Wikipedia inaccurate? Never!!!

[James Box]

check out this quote from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion):

A sting on the thumb from a relatively non-dangerous scorpion often feels like the victim has accidentally struck their thumb with a hammer whilst driving in a nail. A sting from a truly dangerous scorpion can feel much worse, as though the victim had hammered a nail right through their eye. In all cases, application of an ice-pack to the afflicted area helps to relieve the pain.

um...ice...great! instead of using heat to break down the poison, let's just prolong its effects with cold, shall we?
why was i reading that drivel? well i was looking for signs of imminent scorpion moulting. but after reading that, i can't help but think i'll just ask someone first. anyone know?

[Colin D Wilson]

It's what you can expect from an online encylocpedia that can be edited freely
I've read some crackers before, can't remember what it was exactly but it read "this is the smallest species of ***** in the world, there's only one smaller, the pygmy *****" i mean...come on !!

anyway, rant over..... scorpions

They'll go off their food a week or so before hand and become quite secretive and a bit slow moving and docile, the exo-skel starts to lose it's lustre in the black species i've noticed, the day before normally.
keep the humidity a bit higher than norm to help out as they can get stuck quite easily. even with the desert species i usually pour some tepid water (overflow the waterbowl) on top of thier burrow so it soaks through.
they won't eat (as per a T) for a few days after.


Cracking photo !!!!....credit and copyright..Summad Kottur

[James Box]

haha yeh! wikipedia's a great idea, but unfortunately by very definition you have to take it with a grain of salt.
they did have a very good article on black metal a while back, but chances are it's been edited to excrement by now.

thanks Colin, i'm just wondering about my scorplings, as they're all fat and i think it's time they moved up a weight class
i've never had a scorpion moult, probably cause i've only had adults aside from one failed attempt with raising young H laoticus.
cracking photo indeed!

[Louise~Nichols]

check out this quote from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion):
um...ice...great! instead of using heat to break down the poison, let's just prolong its effects with cold, shall we?
why was i reading that drivel? well i was looking for signs of imminent scorpion moulting. but after reading that, i can't help but think i'll just ask someone first. anyone know?

James...accuracy is in the eye of the beholder...or something like that.... LOL *shudders* I dread to think what other use/ful/less advice they can give in first aid matters!

[mary walters]

James, chances are you will not find a moult as most scorps eat them, I do have one from when I had some scorps though.

[James Box]

James, chances are you will not find a moult as most scorps eat them, I do have one from when I had some scorps though.

that would explain the complete absense of moults in roughly 3 years of keeping! though i always did pretty much have adults til recently.

James...accuracy is in the eye of the beholder...or something like that.... LOL *shudders* I dread to think what other use/ful/less advice they can give in first aid matters!

probably instructions to drink large quantities of vodka to offset liver damage.

[Colin D Wilson]

Mary's right James

The most i've found are the the odd palp and telson, then only when undertaking a full clean of the substrate (or tank swap) as they seem to be burried right down.

[Toran Tanner]

strange In all my years of keeping scorpions I have never seen one eat it's molt.

[Colin D Wilson]

I wonder if it could be species relevent Toran, you mainly kept Androctonus.
we've really only had access to "rain forest" non DWA species.
I could be well off track here though.

[Toran Tanner]

I had many different type even some of the one you have. maybe it is the way keep or some other factor

[Colin D Wilson]

I remembered you had said about your different species after i posted (brain still crashed), the one that i never found any signs of moulting was my H troglodytes, you had one of those for ages, did you find all the moults from her?

[Chris Sainsbury]

check out this quote from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion):
um...ice...great! instead of using heat to break down the poison, let's just prolong its effects with cold, shall we?
why was i reading that drivel? well i was looking for signs of imminent scorpion moulting. but after reading that, i can't help but think i'll just ask someone first. anyone know?

Hi
If the information on wikipededia is so wrong why not correct it? Is this not the point?

I find it supriseing that you can pick up on this trivia and yet not pick up on the first sentence :-

A scorpion is an arthropod with six legs

Anyways, I am sorry to say I am not able to say what the signs of a moult are but would imagine that it involves hideing away. As they only moult 6-7 or so times in their lives , and you raise them from first instar then I think you are in a better position to tell us or?

Eatting their moults? I for one do not think they do. The resons for me thinking this are:-
1. Their cuticle after a moult is very soft and like spiders I think they are incapable of eating for a while after they have moulted.
2. What nourishment can they get from it? After all aren't the good bits from the old cuticle reabsorbed to make the new one?
3. If they can get any moisture from the old moult like in the case of spiders, then much the same it will get destroyed in the process.
4. The reason you only find bits of the old cuticle is I think most likely because it is so brittle, that at almost the slightest touch it is broken into more or less a couple of thousand pieces. So unless you see the moult and take the oppertunity to save the old cuticle, it will in the end get trampled on and into what ever substrate you use.

Anyway I may be completely wrong but by emailing Mark Titterton mark.titterton@thebts.co.ukI expect you would get the correct answer.

All the best
Chris

[Mark Pennell]

Chris
I agree I don't think you find that they eat their moult, I am pretty sure its more of a moisture thing as you mention. I have seen a few of my tarantulas roll up and suck on the exuvia.

Oh one other thing that email for Mark Titterton will not work as he is not on the committee any more. He can be contacted from this board by searching the member list for his name.

Cheers
Mark

[James Box]

Cheers Chris and Mark.
Chris, i was spoiled for choice in the number of errors there, but picked up on the one that was most potentially 'dangerous.'
i just thought it was funny in a stupid sort of way, which was what i was pointing out. i think just about everyone else saw the funny side?
as for correcting it, well good point, but it sounds like it would be an endless exercise in futility. oh well, should start somewhere, i suppose.

edit: i've just now registered and edited the offending passages as best as i was able.
scorpions have eight legs, a note about most Buthids not being medically significant despite harboring the largest number of DWA species, as well as using heat NOT cold to treat a sting.
if i'm wrong on any of those points, let me know, and i'll edit again!

[Colin D Wilson]

The thing is, as a double check, i scanned the substrate from a tank clean (after i found a freshly moulted scorp and it had hardened up sufficiently) with a UV lamp.

There were no visible signs of reasonably sized particles from a disintegrated exuvium (apart from the odd few little bits that would have in no way made up a full exo), and there was just one large piece, a palp in this particular case.
Even after several months the palp still "glows" under UV so 7 - 10 day old exuvium remnants (how ever small) would be ultra visible when lamped.

Bit of an enigma this is turning out to be.