HELP! young scorpions not eating/appearing weak

Hi scorpion-forum!
I am new to this hobby so hope you all can be patient with my many questions-I'd appreciate any help as it seems there's a lot of varying opinions out there on scorpion care. A little over two weeks ago I received 2 young emperor scorpions about 6 or so months old. I set them up in a 15 gallon tank together with coconut substrate, a heating pad on one side, a couple of hiding huts, and a water dish. They seemed to be fine, active at night, hiding in the day. They haven't eaten since I got them, which I read can happen with emperors but since they are so young this has been concerning me a bit. I have tried to tong feed them but they seemed annoyed at the crickets, sometimes swatting them away and running away from them. I have tried to put a few crickets in, leave them a night or two, then remove them if not eaten, then repeat after a few days. Nothing.

Their habits the last week or so, however, have been worrying me the most. They went a couple nights, few days, where I didn't see them at all. They were burrowed deep in the substrate and as far as I could tell, didn't emerge at night either or the times I had previously seen them active (very late before bed or right as I woke up). I didn't want to bug them (or go searching for them) since I know they are hiding creatures but it seemed a bit odd. Is this kind of burrowing common? One of them has come up to the surface and is under a hiding bark but seems VERY weak- hardly moving, not responding to touch, maybe even slightly skinnier (but it could also look this way from him huddling into himself). I tried feeding it and my scorpion just stayed there, unresponsive. The other is still out of sight. What can I do? How do I know if he/she (still haven't sexed them), is about to molt? Please any help would be much appreciated! I want to make sure they can grow to be healthy and stay with me a long time.

Hi.

A few things:

First, can you get pictures?

Second, how large are the crickets in relation to the scorpions?

And third, are you sure of their age, and if they're even P. imperator?


Regardless, I wouldn't worry too much about them hiding and not eating. That's pretty normal behavior, and you've only had them a couple weeks.

Thanks for the quick reply!
I'm having trouble uploading my photos. I know the age of the scorpions because the woman who gave them to me watched them being born. They're also very small-at typical walking stance, under or about the length of my index finger.

I've been trying to feed them the smallest crickets they sell at pet stores. I also put some small dried mealworms in, just in case (and no risk of them injuring scorpions).

Would you have an idea for the change in energy? It seemed almost dead, barely moving.

I will try to upload my photos later and hopefully they will work!

Thank you!

What are your temperatures? Scorpions can refuse food and become more inactive if it is cold.

Update: They're active again! but still not eating.

I'm in Northern California so the temperatures have been in the mid-high 60s (F). I have two heating pads on one side now but I know they're not adequate. In the evenings I've been putting on my space heater to get the room to the 70's. Do you recommend infrared lamp for bringing the temps up? Would you put it over the middle of the tank or the heating pad side (the pad instructions said to avoid this)? And do would I leave the lamp on 24/7? Temperatures here don't vary too much but in the winter it can go down to the low 50s.

Here's some pics! I have another hiding log I'm going to put in soon. It's a big bare at the moment. Excuse the poor lighting, it's the best I could do on my phone without flash

I personally use an infrared lamp in the opposite side of my heating pad. I have a timer in my socket and my imp gets light from 8am to 8pm. Here it already is 45-50F, so i will give him 2 more hours a day to compensate.

However, your emperor looks like one of the asian forest emperors and not the classic Pandinus Imperator. I can tell from the missing granulation on the pincers in your last photo. I can't ID the asian species, but optimal care could vary between the species.

By asian forest scorpion i mean a Heterometrus species

An infrared heat lamp would be fine. Just make sure that you keep the substrate moist, as the lamps tend to dry out the substrate quickly. Personally I'd leave it on in the day and just use the heating pads at night. You really don't want the temperature to ever drop below about 65 degrees. If possible they should be kept around 80.

At that age it's difficult to determine if they're emps or not without the aid of a dissecting microscope. It will become more clear as they mature.