OMG!
Have I got something that will truly blow your mind today!
Taking a break from the ants for a moment, I’ve been caring for a certain creature,
we’ve never before featured on this channel.
You saw the title: a glow-in-the-dark scorpion!
But how is this possible, you ask?
Yes, it may look fake, but believe you me, this huge, gorgeous nightlight of a scorpion
is very much so real and you’ll be surprised to learn more about it.
No, it’s not radioactive and no I haven’t fed it something to cause it to glow like
this.
AC Family, let’s delve into the amazing world of these ancient, mind boggling arachnids,
and meet our newest beast to join the Antiverse, here on the AntsCanada Ant Channel.
Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the bell icon.
Welcome to the AC Family!
Enjoy!
Within this terrarium lives a scorpion that was given to me as a Christmas present, so
it’s waited over 2 months to meet you all.
When all the lights go off, we’ll all get to witness and understand the real magic,
how this scorpion can glow, as well as get to see the amazing new home we’ve prepared
for her, so stay tuned until the end for all that!
In the light, our new beast is still nothing less than impressive!
Huddled below the rockscape, beneath this animal skull, lays our new Asian Forest Scorpion,
Heterometrus longimanus.
It’s a young female, measuring about 3.5 inches long, and still has another inch or
so more to grow.
Though she looks scary, her sting is similar to that of a wasp, and her venom isn’t potent
enough to kill a person, assuming they aren’t allergic, of course.
In fact, this species of scorpion is more likely to give you a good pinch with those
powerful claws, known as chelae.
You’ll see her use them against me in a little bit.
Her exoskeleton is solid, she’s built like a tank, and I personally wouldn’t want to
mess with her nor touch her.
She feeds primarily on insects but can accept baby pinky mice once fully grown.
But first on the agenda, guys, let us all come as one.
AC Council, it is time to give this scorpion an official name!
Please take a moment to VOTE here for her name, based on name suggestions given by you,
the AC Family.
Thank you, AC Council for your input.
Let’s make her name a great one!
Now, something that may surprise you is that fossil experts in the US recently revealed
the remains of what they say is the first animal that may have ever set foot on land,
and turns out it was an ancient scorpion.
Scorpions are known to be one of the first prehistoric animals to have become fully land-dwelling,
emerging from the primordial seas hundreds of millions of years ago, but whether they’re
the first animals to wander onto land is still of much scientific debate.
I could see it, I guess!
She’s kinda lobster-ish in appearance!
Now, you guys will trip out at her face!
The anatomy is quite incredible!
She cleans herself using her chelicerae, which also look like a pair of claws that jut out
of her mouth area.
Talk about Aliens meets Predator, right?
She’s cleaning up because she recently ate, which I know because I see her cricket leftovers
nearby.
Now, she’s been living here for most of her life, along with a population of springtails,
beneficial mites, and even a strange colony of ants (not sure how that happened) who all
eat up her leftovers.
Though she does seem happy in this enclosure, there is a bit of a problem.
She needs more space.
This 10 gallon terrarium in which she came to me has a gorgeous faux rockscape backing
that, though attractive takes up a lot of the floor room.
These scorpions naturally inhabit leafy floors of humid tropical jungles, and therefore need
some good wandering room and hiding areas, not so much vertical climbing space.
And so, AC Family, as Creator of Worlds, I have gone ahead and prepared a great sanctuary
for our new beast to live in….
Here!
Next to her keep is a land blanketed in a thick mist.
Twice weekly a fog rolls through these territories to keep the sanctuary humid, perfect for a
scorpion like her!
The great fog shall dissipate in just a moment, but it rolls through now in preparation for
our scorpion’s grand homecoming.
As the mist fades, you can see that we’ve lushed out the lands with nerve plants, Cryptanthus,
green moss, and tropical lichens.
A rock cave awaits for our beast to take up residence in its shadows.
I’ve placed it up against the glass so we’ll still be able to see our beast once she retreats
within it.
As you can see, this new scorpion garden offers her much more space than her current home.
By the way, if you have a name in mind for these new scorpion lands, do leave it in the
comments, and we can all vote for an official name for this sanctuary in a future video!
Let’s hope she loves her new home!
Guys, it’s time to move her in!
This move could get scary real fast and I was ready to be faced with an angry scorpion.
I approached the scorpion carefully.
My plan was to gently guide her with tweezers into this container and safely transport her
into the new terrarium.
Though her sting is said to feel like a wasp sting, from my memory, wasp stings still hurt,
plus those claws are super strong as you’re about to see.
I fixated the container below and behind her and moved my tweezers gently in front of her.
Instantly she struck with her claws, lightly at first, but the more persistent my tweezers
were at not going away, the more she would meet them full force with a strong pinch from
her claws.
She wasn’t using her stinger at this point.
Sure enough, with enough prodding, she submitted and turned around walking straight into my
container.
I popped the lid on and presto!
She was safely in.
That was easier than I thought it would be.
Though you couldn’t tell in the video, her pinch on the metal tweezers felt pretty strong,
and I know it would have hurt had it been my bare skin!
I placed the container into the terrarium, then opened the lid to allow her to set foot
on her new territories!
She paused for a moment when she realized she was no longer in the plain rocky terrarium
she had grown used to her whole life, but in a new place now.
She didn’t know it yet, but she would soon come to love this place and find it much more
suitable to her lifestyle.
It was then, that she began to stride forward and crawl right into our rock cave that we
made for her!
Alright!
Success!
Our new beast had officially moved in.
She’ll continue to burrow and customize this cave to her liking over time, and totally
make it her own.
I placed a small bowl inside and filled it up with fresh water for her to drink when
needed.
Alright, and now that she’s all moved in, it’s time to witness what you’ve all patiently
been waiting for.
Let’s watch our scorpion glow!
Turning off the terrarium lights... and voila!
Wow!
Isn’t that just crazy, guys?!
Like a neon greenish-blue creature out of a science fiction movie, our scorpion glows
brightly, very much like a night light!
But how does this happen?
What’s the science behind the glow and more importantly what’s it for?
Well, the glow is called fluoresce, and scorpion skin fluoresces once UV light reflects off
a substance found in their exoskeleton.
It actually happens in all scorpion species, not just this scorpion.
Pretty cool right?
They fluoresce in natural moonlight, or in this case, under a black light tube, situated
just above the terrarium.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure what the benefit of having UV flourescent skin is,
but there are a few theories.
Some propose it helps the scorpions find each other, others say it protects the scorpions
against harmful UV light from sunlight, and others feel it may confuse their prey once
moonlight reflects off their skin, causing a sort of deer in headlights effect!
It’s also hypothesized that the fluorescence actually helps the scorpions know how much
light is outside, so they know only to come out during the darkest of hours to avoid predators!
What do you guys think the glow is for?
Either way, it’s a pretty cool thing if you ask me!
Now, I tried to feed our beast so we could all watch her eat, but every time I was around
she was more preoccupied with fighting me off, than eating, so it failed, but I did
release a cricket as a housewarming gift into her new home, and caught her finishing it
off in the middle of the night.
I’m happy to see she’s got a healthy appetite!
As the fog machine turned on to humidify the lands, and the mist blanketed the jungle floored
territories, it was in that moment, wrapped up in fog, that I noticed that our scorpion
appeared as though she was back in her prehistoric days, when her ancestors still lived underwater.
Seeing her blanketed in the mist like this, made it easier to envision her marine ancestors
still living and feeding in the ocean, at one point in Earth’s incredible history.
It’s amazing how diverse and ever-evolving life on Earth is, wouldn’t you say?
Whether it be caring for ants or arachnids like this scorpion, I am always humbled by
the sheer brilliance, no pun intended, of Mother Nature’s work.
Thank you for watching, guys!
I’ll see you all next week!
It’s ant and scorpion love forever!
AC Family, wasn’t that cool?
So much is in store ahead in the Ant Room, so if you haven’t yet, SMASH that SUBSCRIBE
button and BELL ICON now and hit ALL so you get notified at every upload.
Also don’t forget to hit the LIKE button every single time including now.
It would really mean a lot to me, guys.
Thank you so much!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you would like to watch extended
scenes of our scorpion!
Just a quick announcement: There’s one day left!
If you’ve wanted to get into ant keeping, now’s the time!
Just use the coupon code “antloveforever” to get 10% off all AC ant farms and equipment
at AntsCanada.com!
We ship your ant keeping gear in a special package sent out of our facility in the USA,
and offer full email support if you need our help.
Promo ends tomorrow March 1st so visit AntsCanada.com now!
Nuptial flights start in the Northern Hemisphere this week and I heard ants have already begun
to fly in California!
So awesome!
And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week.
Last week, we asked:
What new thing did we discover about fire ant queens when laying eggs?
Congratulations to Alfonso Lopez who answered:
We learned fire ant queens extend their stinger when laying eggs.
Congratulations Alfonso, you just won a free Ultimate Ant Keeping handbook from our shop!
In this week’s AC Question of the Week we ask:
What do you love about scorpions?
Leave your answer in the comments section and you could also win a free ebook handbook
from our shop!
Hope you could subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST.
Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video, to help
us keep making more.
It’s ant love forever!