Another new member and NEW scorpion owner

Hi, all. I am Paul a 40 year old Brit working as a teacher in China.

My story is a little strange. I was given an Emperor scorpion by one of my students here in China as she had a few and this one was aggressive with the others. I haven't owned a scorpion before so I was at a total loss, as it was kind of like this.

Paul, do you want a scorpion?
Sure.
OK, I will bring it to school tomorrow.

I have a fish tank built my apartment from a previous occupant. So housing wasn't a problem but everything else. I really have to admit I am clueless about scorpions.

I got it yesterday, it's about 4 inches long. To make things worse the temp here has just dropped to under 20 C. I have lighting in the tank during the day to keep the tank warm but I am a little concerned as the heat mat won't be here for another two to three days. The scorpion has already eaten a super meal worm.

Hi Paul, I am going to stick my neck out here as I'm still a noob only being a scorpion owner for 10 months but if your scorpion has eaten its relatively content. You will need to get that heat mat in there as soon as it arrives and get the tank up to about 28 degrees but a few days is not going to do any lasting harm. I say that from reading things in the forum. The heat mat needs to be on the back or side of the tank not at the bottom as the scorpion could burrow down and overheat.  

You will need to put a hide in there so it has something to get away and conceal itself, they often do very little during the day as the are nocturnal, mine comes alive about 21.30 most nights searching around and patrolling.

You need to keep the humidity at about 80 to 90% and the substrate about 4-6 inches deep it needs to be moist as they often like to dig but not sopping wet like a swamp. Some of the live moss wil help keep that moisture up.

It will eat crickets about 1 or 2 medium sized ones a week but don't worry too much if it does not eat them as they can go weeks without eating. Take any uneaten ones out after a few days as it obviously isn't hungry and try again in a few days time.

If you have any cables running down the inside of the terrarnium be careful as scorpions can climb and I often find mine hanging upside down in the middle of the lid so if you have one put a lid on it.

Have a look at my set up, this is a new terrarnium in the last 2 weeks.

http://www.scorpion-forum.com/t11272-my-new-pandinus-cavimanus-red-claw

I'm sure some of the more experienced bods here will offer you more in depth advice but that covers most of the basics.

And lastly enjoy it they are fascinating creatures.

Jester pretty much gave the perfect answer.

Sorry for the late thank you, work, no internet etc.

Thanks for the information. I have the heat mat under the soil, he doesn't really go down that end of the tank unless he is searching for food, but I will move it when I get home.

There is a fish tank bridge in the tank and he has burrowed under it, so he seems pretty happy. I have a lid on the tank and have covered the hole where the wires go through.

A problem. I moved the heat mat to the back of the tank however the temp has dropped to 21c since doing this. Now the scorp is just huddled up against the back of the tank where the heat mat is.
To make it worse the light in the tank died so now he has no daytime heat either.

I am considering putting the heat mat under the stones that are at the far end of the tank that way he can't dig down to it.

I would say the heat matt under the tank is a no as everywhere I have read that says that.

What I have done living in a chilly South East England and to tight to warm the place is put tinfoil on top of the lid to attempt to keep heat in. The Komodo viv has a side vent for air flow so this worked well for me. I have also placed a towel over the top draping over the back of the tank therefore over the heat matt too. I purchased a separate thermostat and set it to 30 degrees the max setting and monitor every day the temperature, the sensor for this is right next to the matt. The maximum it has got in there is 28.7 average temperature seems to be about 26-27 degrees. The heat mat is fully exposed on the glass and not half in half out the substrate.

It does take a bit of fiddling to get these things fine tuned. Let us know how you get on.

I put the heat mat under the pebbles at the end of the tank and put an old fish tank divider right to the bottom of the tank. And it worked! He lost a little space but he can't get to the mat so he won't boil.

I have an IR lamp on the way to increase the temp and so I can see him in the evenings. Also he moves around a lot during the day as the tank is in a dark area of the room.

I have pebbles and coco substrate in my tank he seems happy on either side of the tank and when he hunts food prefers the pebble side. I will have to post a picture soon as someone said doesn't look like an emp.

Hi there welcome aboard!

Thanks. I am steadily reading through the boards. I am still waiting on the IR lamp so he's stopped eating. I bought some black crickets as I can't have roaches.