Two major issues novice scorpion keepers need to pay attention to

Scorpions are a commonly used medicinal material that sells well on the market today. In recent years, their price has been rising year by year, while medicinal use still relies mainly on catching wild scorpions. In the area around the city where the author lives, some people have introduced and tried to breed them, but few have succeeded. For this reason, we held fairly in-depth discussions on issues such as scorpion diseases and their countermeasures and how to artificially breed scorpions with Liu Dong, chief pharmacist of traditional Chinese medicine at the Lianyungang Medicinal Materials Station, and Shen Yongzhen, a large-scale scorpion breeder in Suyu County, among other industry experts. The relevant conclusions are summarized below for readers' reference.

I. How scorpion keepers should get started

1. Determine the breeding scale and breeding method. When first starting to breed, the scale of introduction should not be too large. Generally, a few hundred to three hundred or five hundred is suitable at the low end, and two thousand to three thousand at the high end. If the number of scorpions is too small, the management cost is relatively high; if there are too many, then due to lack of experience it is easy to cause poor management and thus accidental losses. In terms of breeding method, from the perspective of the breeding environment it can be divided into indoor scorpion breeding and outdoor scorpion breeding. Beginners should choose the indoor scorpion breeding method. In terms of breeding tools, there are bottle breeding, basin breeding, box breeding, pond breeding, pit breeding, and so on. When beginners introduce breeding stock, it is best to use basin breeding first, and then transition to pit breeding or pond breeding. In addition, scorpion breeding can also be divided into normal-temperature and constant-temperature methods. The two methods each have advantages and disadvantages and can be chosen according to one's own circumstances.

2. Attend training and visit breeding farms. Although scorpion breeding is not complicated, it is a fairly meticulous job, and many details are difficult to express in writing. It is very hard to understand thoroughly just by reading materials. Those who want to breed scorpions must receive systematic training and go to professional farms for on-site visits and study in order to truly master scorpion breeding techniques.

3. Before introducing breeding stock, raise yellow mealworms in advance, and at the same time prepare the scorpion nests and scorpion houses.

4. Notes on introducing breeding stock: (1) Scorpions generally give birth from the 4th to the 8th month of the lunar calendar. The best season for introducing breeding stock is from the late 4th lunar month to the early 5th lunar month. Introducing too early easily causes unnecessary losses. (2) The current market price of clear-water whole scorpions is 400-450 yuan/kg, but some individuals or companies that speculate in breeding stock, under the guise of high-price buyback (promising a buyback price as high as more than 600 yuan per kg), supply breeding stock at high prices. Those introducing breeding stock must see through their true nature to avoid being cheated.

II. Why scorpions die easily

According to surveys, the main reason scorpions easily become ill and die is that beginners do not quite understand scorpions' living habits and do not know how to adjust scorpion breeding techniques according to climatic conditions. Taking the area where the author lives as an example, temperatures in winter and spring are abnormal, sometimes dropping to around 10°C and sometimes rising above 20°C, making it difficult for scorpions to adapt, which leads to large numbers of scorpions becoming ill and dying (commonly known as “spring death”). In addition, in late spring and early summer, there is a lot of rain and relatively high air humidity, so food is prone to mold. Coupled with the fact that scorpions that have just awakened like to binge eat and drink, they easily die in large numbers due to causes such as indigestion. In addition, scorpions are extremely sensitive to various abnormal odors. Some scorpion keepers often unconsciously bring perfume smells, alcohol smells, medicine smells, foul smells, and other abnormal odors into the scorpion house, disrupting the scorpions' olfactory system and causing them to become ill. For this reason, scorpion keepers must carefully observe scorpions' living habits, study them attentively, and care for them meticulously, fully understand what scorpions like and dislike, and then satisfy their requirements for environment and food as much as possible.