Scorpion - Rodents as Food

[Ballpython2]

when you feed a scorpion a bigger meal than what he would usually eat (a pinkie rat / mouse compared to a cricket) would this make him fast and stop eating for a number of days?

Do scorpions fast?

Do scorpions have a high / low metabolizism rate?

Does bigger food mean they will grow any faster than regular size food?

[Shelby]

From what I've read, rodents aren't considered the healthiest choice for inverts. A once in a while 'treat' is alright, but it should not be the staple. Crickets/feeder roaches are a better choice.

Yes if you feed them more they do grow faster.. and scorps have a very low metabolism. They can go a very long time without eating and not be any worse for wear.

[Evan Jamison]

Do scorpions fast?

Do scorpions have a high / low metabolizism rate?

These questions made me think of a local news story from about a year ago:

Scorpion Surprises Paleontologist


Salt Lake City, Utah -- Don DeBlieux thought he was working on something that had been dead for millions of years. So imagine his surprise when a live critter came out from the rock.

It was a scorpion that had been encased with the fossil of a yet-to-be-named ceratopsian dinosaur for about 15 months. "I had worked on the fossil for two months but didn't see the scorpion until I used our large rock saw and cut away more of the rock and plaster," said DeBlieux, a paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey in the Department of Natural Resources. "It came out of a small crack in the rock that had been plastered over until that day. It had survived all of those months without food and water."

The fossil had been completely encased in plaster before being transported to the laboratory in Salt Lake City. The scorpion must have crawled into a crack in the rock before it was sealed. The fossil was lifted by helicopter from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in September 2005, but it had been plastered in the fall of 2004. More than a year later, the plaster seal was broken to allow the work to begin to unearth the fossil. "It startled me. I didn't expect to see something moving! The scorpion crawled up a crack, and then disappeared again. I had to use some dental tools to get it out. I put it in a cup and took some pictures. It was pretty cool," said DeBlieux.

The scorpion was eventually released back into the wild. "I couldn't kill it," said DeBlieux. "Somehow, it had managed to survive so long."

Not only no food, but also no water and likely no more oxygen than was originally encased with it for the entire 15 months. I just wish they had said what species it was...oh well.


-Evan

[kurgan]

Neat story.
That would be a *_low_* metabolic rate then