What Do Scorpions Eat? An Introduction to the Diet of Wild and Farmed Scorpions

Scorpions are carnivorous animals. In the wild they mainly prey on live insects and small arthropods, and their common foods include crickets, grasshoppers, moth larvae, spiders and earthworms. Scorpions are more interested in live prey that moves, and generally rarely feed on spoiled or motionless food.

In terms of feeding habits, scorpions are nocturnal, hiding by day and coming out at night to move about and forage. When hunting, they first seize the prey with their pincers, then inject venom through the stinger in their tail to subdue it. Scorpions have a slow metabolism and a strong ability to endure hunger; after one meal they can go a long time without eating again, but they still have some need for water.

Under captive farming conditions, commonly used feeds include yellow mealworms, earthworms, crickets and ground beetles. Among these, yellow mealworms are the most widely used in farming because they are easy to breed and easy to keep. Feeding only a single type of feed over the long term can easily lead to nutritional imbalance, so it is best to feed a mix of several kinds of feed and to adjust the type and size of the food according to the scorpion's different growth stages.

When feeding, note also that a scorpion's appetite is strongly affected by temperature. When the temperature is low and they enter a dormant state, they stop eating, and at this time there is no need to force-feed them. The amount fed each time should be just enough to be finished that same day, and leftover feed should be cleaned up promptly to avoid contaminating the environment and causing disease. For water, you can use a moistened sponge or a shallow water dish; avoid deep containers, which can cause scorpions to drown.