First and foremost, I believe in order to gain respect from others, one should first respect others. Spamming nonsense in my humblest opinion is disrespecting other hobbyist that are using the thread. Especially when you're spamming one liners like "creepy and this kind of pet not suit me.."

Secondly, if you are really keen in learning, I think first off is you yourself should do ample of research before actually concluding and posting insignificant thoughtless remarks such as "beware and careful scorpion's poison sting,hehe..why didn't cut scorpion tail?" That isn't exactly something that will make enhance your knowledge further. Try posting something like "do we need to cut off the sting off the scorpion tail before actually keeping them as pets?" I think that would allow you to gain more answers towards your curiousity.

As for your interest in keeping them, I would suggest you to start by getting an Asian Forest Scorpion or in other words, the Heterometrus Spinifer/Longimanus(scientific). They are the most common species here in Malaysia and are almost readily available everywhere. I do believe that there are some that is available for sale in our own LYN garage sales section too, try looking up.

However, before getting them, do google some basic caresheet/information about them. You can also opt for looking at videos or images before actually purchasing it. Here are some of the caresheets that I have found and I definitely do hope that it will be of great use to you.

Here are the caresheets/informations :

http://www.scorpionpictureguide.com/scorpi...-scorpion-care/
http://www.reptileallsorts.com/asian-scorp-cs.htm
http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/Heterometrus-species.html

This post has been edited by Kar: Aug 16 2008, 05:34 PM

Not exactly an essay yet, Ryo. You should see my ex-college's research folders, usually we had to like come out with 2000 words essays in a night. Our research folders are uber thick. I guess I got used to it and even now in my current college, I still do the same. Pretty hard to kick off that habit. And after being said, it does look a little alike. But I believe AES are far more robust than that.

This post has been edited by Kar: Aug 16 2008, 05:51 PM

Umm....imho the unidentified scorpion in the Mid Valley Pets Wonderland isn't a Pandinus Imperator aka AES. First is because I've seen it myself as well and its definitely not an AES seeing that I own one myself, they seriously don't look the same. Most probably just another Heterometrus sp. Could be a Heterometrus Laoticus too as they were around the local market a couple of months back. Also, given the fact that most pet shops would prefer wild caught specimens more than captive bred ones, I guess that gives further assurance. And plus with the current conservation status on the Pandinus Imperator, I seriously doubt one can get adults at RM50 cost price, let alone below that.

As a matter of fact, he does. And plus, I think he's referring to another issue in which I'm not really too sure myself. But as for not enough species to choose from? Heh, that isn't exactly an issue lol. Even with Ts, we don't usually see any other species besides that few common ones in the market aye?

Solution : Improvisation.

This post has been edited by Kar: Aug 24 2008, 06:32 PM

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

Recently adopted a Pandinus Imperator from my brother who decided he's got too many responsibilities. Hence, pictar time!!

Lol yep, got no idea where those idiotic mites came from. Yeah, will definitely bring it over for a fix. Once its done, will be waiting for a molt and then there after will probably be letting it go already.

Before and after(sorry, didn't managed to take pictars of scraping process) of scraping mites off my newly adopted 2 inch "mite infested" Pandinus Imperator given by my brother. This was done by using a cotton bud and vaseline. The good ol' mite scraper. I know there are still some beneath the exo skeleton but given theoretically, the vaseline should not only help in getting the mites off the scorpion, but also it may help in terms of suffocating any remaining mites on the scorpion. Gotta put it under observation for a week at least for that.

Before



After


This method is by far the most effective way of scraping mites as far as I have seen with my own eyes the methods that has been used. Hopefully, it can be as effective towards scorpion as well.

This post has been edited by Kar: Aug 28 2008, 05:26 AM

I left the fella dry for almost 2 weeks dude, nothing happened. I believe they thrive by getting their moisture and nutrition from the scorpion itself.

RM300 for an AES? Hmm...in One Utama's NN Pet's house, they have a juvenile AES there that is going for RM138. And at Pet Safari Ikano, they have AES scorplings around 3rd instar going for RM50+ I think. Just a heads up since you really like the species, you should do some research on the pricing and availability as well. Like last time I used to drive around the whole KL and PJ to check all the pet shops. Still, ended up buying from a local breeder.

blackpenguin : Well, whatever it is, I'm very sure ure well happy with the AES u got yourself. Take care of it well and post some pics lah, don't be stingy!! Share!!

Edit : What happened to your avatar? lol

This post has been edited by Kar: Sep 4 2008, 11:23 PM

No offense dude, but seriously...I think its either you've got really poor english language proficiency or you've probably been thinking too much about my reply. Well it wasn't a metaphoric nor a sarcastic statement. It's a really simple one. What I said was that after surveying the arachnid market, I ended up purchasing from a local breeder.

However if you are wondering about local breeders, I would say the same thing that Dennis said earlier. Good ones? There are too few. As for local breed? Unquestionably good, in fact most of it are popular and high in demand.

I think there are instructions printed behind the brick right?

Dude, seriously refrain from spamming useless one liners to increase your post count. It doesn't make you cooler or anything like that. It just makes u look like the world's greatest attention whore.

This post has been edited by Kar: Sep 15 2008, 11:11 PM