Desert "communal" scorpion species; do any exist?

Im setting up an enclosed desert garden complete with cacti and succulent plants with the intention of introducing a few small/medium scorpions eventually.

I want to replicate the steep night time drop and humidity caused by condensation that occurs in some deserts.

Anything suggested should be able to put up with days in the high 90's/early 100's f and very dry with cooler slightly humid nights, low 60's f and around 60% humidity max.

The sand will be deep enough too allow for normal thermal regulation for borrowing species.

Hopefully by introducing everything slowly casualties or even fatalities will be avoided but im just unsure what species to try this with. Im sure some are more suitable than others...

Thanks.

From my experience desert species tend to be on the very non communal side.

You may want to try a colony of scorpio maurus BUT.... there is no half way with them, they will either live together or kill each other. Especially dominant females.. they will kill anything that moves. you can give them all the hides in the world and you wont guarantee a happy community

The scorpio maurus likes a humidity gradient. they will burrow several metres underground to reach a humidity similar to that of forest species and are not as prone to mycosis.

However with cactus... although we all like to create a natural terranium, they are spiky and all scorpions like to climb given chance. Personally putting cactus is an enclosure is taking a big risk. if you want a cactus... get a plastic one!

Off the top of my head I cant actually think of a desert species that is communal???? I'm am pretty sure they are mainly solitary.

Sadely with the very strict DWA rules your abit out of luck when it comes to communal desert sp. ther are some but only ones i can think of are in the Buthidae family

i whould try scorpio maurus as Lisa says
if you was asking for forest/humid living scorpions thats communal there are tons out side of the Buthidae family

actually, i have heard that some Vaejovidae are moderately communal. i think Vaejovis spinigerus.
not that they are all that regularly available... i have but one, and so not enough to test with (and no not interested in selling lol).
i can try to confirm that, it is in Rubio's scorpion book from barron's publishing, Lisa knows the one

sorry, forgot to say these are not DWA.

Kejser's right, we might have some more options, like Centruroides vittatus, if not for the stupidly all-inclusive DWA policy on Buthidae

and i agree with Lisa, live cacti are NOT a good idea with pets. they are likely to impale or at least cut themselves.

the Vaejovis genus got a make over and some sp are moved into a new genus called Hoffmannius so Vaejovis spinigerus is now called Hoffmannius spinigerus

Well you chould try but i think its the same thing as Scorpio maurus
you might have some that accept a extra tank mate and you might not..
You chould maybe allso try Smeringurus sp maybe with the same result..

thanks for that info Kejser, i hadn't heard that, was it very recent?
i suppose it is worth a try if you are willing to watch for a few hours and see how they get on.
i thought i heard somewhere that Smeringurus were very unsocial? maybe i am wrong.
my attempt at housing three SMPs resulted in one keeling over randomly (annoying!) and the second devouring the third!
and they had loads of space and hides. so i can't in good conscience recommend them!

The changes happent around july 08 so its a year ago but since not alot of ppl hang around places like Scorpion files blog and the Euscorpius site ( wich is down atm, odd ) not alot of ppl have seen these things happen

i am always on scorpion files, but looking at the pics rather that the blogs!
lol
and it appears www.vaejovidae.com hasn't been updated in 2 years, whoops!
well good to know, thanks!

Hi, thanks for the great response!!

I will have a look into the species you have mentioned though by the sounds of it I will simply be better off housing separately. I always have the intention of breeding what I keep, so, how do you guys breed such scorps?

when a male scorpion loves a female scorpion very much.... sorry lmao!

I have quite a few scorpions due to drop any day now, at least 6

one way is to put the male into the females tank. Or if they want to kill each other... make a honeymoon suite... which is basically a tub with sand or coir etc substrate in and a platform in the middle for the male to lay his spermetaphore on (I have probably spelled that wrong lol!). Then females are not as territorial this way and a better chance of a successful mating.

But a bit of research on the scorpion and finding out other peoples experiences will help you decide which would be the better way

I've found introducing them both into a new tub/container with a nice flat peice of slate and hides at opposite ends to the slate gives the best results