Customer Reviews

Scorpions: Keeping & Breeding Them in Captivity (Re-154)

5 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

With respect to the reader from Chicago, this book will give the wrong information on scorpion species, care and identification. There are no acknowledgments in the book which obviously was not reviewed by experts in scorpion biology. It does have some good photographs, though most of the species illustrated are misidentified. Ms. Webb is known as a tarantula keeper, and probably a good one at that; scorpions she does not know well and apparently did not research the literature when preparing this book.

I was among the reviewers of the book for the above mentioned American Tarantula Society. I recommend reading those reviews for the problems with this book. Further, I am an arachnid biologist who was among several scorpion biologists who reviewed the manuscript for Manny Rubio's book, also mentioned above and available here at Amazon.com. (Read the reviews at the Manny Rubio/Amzaon.com section.)

Excellent intermediate book on the captive care of these amazing creatures. Detailed information on the various species one might find in the pet trade and their respective charateristics.The author obviously has a great deal of knowledge and experience in raising these animals, and does an efficient job of conveying that to the reader.

I probably have every book ever written on scorpions and can state without any hesitation that this book offers nothing to anyone looking to keep their scorpions alive and thriving in captivity. The ONLY legitimate reason to ever buy this book is for the fine photographs (many of the scorpions in the photos are actually misidentified) that accompany the mostly useless, and to some groups of scorpions, dangerous text.
If you're a novice level keeper or you're looking to acquire your first scorpion then, pick-up a copy of Manny Rubio's "Scorpions: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual".

Aside from a few nice photographs that can be cut out and pasted on to a posterboard, I would honestly recommend that the rest of the book be thrown away. I will not go into detail on this book and its problems [there is a published review from colleagues of mine in the American Tarantula Society's Forum Magazine, Volume 7, Number 5 (September/October 1998) on pages 156-159]. TFH Publishing has always set the standard on "what not to do", and this book continues along the same path! There is no evidence that the book was reviewed by other people in the field, especially professionals! I have a bad feeling that many of Webb's scorpions have died in the past...

Now, I am not here to plug another book, but if you're looking for a quality book that is geared towards the scorpion enthusiast/hobbyist, I suggest Manny Rubio's "Scorpions: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual". It has a few minor drawbacks as well, but is far superior to anything that has been published to date on this topic.

My credentials: I am an arachnid biologist.