Lychas spp.
Identity confidence: provisional. This is a genus, group, or trade name rather than a confirmed species. Treat it as the closest match we can stand behind, and use the more conservative end of any range.
Asian Forest Bark Scorpions: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Small tropical Asian buthids: L. mucronatus is the common one: semi-arboreal bark dwellers, communal-capable, with moderate venom. A 'hot-keeper-lite' bark scorpion. Adults reach about 2-2.5 inches.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 3: IntermediateSetup: Tropical Asian buthid (semi-arboreal)Handling: Do not handle
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 | 75-85°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Ambient 65-80% with cross ventilation; damp lower substrate, dry bark perches |
| Setup Type | Tropical Asian buthid (semi-arboreal) |
| Substrate | Lightly moist soil/coco mix; vertical cork bark for perching; ventilated |
| Feeding | Small prey weekly |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 3: Intermediate |
| Handling | Do not handle |
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
- Baby Buddy: secure starter enclosure for 2i-3i instars (escape-proof ventilation only)
- vertical bark setup for juveniles and adults
Warnings First
- Buthid: fast, with moderate venom; do not handle
- Semi-arboreal. Give vertical cork bark, not just floor space
- Small and quick; communal-capable but not risk-free, and escape-proof ventilation is essential
- Vent low and high so air rises past the bark. Dry perches over a damp floor is the whole point of the setup, and only airflow keeps those two states separate.
Simple Care
- Lightly moist substrate plus vertical cork bark for perching; good airflow with dry perch options.
- Vents low on one wall and higher on the opposite wall so air rises diagonally past the cork.
- Shallow water dish with pebbles in it so small instars cannot drown.
- Groups are possible only with similar sizes, several bark lanes, heavy feeding, and a separation plan.
- Tools, not hands; secure lid; small ventilation.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- L. mucronatus is the common hobby species: tropical Asia. Semi-arboreal bark dwellers: vertical cork slabs and tubes matter as much as substrate; lightly moist with ventilation and dry perches.
- Communal-capable with space and good feeding, but as with any communal, size-match and don't let feeding lapse.
- Dry perches over moist substrate is a ventilation job. Put small vents low on one wall and higher on the opposite wall so air rises diagonally through the enclosure, crossing the damp substrate and then passing the cork faces. That is what dries the perches while the floor stays moist. Lid-only venting gives you the reverse: dry bark over motionless, saturated air at the base, which is where cuticle fungus starts on a bark-dwelling buthid.
- Ventilation and ambient humidity are a single trade. Hold 65 to 80% by keeping the lower substrate lightly damp and running a water dish, and let the vents flow. On a communal setup this matters more, because more animals in a still box means more waste and faster fouling.
- Judge by touching the bark, not by a wall gauge. The substrate should be cool and lightly damp while the exposed cork faces dry between mistings. Bark that never dries means the enclosure needs more airflow.
- Keep the water dish shallow and packed with pebbles or coarse grit so the waterline sits below the rim. A communal-capable species produces broods, and instars drown in open dishes; the stones remove the hazard for the whole group.
- Mist the substrate under the bark rather than the perches themselves. That maintains the damp floor microclimate while leaving the vertical surfaces dry, which is the gradient the animals are actually using. A quick spritz on one bark face brings them out to drink.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Feeding: small crickets or roach nymphs no bigger than the body. Genuinely small prey for these little buthids. Young eat every 4-7 days, adults weekly to every other week; remove uneaten feeders quickly.
- Growth: matures over roughly 5 molts. Pull all feeders when it goes off food for a molt, and leave the soft, pale new molt alone until it hardens. Some Lychas are parthenogenetic (a lone female may produce a brood), so be ready to contain offspring, and don't disturb a female carrying first-instar young.
- Maintenance: spot-clean boluses and feeder parts; give it bark or leaf litter to hide under and a lightly damp corner rather than a wet enclosure; size ventilation so tiny offspring can't escape. Venom is moderate (painful, not generally a medical emergency), but treat it as a no-handling, tool-based animal.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Tropical Asia: Southeast Asia and southern China; forest and bark habitats.
- Habitat translation: A lightly-moist, ventilated enclosure with vertical cork bark for perching, dry perch options, and a small water source.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Adult size ~2-2.5 in. A small, attractive 'hot-keeper-lite' bark scorpion: more serious than a forest scorpion, well short of the medical genera.
- Communal-capable, which is unusual for a buthid; still an experienced-keeper choice, not a default.
- Semi-arboreal: the common mistake is treating it as a ground scorpion and not giving it vertical bark.