Centruroides hentzi Care

Author: Lance Jarzynka

Distribution: Florida, southern Georgia, and coastal Alabama; possibly introduced in North and South Carolina

Housing: Plastic storage containers, aquariums, etc.

The young are best housed individually in deli containers with a small piece of vertical bark and several small holes for ventilation.

The adults can be housed together, if fed regularly, in plastic storage boxes with holes drilled in them or in aquariums. A water dish should be provided for the adults to drink from. Also there should be an ample number of hides, mostly vertical ones. This species is the smallest Centruroides native to the U.S. This means that they can escape from much smaller openings than many others.

Substrate: Peat moss or coco fiber or sand mixture

About 2 in. or 5 cm of substrate should suffice. Pure peat moss or coco fiber can make up the substrate or they can be mixed with a small amount of sand. The substrate should be kept moist.

Temperature: 70-85°F or 21-29.5°C

Maintain the temperature at 70-85°F or 21-29.5°C. The higher the temperature (within this range) the faster the scorpions will grow, breed, and give birth. No winter cooling is necessary for breeding.

Humidity: 65-75%

Diet: Crickets or roaches

Feed the scorpions appropriately sized crickets or roaches. Feed the adults once every week and the juveniles twice weekly. Remove prey if it has not been eaten within 24 hours and also remove any remains of eaten prey, such as legs, wings, etc. If the remains are left for an extended period of time an infestation of mites may occur.

C. hentzi are capable of taking down roaches and other prey that are the same size as their body length (excluding their tails). They will also readily accept crickets the same size as they are as long as the heads are crushed and the back legs removed. Despite their small size, they are quite aggressive towards prey items.

Venom level: 2 of 5

The venom toxicity of this scorpion is mild to moderate. When placed on a scale from 1-5, where 1 is mildly toxic venom and 5 is extremely toxic venom, it is a 2. Their sting is painful but not known to be medically significant.