Rhopalurus junceus Care

Distribution: Central America and parts of South America

Housing: Plastic storage containers, aquariums, etc.

The young are best housed individually in vials or deli containers with a vertical piece of bark and several small holes for ventilation. The young will use this bark to aid with molting and also to get away from the substrate if it becomes too moist.

The adults can be housed together, if fed regularly, in plastic storage boxes with holes drilled in them or in aquariums. Also, there should be an ample number of hides, depending on the number of adults.

Substrate: Peat moss or coco fiber

Place 1-3 in. or 2.5-7.5 cm of peat moss or coco fiber on the bottom of the enclosure and keep one-half of the enclosure's substrate moist. When the substrate begins to dry out remoisten it.

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.

Humidity: 55-70%

Diet: Crickets or roaches

Feed the scorpions crickets or roaches that are smaller than the scorpion itself. 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.

Reproduction: Sexual

Sexing: Males have larger, more bulbous chelae than females.

Venom level: 3 of 5

The venom toxicity of this scorpion is moderate. When placed on a scale from 1-5, where 1 is mildly toxic venom and 5 is extremely toxic venom, it is a 3.