- crd1997 wrote:
- someone help. hi, i bought an emperor scorpion last Sunday and received on Tuesday. When the scorpion came in it was practically dead and freezing. i put it in warm water and he regained complete health. he ate a cricket last night but this morning i saw him in his heated cave with his tail on the ground. I opened the cave and he came completely back to his senses and was very aggressive. i then put him back and he then let his tale drop again. what should i do? once i warmed up his tank he is getting a little better but another question is are emp scorpions sensitive to sound? and how easily can they get stressed?
Hello,
How nice for you that your scorpion recovered.
However, I would make sure your scorpion can properly thermoregulate, what I mean by that is it must be able to get away from the heat, make sure you don't put heating pads under your tank as Emps can burrow, and the excess warmth can be detrimental when they can't get away from it.
I must be able to choose from a warm place and a cool one. That's thermoregulating.
In a relaxed, non threatened posture scorpions can place their tails on the ground, what you probably did was disturb the animal, and it felt threatened that's why it got defensive on you. Very normal scorpion behavior, I suggest to leave it to it's privacy and it will relax again, no stress and that's better for the animal.
stress occurs for example by excessive handling, a scorpion is, and that's my opinion others may differ, not an animal for touching but for looking, and observing, the scorpion is naturally afraid of falling just like tarantula's are, although scorpions have a protective exoskeleton, it's not invulnerable.
Also stress occurs by incorrect housing, failing to give it a hide, which is an absolute necessity, it must be able to get away and into a hide. I suggest with Emps, give them a nice thick layer of for example, (coco) peat, in which they can dig and crawl away. Sometimes they make quite the tunnels.
Your last question, yes they are sensitive to sound, as sound creates a vibration, and the setae on the scorpions body, the small tiny hairs on its exoskeleton, can detect the slightest vibrations, humidity, chemicals etc. It's their version of antennae if you will.
My conclusion: The more you give your animal the opportunity to display it's natural behavior, the more you limit the chance of stress, and better their quality of Life.
I hope that info helps.
Joey
