Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, so it isn't a venomous reptile, but it is venomous...and you guys have discussed scorpions here before. This animal and another of the same species were sort of bequeathed to my partner when he took his first science teaching job last year. He was told a friend of the former teacher's brought them back from the Middle East while he was over there. My being a total invert idiot, and also a bit of a skeptic by nature, I just figured they were your every day emperor scorpions. After now having seen a few emperors, I'm pretty sure they aren't. Unfortunately, one of the two died, but we now have the other at the house and took a few pictures of it yesterday. I'm hoping someone here can help i.d. this creature. Having googled Middle Eastern scorpions and reading that many are quite dangerous, it's going to be kind of humorous (sick humor) to find out if this little guy/gal is actually deadly.

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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Definately not an emporer... If I had to guess on my very very very very limited invert knowledge, I'd say it looks quite a bit like a black fat tailed scorp, which if I'm not mistaken is rather hot (although not as hot as a death stalker or some of the yellow black tailed scorp).

I've been told (and I don't know how true it is) but typically your more toxic scorps have more puny pincers...

Androctonus mauritanicus...maybe A. bicolor. They are about as hot as scorpions get. Watch out...they are not emperors. Use dry, packed sand with some pieces of bark or rocks so it can burrow or build scrapes under. Lightly water or mist once a week or so. No bottom heat...use low power bulb on one side. Hope that helps.

W. Smith

Thanks to both of you for your replies. It is as I suspected. I had a feeling they were a bit more...dangerous?...than I guestimated. Nice classroom pet eh? Well, I'll make the changes to its habitat accordingly.
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Chance...

That's a good looking bug...It looks to me to be Androctonus mauritanacus (Morrocan fat-tail) and as such it is an exceedingly venomous creature. Many of these bugs have lower LD50s than many venomous snakes, but luckily their yields are quite low...A. mauritanacus is responsible for many fatalities in Morroco...mostly children and those with compromised immune systems.

I've kept these guys in the past, and they do quite well in a dry environment with temps in the low 80s...Any maintenance can be safely done via the use of a small set of forceps...I keep mine simply, on sand substrate with a corkbark hide...A diet of crickets provides both food and water.

Good luck!

-AzAtrox

Thank you for the tips. If I ever get another, I'll be sure to implement them. Unfortunately, I just found this guy dead a few hours ago. It was at least two years old so it might've been from old age, or it could be because it was on substrate that was too humid. Shame. I'm going to preserve him. I guess it's a good thing none of the students where he was kept decided to try to handle him!
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Hehehehe...yeah, those guys are DEFINITELY a "look only" type of bug!

-AzAtrox

That scorpion is native to egypt. A. bicolor. very hot!