Scorpions are really interesting creatures that many people feel drawn to. In the wild, it can be dangerous to encounter certain types of scorpions, but many people like them so much that they keep scorpions as pets.
If you’re caring for a scorpion right now, then you’re probably trying to do your best for it so that it can thrive in your home. You try to feed it the right food and you do your best to provide it with an ideal environment.
It can be quite disheartening when your scorpion stops eating, though. What would cause a scorpion to stop eating, and what can you do to try to turn things around?
Read on to learn about scorpions, their diets, and what you should consider when a scorpion isn’t eating. Hopefully, this will help you to save the scorpion so that you can continue to enjoy keeping it as a pet.
Scorpions Can Go a Long Time Without Eating
You’ll be happy to hear that it’s actually very normal for scorpions to go a long time without eating any food. Scorpions don’t need to eat every single day to stay healthy, and there’s a good chance that you’re worried about nothing.
When you’re new to taking care of a scorpion, it’s going to be easy to become worried when you see that your pet hasn’t eaten in quite some time. Scorpions just seem to go through periods of time when they want to eat a lot and times when they don’t really want to eat at all.
Scorpions have a unique ability to slow their metabolism, and this makes it so they can survive for long periods of time without eating. In fact, a scorpion can live for up to one year without consuming any food due to this intriguing ability.
Of course, it’s important to note that this is an ability that adult scorpions possess when in their natural habitat. Pet scorpions will be a bit different, but they can still go for very long periods of time without eating anything.
Pet Scorpions Will Require Regular Feeding
Pet scorpions aren’t going to be exactly the same as those that are in their natural habitat. This means that a pet scorpion isn’t going to want to go a year or many months without eating.
It’s still not necessary for a pet scorpion to eat every single day, though. You should try to keep a schedule where you feed your scorpion regularly without feeding it every single day.
How often you will need to feed your scorpion will depend on the size of the scorpion and the species. If you have a larger scorpion, it’s usually fine to feed it small amounts of food every other day.
Smaller scorpions might only need to eat once per week, but this can depend on various factors. The best thing that you can do is look up information about the specific species of scorpion that you’re caring for.
Many experts recommend feeding a scorpion twice per week when you first get it. If you’re feeding your scorpion properly and at regular intervals, then things should be fine.
What Do Scorpions Eat?
For the most part, scorpions are going to eat live food. This means that you’ll be keeping prey insects such as crickets that your scorpion can feed on.
You need to ensure that you’re feeding the scorpion properly to get good results. Place live crickets in the scorpion’s tank at night and it will eat them.
It must be fed at night because scorpions are nocturnal creatures. You’re not going to get optimal results if you choose to place live crickets in the tank during the day.
Also, it’s recommended to ensure that the live crickets have been fed before giving them to the scorpion. It’ll make the feeding experience the best that it can possibly be for the scorpion.
Try to Feed Scorpions the Proper Amount of Food
You should endeavor to feed your scorpion the proper amount of food. If you notice that your scorpion is not eating, then it might be getting too much food.
Whenever scorpions choose to leave food in the tank, it’s a sign that they’re being overfed. It’s also possible that the scorpion could be fasting for a certain period of time.
Some scorpions will fast for days or weeks before they will choose to eat again. It’s a normal part of the life cycle of a scorpion and likely isn’t anything to worry about.
You can look up information about how much your specific species of scorpion is meant to eat. Try to stick to feeding the scorpion the recommended amount of food to get good results.
If you notice the scorpion is acting nervous, then that could be a sign that it isn’t getting enough food. It shouldn’t be too tough to figure out the right amount of food to give the scorpion when you do your research and observe your pet.
Seek Professional Help If You’re Worried About Illness
Of course, you might be concerned about illness if you know that your scorpion needs to eat and isn’t for some reason. There are situations where scorpions that have become ill won’t eat because of what is going on with them.
In this situation, it’s going to be best to seek professional help to determine what is going on. You should try to contact a veterinarian that cares for scorpions.
Not every veterinarian will care for scorpions, but some will because of how popular they have become as pets. This should allow you to get to the bottom of what’s happening so that you won’t have to worry so much.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know more about scorpions, it’s going to be easy to feel comfortable with the fact that they don’t necessarily eat every single day. Scorpions can go a while without eating, and it’s important to only feed them the right amount of food.
If you’re worried that something is truly wrong, then you’ll just have to contact a veterinarian. Otherwise, you likely have nothing to worry about since it’s typical for scorpions to go days and even weeks without eating depending on the species that you’re caring for.
Just be sure to look up specific information about the type of scorpion that you have. You want to be as knowledgeable as possible so that you can make the right decisions.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems and over 10 years of experience working in IT. I have a wife and two children and love taking them to the zoo to see all the animals. I grew up with dogs and fish and now have two dogs and two cats. I’ve also played guitar for almost 20 years and love writing music, although it’s hard to find the time these days.