Stiff tail = Dead soon?

I read the FAQ but I jus wanted to be sure. I've had my Emp for bout 3 years now & he's bout 7 1/2 inches long. I noticed today when feeding him that he would'nt curl his tail. He's eating fine tho. Is he getting ready to pass on or is there something else wrong?

i have no idea why he would have his tail flat on the floor but today my emperor after he came out of the little pool i have in my tank also had his tail flat . i think that sometimes they just do it for no reason. you should wait a little and if this doesnt change than you should start to worry.

if he is eating i wouldnt worry to much, see what he does after, if he just lays there out in the open with tail flat and wont move much when touched, then yes he is prly dieing, but if he carries on as normal after ie walks around has tail up, and returns to hide i really wouldnt worry

Yeah this is weird, He seems perfectly healthy and responsive. It seems as tho he's developed some sort of tail paralysis. Like It wont bend at all. Its completely stiff.

Using tail for any handling/manipulation? Damage can happen... easily.

He was probably taking a dump....THey do that since they cannot wipe there own @ss....

anemiaffx wrote:

He was probably taking a dump....THey do that since they cannot wipe there own @ss....

lol ...er...

@ Steven. Naw, I rarely take him out of his tank. I'm wondering if he hurt it trying to crawl up the tank. He likes to climb up the power chord to his heat rock and often uses his tail to push himself up.

Atomika wrote:

@ Steven. Naw, I rarely take him out of his tank. I'm wondering if he hurt it trying to crawl up the tank. He likes to climb up the power chord to his heat rock and often uses his tail to push himself up.

No that wouldnt cause harm. They do it all the time and im sure in the wild they would do the very same.

Take out the heat rock. There's no way to control the heat output on it and it's very easy for them to get hot and injure your specimens.

K. Well is been bout a week now & he hasn't moved. But I'm not sure if he is dead as rigor mortis hasn't set in. He's still very fluid. Is he dead? Molting? Hibernation? I've never had a scorpion do this.

I would say he is dead or nearly dead if he doesn't move at all when touched then yeah he is, pick him up see what happens

Dead scorpions start to smell pretty quickly. It'll smell like rotting fish.

Scorps don't get rigor mortis like mammals do -- they only stiffen as they dry. When they're dead they're pretty limp.

my female emp did this as well. i thought she was dead so i got her out measured her and was going to call it quits on her after two full days of this. the gf told me to leave her alone so i did. the very next day the emp was acting fine. shes 8 inches long so i dnt know if she was goin to molt but that was amonth ago.

Yeah you should always leav them a few days scorps have a funny habit of springing backup life after appearing dead for a few days lol

my scorpion named "sprinkles" out of no where became paralyzed, his tail is curled and when i lightly touch it, it moves, but it appears that the rest of his body is paralyzed. his legs, body, and pinchers are dead like. I am really worried, what should i do? Btw there is nothing about this problem anywhere D: