Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum and my name is Roy. I have been reading up on scorpion husbandry on this site for a month or two, and have decided to join the party!!

You guys have some really great info here and I have learnt so much, and I'm delighted to see so many fellow Malaysians here!! Never knew that there were so many scorpion enthusiasts back home, I am currently studying in Southern California but when I go back for the summer we have to meet up!

My emperor scorpion Rosemary recently passed away and I have been very puzzled as to why, I have included some pics below and am hoping that they will be uploaded. Should the uploads be successful, I would definitely welcome feedback/criticisms about how I have maintained my enclosure, what could be the reasons for Rose's death etc. I got her last September, so she only lasted approximately 5 months under my care. I was disheartened about her death to say the least, Emps are well-known for their hardiness and I couldn't even sustain her longer than half a year??!! My confidence levels certainly took a deep plunge downhill. From her bloated appearance I would think she had molting problems, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to getting to know you guys!

Here are some links, hopefully this works:

http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/14/93/36/42/img_0922.jpg

http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/14/93/36/42/img_0923.jpg

http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/14/93/36/42/img_0924.jpg

http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/14/93/36/42/img_0925.jpg

http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/14/93/36/42/img_0918.jpg

http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/14/93/36/42/img_0912.jpg

http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/14/93/36/42/img_0926.jpg

Well, it wouldn't have been old age as she was a sub-adult.

She looked very dry. What substrate are you using besides the moss?

You should use coco fibre.

Oh the post postmortem pic was taken several days after her death so she was kinda allowed to dry out for a few days before the shots. I made sure to pour water into her cage every single day, a full cup at that so the bottom of her enclosure was soaking wet.

As for substrate I used sphagnum moss. I think that was not entirely suitable so now I use a 70:30 soil: Sphagnum moss mix.

Some details: The height of the tank was 12 inches, could it be t5oo short a distance from the heat lamp?

Tank humidity supposedly was 42% (taken with my friend's anemometer), but I made sure the bottom of the enclosure was soaking wet. (I've read many a time here that there is no point getting hygrometers, just make sure the tank bottom is wet and substrate is moist)

Temperature was 25 degrees Celsius on the unlit end and 30 Celsius on the lit end.

Sigh Rosemary..........she was turning out to be such a fine specimen, nasty little attitude she had.

It should have been damp, not soaking. She should have been able to burrow ie soil substrate.

The only suitable heat lamp is an infra red one as they cannot see red light and they are negatively phototactic.

well i use a heat lamp and its not the infra red one.. i use the regular 50W heat lamp and i also use a 50W night glo lamp... is this ok? i am thinking of switching to red light too but either way the heat lamp i use makes the tank temperature go up to 75-80F. and i was having trouble with the humidity in the beginning cause i was stupid and put the humidity meter under the heat lamp and i guess that somewhat had an effect to it because once i moved the humidity meter to the other side of the tank where the heat lamp isnt at.. it raised to 80%.

Well I chose to not use a lamp, because these are forest floor animals and would most likely never see light in their natural habitat. You could have had deeper strate and bigger hides. though I dont think that is what caused its demise. How often did you or other people handle it? They dont really like to be looked at or touched. It causes stress which will kill them.
Anyway
I use a heat-mat on the side of my tank with about 6" of substrate over a false bottom. This way I only have to add water every few days and my substrate stays moist but not soaking. A brick of coco fiber is about $3.00us. It will be just enough for a 10gal tank, and will last you 6 months. For the bottom just use any kind of gravel. If it is larger pieces about 1/4-1/2" just place a piece if screen over it to keep your strate from falling through and clogging up your false bottom The heat mat cost about $30.00 but you can find better prices on eBay.

P.S. Sorry about your pet man

lol how does the scorpion know if its being looked at?
i thought they only had a range of like 8 inches infront of them?

They run back into their hides if my kid has her face pasted to the glass.

wow mine arent that skittish...my 2 yr old brother does the same thing and they just continue with whatever they were doing (usually trying to crawl up the glass)

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the input so far.

I don't think handling could be the cause of her death, as I have never handled her until after her death
(very sad actually). I don't want to stress them (or myself too) out, plus I look at the aceleus and I go like no that ain't piercing no body part of mine.

I'm definitely providing my new scorps with more substrate to burrow into and I'm using 70:30 potting soil and sphagnum moss mix. I think I will get some coco fiber this weekend.

I am liking the heat pad suggestion but I'm currently housing my scorpions in those huge plastic Sterilite containers, do you know if a heat pad would work with those?
The plastic would not melt under the heat, but I don't know about heat conduction through plastic, essentially would the scorpions be able to feel the extra warmth coming through the Sterilite container?

There are many cheap Emps for sale on kingsnake.com but shipping is so horribly expensive, and tarantulainc.com has run out of Emps, sheeesh.........

It should be fine. I saw a store on ebay that sells heatpads for like 10.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ZooMed-Heat-Mats_W0QQitemZ170450196854QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27af9f9976

The offer is ending soon

***EDIT***
Not my sale. just tryin to help a guy out