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Tags: Cockroach Hissing Cockroach Hisser Nymph Parthenogenesis Reproduction

I have five H. spinifer (or longimanus, kindof hard to tell) of mixed genders that I've been keeping in two seperate colonies for some time now. I decided yesterday to try merging the whole lot of them in one large storage bin to give them some more legroom and save me some space and cleaning effort. The bin is about the same floorspace as a 30g aquarium but wider by about 3" (depth-wise) and obviously significantly shallower. I set it up with three large hides, some grapevine, a mossy area, and two water bowls. I'm hoping to buy a larger and more naturalistic bowl to replace the ceramic one shortly so that I can observe bathing behaviors. At any rate, The introduction went well - only one minor squabble over a hide that used to belong to one of the larger females. They sure weren't happy with me though - check out the threat display pics!

Tags: H Spinifer H Longimanus Asian Forest Scorpion Scorpion

I am posting this here as a guide for those of you who may need to make a difficult choice regarding the health of your scorpions some day. As a disclaimer, I want to emphasise the following: amputation should only be used as an absolute last resort. It is a high risk procedure with a high mortality rate. There is a high likelihood that the scorpion discussed in this topic will eventually die despite the efforts to save his life.

Background:
In early Dec. '07, I obtained two emperor scorpions from a fish store. They were trades for fish and the store did not know about proper husbandry; as such, they were being kept on sand with a very hot light, no water source, and looked as though they had not been fed in quite a long time. Both were extremely weak from dehydration and starvation. I brought them home to nurse them back to health by droppering them water and bug gruel until they were strong enough to drink and eat on their own.
One of these two scorpions did not have full use of one claw, and I did not realize that this was due to a current injury at the joint connecting the manus and tarsus. As such, he soon developed an extremely bad fungual infection of the claw. The fungus was removed manually with a Q-tip soaked in betadine solution and treated with an anti-fungal safe for internal use (Tioconazole ointment, 6.5%) while kept in a dry environment (w/water bowl, of course, bedding changed daily). The fungus was under control in roughly two days, however, the claw became infected as evident through discolored tissue, discharge, and odor. I began treatment with Animax ointment (nystatin-neomycin sulfate-thiostrepton-triamcinolone acetonide), a veterinary topical anti-bacterial. Unfortunately, the claw became necrotic (blackened tissue at the joint with a strong foul odor and sloughing flesh). After discussion, the decision was made to amputate, under the logic that rotting tissue would inevitable result in sepsis and death, and amputation - while likely to result in death - gave at least some hope of survival.
Procedure:
The scorpion was sedated by placement in the refridgerator until sluggish and minimally responsive due to the inavailability of isoflurane (considered useful for sedating inverts). The scorpion's body was wrapped firmly in a paper towel to prevent movement. The site of amputation was the joint connecting the femur and patella, using a pair of heavy-duty large dog nail clippers sterilize in betadine (selected due to the curved blades). There was quick and immediate blood loss, which was quelled with fast pressure followed by the application of an over-the-counter tissue glue. The application was generous, and there is still some small degree of leakage if the animal strains (I will be applying a newer coat today). The animal was returned to a dry environment while the glue hardened and it recovered from the removal, and was then promptly moved to a dark, high-humidity bin at 82 degrees. Damp paper towel is being used as bedding to prevent particulates from sticking to the wound site.
Results:
The claw has been removed for 5 days now and the scorpion is still surviving. He has been disinterested in food but accepts water via eye dropper. I have started eye-droppering insect gruel into the mouthparts to help him regain energy for healing. The bedding is changed twice daily to discourage infection. Anamax ointment is applied to the claw twice daily. Today, I will be re-enforcing the existing tissue glue to ensure no further leakage. The scorpion is alert and responsive but definately somewhat weak, perhaps due more to his near-starvation than dehydration.
Other Observations:
Pain sensation in scorpions and other invertebrates has been questioned as these species have a ganglionic nervous system and no formal study has been able to prove pain. However, my casual observations would suggest that scorpions may be capable of feeling pain. This is based on the following:
In the initial stages of treatment, where the claw was wounded and infected, I noticed a decidedly different reaction from the animal when handling/firmly grasping vs. debriding and cleaning the injury site. The scorpion struggled to escape when captured and when the claw was restrained for treatment, but when actually contacting and cleaning the wound, he reacted very violently - pinching, attempting to sting, rolling, etc. Once the tissue went necrotic, there was no such reaction, as would be expected in any wound that has progressed to the stage of tissue death. This, IMO, gives some anecdotal evidence that scorpions may be capable of distinguishing painful stimuli, even if unconsciously. As such, I really do wish I'd had acess to Isoflurane for this procedure! Knowing he might have felt it made it much more difficult to perform the necessary procedure.

Tags: Amputation Medicine Troubleshooting Fungus Bacteria Necrosis Scorpion

Please go check out my new care sheet on A. gigas, available on the new care sheet forum here at insect geeks. Click here to read it. Feedback welcomed!

Tags: Care Husbandry Care Sheet A Gigas Giant African Millipede GAB GAM

I'm so excited! Chong, the last of my hissers out of Farrago, just had her nymphs today. Lots of 'em! No official headcount, but over 20 is definite. Thor is the dad, I know this because I put them both together with no other roaches since before they were even sexually mature, and she popped about a week after putting her in the new communcal set-up. I'm really interested to see what they'll grow up to look like since she and Thor are very different in size and color. All the nymphs look really healthy, and I'm psyched because Chong was a bit sickly as a nymph. Maybe a bad idea to have bred her taking that into account, but she has grown up to be a huge, beautiful female so I'm going to chalk her bad start up to something else. Heh.

Pics soon!

Tags: Cockroach Madagascar Hissing Cockroach G Portensa

Today was the New York Metro Reptile Expo. I had a great day as always; it was a big supply-purchase day as I'm revamping 55g, 30g, and 20g vivariums. I got some great deals on cork bark, feeders, etc. but more importantly, got nine new hissers for breeding stock! I got mostly black morphs as well as some very dark hissers with lighter banding. However, the real gems were a beautiful chocolate brown colored male, and a very young female who unlike most hissers I've ever seen has cream colored legs and underbelly. I've decided to add these nine new guys to my Chong, Thor, two black morphs and one "ginger" colored female to make a 14 roach "awesome colors" breeding colony. One of my black morphs looks about ready to pop, as does Chong (who was bred to Thor). I'm really hoping to see nymphs soon, as my guys haven't really been breeding well for me. It's funny, my females that aren't being bred have been pumping out oothecas, and the ones I'm deliberately trying to breed are being stubborn on me.
Anyways here's the cool "chocolate" hisser. The legs, eyes, everything is brown. There is no black on this animal. This is not just pre/post molt; it molted at noon today, shortly after purchased, and is alll hardened up and still this color.

Tags: Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Hissers Hissing Cockroach G Portensa

Whoohoo! I've only had my new N. americanus a day, and they're allready feelin' frisky - I went to toss them some greens and found not one, but two pairs in the throes of mating. They didn't even care about the lights on and the tank moving, they were quite engrossed. I watched them for a while, but I can't say millipede mating is the most exciting thing on earth. Looks like I better get ready for baby 'pedes fast. I'm so excited about my little colony of 30. If I'm sucessful, I'd love to start supplying CB 'pedes to the hobby. Though it'll be hard giving up cute little N. americanus bubs; they're my favorite species and the CUTEST babies.

Tags: N Americanus Narceus Americanus Millipedes Mating Reproduction

Bugging Out (v) - when you spend all day pacing back and fourth at the front door waiting for the mail truck to arrive because you're so worried about your shipment of invertebrates.

So I'm sitting outside on my stoop with my laptop, waiting and waiting for the mail truck to arrive. Our mail is supposed to go to the mail office, but they sent it out on the truck, and chances are when she sees the error she'll take it BACK to the mail office, meaning no critters until tomorrow. My packages, containing feeder roaches, cave roaches, hissers, and millipedes, were meant to be shipped express, but due to a miscommunication with the breeder were all shipped priority on tuesday, which means my poor little inverts have been floating around the US postal service for four days now! Eeek! I *hate* priority shipping.

I'm really hoping they arrive TODAY and safe. Otherwise I'll feel terribly for causing their demise through my desire to have them, and also won't be able to enjoy myself at the reptile expo tomorrow. For those of you in NY, make it a point to check out the Hudson Valley Reptile Expo tomorrow! There should be T's and other inverts in addition to herps, and from my experience most invert people are herpers too anyways. Perhaps you'll find some new beasties to garnish your home with, or at least some good deals on supplies. If I don't get my critters today I might just be depressed enough for another GABM shopping spree (rofl). Because really, you're not "in" to millipedes if you have less than 10 at any given time... right?

In other news, my WC narceus babies are doing great. They seem pretty happy munching away on leaves in their new bin, and are actually surprisingly active and "out there." My room is on the higher end of their safe zone, and generally dimly lit, so that's probably why. I actually had a temp spike today, up to 85  because my sis cranked the heat up taking a shower and forgot to turn it back DOWN. The bugs loved it, but I'm going to be pissed if I have a columnaris outbreak in the fish, especially since I'm a day behind schedule for one shelf of bettas thanks to some make-up labs and tests that all landed on the same day. Grrr.

Finally, Food is doing really well. Food is a liiitle baby mouse I saw at the pet store while buying feeders and absolutely fell in love with. I actually allready have a number of mice, and feeders seldom envoke sympathy from me, but this little gal was ridiculously tiny and adorable. Frick did not pan out nicely as a buddy for Litmus, who now lives with Yofem, OR Antoinette and Kea. So I decided heck - when you have this many mice, what's what more, esp. if they are to live in the same tank? So I bought little Food for 50 cents, and have been nursing her for the past week. She's finally lapping KMR on her own, and though still tiny now has a much nicer coat and a fat little body - a far cry from the skinny, greasey little critter in the store. So with any luck, she and Frick will get along well. I think they will; Frick is very mellow and fragile, and this girl seems the same, so I doubt I'll run into the issues I did with Litmus (who was too high strung and scared Frick every time she bolted for cover when I walked into the room).

Ah. Critters. :) Will post back later with pics of my new arrivals - if they hurry up and get here already!!

Tags: Invertebrates Shipping

 Went out for a "field day" today. I have been having issues obtaining N. americanus and decided to go out and at least taken inventory of local populations. I hit a state park in my area and was very impressed with the findings. Although the only adult specimens of the species I found in my fairly limited search were deceased, I found ample evidence of large pedes, including fresh fecal pellets, tell-tale chewed leaf litter, and TONS of juvenilles. I would not be embellishing to say that I saw easily 60 juvie N. americanus today, within only about a half mile's search range. I collected ten, which may seem like a lot for one location, but the population was so dense in this particular area that I don't think it would hurt much. I also picked up two flat-bodied 'pedes of an unknown species who were almost equally abundant.
I found it useful to "follow my nose" in pede hunting. Millipedes have a very distinctive odor, especially when you get a whole lot of them in one place, and I had almost unfailing success when I overturned leaf litter in areas where I smelled 'pedes. When I searched areas with no pede smell, I found - not surprisingly - no pedes! I haven't heard much about using smell when collecting in the field, so let me be one to say that I highly suggest utilizing this ever-handy sense!
What was very pleasing to me was the rich abundance of biodiversity. Spiders, centipedes, millipedes, isopods, beetles, worms, you name it - the leaf litter was positively crawling with it.  I've been to other places where all you see lifting a log is some sluggish E. foetida and the odd pill bug, but every log seemed to harbor at least 5-10 different species at a glance. This is a very healthy ecosystem from what I can observe. Not only was the range of invertebrates impressive, but some indicator species such as salamanders and tree frogs were quite numerous. I counted within a stretch of maybe 200 feet on one hillside eleven fat, healthy salamanders representing two different species!
Overall, a very successful and pleasing day out.  I'll edit later with some pics of some salamanders, a tree frog, and maybe even of the new 'pedes.

Tags: Salamander Millipede N Americanus Narceus Americanus Field Collection

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