worry about, unless you have some sorta allergy then I'm sorry. ;p

Agree, bt so far i'd educated quite some ppl...
Luckily all of them accepted them (Scorp and tarantula)
I even show them on webcam how i handle those scorpling
One of my fren who super hate and afraid of arachnid nw felt in love withh them lol
We shall do our part and educate as much ppl as possible

Educating people to free handle venomous inverts is called educating?

Haha i knw im nt suppose2 do tat
Bt i think its ok to handle small scorpling2 show them they are docile
I did told them nt2 do tat
I apologize if i shldnt do tat and swear will stop it right away

This post has been edited by RyoKenzaki: Aug 25 2008, 02:24 AM

Well, seeing is believing. If people can see that scorpions can be handled, then it might not be so dangerous. We're not asking people to cuddle em. In fact, don't!

People are close minded about scorpions because they know it's venomous and should be avoided as much as possible. What they think is "can die wan if get stung. Don't touch!"

ok we need balthasar in here NOW!

well, he's one of the premier hardcore keeper along with a few others last time. now MIA already...

anyways, T's are easy to up keep and breed. Scorpions have short life spans, and most of them are small. when i say small, yes, they're SMALL...usually half a cm? which posts a lot of problems, like feeding ones and so on. Roaches and pin heads are not available all the time. it makes feeding a very hard chore especially if you have picky feeders. because of that, most of them are sold young. I2, I3. They wont survive long at the new owners. easier said then done. You can call your self a "hardcore" keeper bla bla bla if you have like 20 species. note the "you can call...." you can call your self anything. I'm superman. but like everything in life, making a statement and doing something is 2 whole diffrent thing.

No hard feelings to anyone, but if you're complaining, why not do it?

what i'm trying to say is not every species is like AFS. Easy to obtain and most already gravid when collected. and slings mortality rate is less then 5% each batch. thats why you see more AFS then any other thing. no one wants to bring in scorpions because they costs a bomb. wou you pay rm80 for a A. Australis, adult, wild collected and unknown age. well certainly i wont.

even local species, people thinks that its better to export them. heck Scutilus goes for bout US$25 each. why sell it for Rm30 when its so easy to export them?

these hobbies are slow growing ones. i remember when Rosea slings was rm50 each...ahhhhhh.....those were the days...Brachy slings all bout Rm1XX..now? rm30 also can get d...

Goot stuff Tag.

Have you/your friends seen the other Malaysian species before? If yes, where? Under what kind of habitat/settings?

Even heroes have the right to bleed. Lol!

Slow growing I agree. But my point was, the tarantula scene is already flourishing while our scorpion scene is not. Abroad, in USA namely, both scorpions and tarantulas have almost equal attention(albeit the tarantula still getting the upper-hand) whereas our country, it's only tarantulas.

I would beg to differ on the subject of breeding. IMO, breeding scorpions are easier than tarantulas. Scorpions make good mothers as opposed to tarantulas as the risk of having the female chomp up the male is close to nil. The absence of the need to care for an egg sac is another factor.

The problem is, like you said, nobody would want to spend RM80 on an adult scorpion but seriously, if nobody starts, the hobby would never expand. I personally have spent USD60 for a pair of Jacksoni specimens. Besides, CB scorpions are easy to come-by nowadays. What's lacking is the passion. Price and availability are just excuses.

wah...Jacksoni's are worth that much already?

scorpions breed at a much alower rate compared to T's and are much harder to manage because of their feeding habits. BJ's are ok. Their sling quite big no? 0.8-1cm?

slower means, like 1 year an average BJ can mate 3-4 times. 4x25 slings each time =100...T's 1 egg sack around there also? put the feeding habits and mortality rate in there? how many would survive to breed the next generation? thats what i mean by "harder to breed" also, you can guarantee 4 "sexy times" a year no?

you tried raising Tityus spp. slings?

EDIT: Rafiq wanna give some imput about the feeding habits of your tityus?

EDIT2: dint see your post there rafiq. Yes we saw wild ones before. mostly lioches spp. which is fairly if not VERY common, followed by lychas spp, like muchronatus and stuff, and AFS's. AFS found mostly ground level, which barks, like their names in barks, rotten trees, while lioches is guaranteed to be at most fallen tree trunks with peeling bark.

This post has been edited by TAGreptiles: Aug 25 2008, 03:32 AM

What taggy say is true. I too would say that scorpions breed at a much more slower rate compared to Ts. Im not really too sure about which scorpion does best in breeding but given even if its B.jacksoni, when you compare them to tarantula species such as the Lasiodora sp. that is fairly easy to breed and each egg sac bears about 2000+/- to 5000+/- spiderlings and the Pterinochilus sp. that is considered as uber easy to breed bears like two sets of egg sac after each time they mate. As in, after laying their first egg sac, they get another egg sac after that. Tarantulas make good mothers too, its just that most breeders/keepers don't provide the proper or in other words correct environment/condition for breeding most of the time.

I personally know successful breeders that experience even first time mothers doing very well most of the time given the environment/condition is correct. In fact, I too know some keepers who have mothers that has had egg sacs more than once but still continue failing. Aside from the quantity of the spiderlings being more than scorpions, tarantulas also have the upper hand in quality in a sense where spiderlings have much more higher chance of surviving compared to scorpions. So yes, scorpions do breed at a much slower rate compared to Ts.

One more thing, the risk of females chomping up males? Believe it or not, that risk is lower than keeping scorpions communally and ending up with cannibalism. Though, that does kinda depends on what species. Most of the old world Ts are superbly gentle to the point where you can keep both the male and the female together in one enclosure for a whole month and worry about nothing. New world Ts on the other hand depends highly on which species you're talking about. Some are okay, some are not really. There is a reason why even in the west, Ts are more often bred compared to scorpions. The reason why the hobby seems as though as more "active/passionate" in the states is most probably due to the number of native species they have there in America itself that are much more common or in other words popular in the hobby.

Where as comparing to them in the states, we probably have much lesser choice because hell, I bet you a million bucks that a tom d*** and harry won't be able to name me another species of scorpion other than the Heterometrus sp. Its just popularity in my opinion, most species here in Malaysia aside from AFS isn't exactly popular at all in the hobby. Try looking up all the species of scorpions in Malaysia and I believe if you are a true enthusiast, you too will fall in love with them. Lesser choice? Now think again.

Heck, I personally don't believe that you need to have all the species in the world to prove how passionate you are in the hobby. Same goes to how I think about hobbyists here, they don't need to have all the species in the world to prove how passionate they are. In fact, I believe being passionate has a lot of subjectivity to it. Maybe for some certain people, keeping all the species of scorpions is considered as being passionate(well if you are, by all means keep up with what you're doing), but for some people, they have their passion in the conservation status of their own respective local species. And some people with many more other different way of being passionate about the hobby itself.

I think the main thing that we need to remember is that the hobby isn't just about KEEPING scorpions, but more or less, just scorpions. You don't really need to spend lots of money and get lots of other species to expand the hobby. They are many other ways too. Think, because it is already expanding now although given the fact that the availability of oversea scorpions is worst than last time.

This post has been edited by Kar: Aug 25 2008, 05:19 AM

Actually, it's more easier to keep scorpions communally than tarantulas. There are quite a large number of species of scorpions which are actually communal. However, like you said, it depends largely on the species given but generally, scorpions are definitely much more communal than tarantulas.

Kar, I agree on your stance about the subjectivity of the term 'passion'. Indeed, you don't have to have all the species in the world to prove how passionate you are. You can merely keep one species, study them thoroughly and yes, you're passionate. But c'mon, in our country, how many keepers actually have that kinda passion? They do not even have the initiative to source for other species, let alone be passionate about conservation and etc.

On the subject of 'not having to get many other species to expand the hobby', well, I'll give you a simple comparison. What if the tarantula scene only has the, say, Brachypelma Smithi available? I doubt the hobby would become what is it now. What I'm trying to say is, yes, there are many other ways to expand the hobby but given the mindset of the majority of us humans, more variety equates to a more interesting hobby.

On a side-note, most people who get the AFS are not exactly interested in the hobby. It's more like 'zomgwtfbbq that huge black scorpion is so cool, having one would be a status symbol' and etc. and by all means, having such people in the community does nothing to expand the hobby. Expand in terms of quantity but never in quality and I'm pretty sure that quality > quantity in terms of hobbyists. People also dig the AFS because of its size but they rarely give a shit bout the smaller species due to it being less 'cooler-looking' so yeah.


Last but not least, why are the other lesser genus/species in our country such as Lychas and Liocheles less popular even amongst serious hobbyist locally? As TAG stated in one of his earlier posts, a Lychas Scutilus would fetch USD25 in the states so why would local breeders bother about selling them to us locals? Greed has prevented the hobby from growing. Period. I never said that we have lesser choices in our own country, but the availability in the market is pathetic, due to...greed.


p/s : TAG deserves a thumbs-up for helping us with the availability of the Lychas Scutilus. Liocheles maybe?

This post has been edited by liette`: Aug 25 2008, 06:30 PM

liocheles a lot...come frim and catch...or wan me catch and sell Rm10 anyone? essay so long...OMG...

the part where the sting comes in, i think the lychas spp. in malaysia packs quite a punch...can be fatal if you're allergic according to sting reports...


EDIT after reading essays: yes, in this line, greed always plays a far bigger role then all keepers put together.

also, its so hard to get them scuts. supplier also like "aiyah, got waiting list lar" "aiyah here raining lar" this and that. so i have to wait also. sorry to people that ordered..

those who has AFS babies, ever thought of putting a few back to where they came from?

This post has been edited by TAGreptiles: Aug 25 2008, 06:20 PM

Seriously that common? I'd take 5 specimens if you happen to go hunting.

yeaps. if you go on the right time/season, i day can get like 20 pcs no problem. lol...just have to tahan the nyamuk lar...they immune to insect repellent...

im planning to release them, cause i know sure cnt sell finish, but waiting for them to moult to 3rd instar

I see a lot of ducks quacking