Hottentotta tamulus
Indian Red Scorpion: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A small Indian buthid, adults about 2.5-3.5 in, with medically significant venom that has killed people. Hardy and easy on husbandry, but advanced keepers only: the venom sets the rules.
Group: ScorpionsDifficulty: Spice 5: ExtremeSetup: Dry crevice dweller, flat rock or cork hidesHandling: No handling, long tools only
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | 80-95°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | 35-50%, dry throughout, well ventilated |
| Setup Type | Dry crevice dweller, flat rock or cork hides |
| Substrate | Dry sand or sand/soil, optional barely moist base |
| Feeding | Small prey: young every 4-7 days, adults every 1-2 weeks |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 5: Extreme |
| Handling | No handling, long tools only |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- 2i-3i instars: secure Baby Buddy, escape-proof vents smaller than the tail, bottle-cap water dish with grit
- Larger juveniles and adults (adults 2.5-3.5 in): secure Burrow Buddy, flat cork/rock crevices, dry substrate, pebble dish
Warnings First
- Medically significant, potentially lethal venom. No handling and no casual maintenance: long tools and secondary containment every time.
- Tiny juveniles escape easily. Every vent and gap must be smaller than the tail.
- Never open the lid without seeing the animal first. Keep decor bare so it can't disappear.
- Tiny instars drown in an adult's dish. Use a shallow dish packed with pebbles, or a bottle cap with grit.
- Clear out every feeder when it stops eating before a molt, and leave the soft new molt alone until it hardens.
- Never restrict airflow to hold heat or humidity. That's how a dry buthid gets cuticle fungus.
Simple Care
- Never handle it. Use long tongs and secondary containment for every job.
- Put security before decoration: hide, substrate, water point, nothing else.
- Use tiny vents, but plenty of them, low on two opposite walls.
- Keep it hot and dry at 80-95°F, never wet.
- Give flat rock piles or stacked cork as crevice hides.
- Keep water in a shallow dish packed with pebbles.
- Feed small prey and remove anything uneaten within a day.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Keep it simple: hide, substrate, water point and controlled prey. Every extra piece of decor is a place to lose sight of the animal.
- Use many small vents low on two opposite walls instead of a few big ones up top. Same airflow across the substrate, none of the escape risk.
- Airflow holds 35-50% on its own. If you're closing vents to hold warmth, fix the heat source instead.
- Check by hand: substrate dry top to bottom, damp only where you misted or around the dish, and dry again within a day.
- Don't mist the enclosure. A brief spritz under the hide once a month recharges the slightly damp pocket it uses.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Offer small crickets or roach nymphs no bigger than the body, and distinctly small prey for instars.
- Young eat every 4-7 days, adults roughly weekly to every other week. Remove anything uneaten within a day.
- About 5-6 molts to maturity. A premolt animal stops eating and hides: clear every feeder and leave the pale new molt alone until it hardens.
- Drop prey with long tongs over a catch container, never by hand. Spot-clean boluses with tongs.
- Hydrate with prey plus an occasional tiny damp corner or small dish, not a misted enclosure.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: India and Pakistan: arid scrub and rocky hills, very often in and around rural homes, walls and debris piles.
- Habitat translation: Hot, dry, sparse and escape-proof. Rock-crevice hides instead of a dug burrow, sparing hydration, and a dry surface over any slightly damp lower layer.
Advanced Keeper Details
- One of the most medically significant scorpions in the world, responsible for human deaths in rural India.
- Hardy and not temperature-fussy. The venom, not the husbandry, is what makes it advanced.
- No direct transfers. Secondary containment and long tools, and always see the animal before opening.
- Its small body makes vent sizing the constant battle: every gap smaller than the tail.