What Do Scorpions Eat?

Most people have never given much thought to the diet of the common scorpions, but examining their diet paints an interesting picture of insect life.

Here is some basic info on what scorpions eat:

• Scorpions typically survive on a diet of small insects.
• Crickets are a staple of the dietary needs of a scorpion. 
• Unfortunately for the cricket, crickets make perfect prey because they are small enough that the scorpions can catch and eat a large number of them, which provides the scorpions with protein and other necessary minerals and energy. 

Larger scorpions, who are more likely to be able to capture larger prey, have more options for their diet:

• These larger scorpions will often stun and digest small rodents, such as mice, gerbils, and other common desert rodents.
• Some scorpions will even attempt to capture small lizards and other reptiles in the same fashion, by holding them with their claws and stunning them with a quick sting from their venomous tails.

What Scorpions Drink

In addition to food, scorpions - like most animals - need to drink liquids to survive.

• Scorpions may obtain water from whatever source they can find that is available to them. 
• Most scorpions have learned to adapt to a life spent without water, since most scorpions live in deserts or other dry, arid climates. In these cases, they can receive most of the liquids that they need to survive from their prey. 
• Scorpions will drink water as needed and from a variety of sources, wherever they can find it.

Feeding a Pet Scorpion

If you are asking what scorpions eat because you intend to have one as a pet, then it is even more important for you to understand the scorpion diet.

• If you are keeping a pet scorpion, you will want to find out specifically what diet the species that you have is used to by researching the particular type of scorpion.
• Since some scorpions live in jungles, while some live in deserts and dry climates, they may have varying nutritional needs, and you will want to make sure that you are providing a mix of foods that will enable them to survive and thrive if you are keeping them in captivity.

What Are Scorpions

Now that you know a bit more about what scorpions eat, it may also be useful to learn about the scorpions themselves and about how they catch their food:

• Scorpions are a member of the arthropod family of insects, and are technically members of the spider species. 
• This is easy to see because they possess eight legs, unlike an insect that will only have six legs. 
• Scorpions are known for their poisonous sting, which is often called a scorpion bite, although the term bite is a misnomer. 
• The poisonous bite of the scorpion actually comes from a stinger and venom glands located in the tail of the scorpion.
• When the scorpion wants to defend itself or stun and kill its prey so that it can eat them, it uses the tail as its primary weapon, typically while holding the prey in its claws. 

So, now you know not only what scorpions eat, but also how they eat it.