Rate my setup

Just bought an Emp. Scorpion, not my first one. My first died because I forgot to give it water a few years back. anyways, My substrate is "top soil" that I bought at Lowes. I microwaved it to kill off bacteria (read this in a care guide sheet). It's about 2 inch on one side and 6 inch on the other. I made a little cave with half a plastic cup. It seems that it doesn't like the cave so it made itself another hole at the bottom of the cave. There's Terrarium Moss all around. There's a rock water dish that's filled half an inch high with water. There's no heat source and the tank gets daily misting. Crickets will be it's main food supply. There's 10 crickets jumping around the 10 gallon. I've decided not to feed the crickets because I think the effects is minimal. Eating two crickets will be better than one gut loaded crickets, IMO. Well, it's hiding out and won't come out. Think if I heat the tank up really hot, it'll start to run around? Any advise to make the tank more suitable?

EDIT

P.Imperator like to hide in holes, thus the phrase pet holes.
If they hide in the hole and you dont see them much then they are happy, there not a scorpion that will constantly be out and about

jd254 wrote:

EDIT

so you want your emp to fight something??
wrong forum mate

oh and also why is one part 2 inch deep in one part, you should have it all nice and deep as they love to burrow, you may need some form of heat source as the best temp for p.imperator is about 80f if you do get a heatmat or something mount it on the back of the tank, because they burrow down if it gets too hot so as you can probs work out if it burrows and your heat source is under the tank they may get cooked. The tempretaure is important really as it helps with humidity. 10 crix is a little bit too much, gut loading the crickets is something you should do really, saying gut loading isnt needed if you feed more isnt really right, quality over quantity you know. You shouldnt really leave the live food in there if its still in there after a day or two take it out.

i didnt notice that part jordan lol thanks for bringing that up. just like all scorpion species Emps are mainly sollitary, people have had success keeping them in colonies, but you should not put any other species of animal in there that is not a prey item, as it will result in stress and or death of one or both animals

Um....thats not true. Emps have been found in colonies in the wild. Families even.
-Eddy
P.S. J.D, we dont allow post about animal cruelty. I edited your post only because we all know the animals you named would only become food for the Scorp.

that is true i guess but in captivaty i still feel they are better of solitary as they are very territorial, ofcourse they can be kept in colonies aslong as there is enough space, but would you recomend it to somebody that sounds like they dont have much experience? and still i would say that in general scorpions are solitary, i mean they mainly only interact while young, plus they are cannibalistic arent they, so is it really being in a colony or staying close to there food source?

It's a colony, trust me. I do reccomend getting some more emps only one out of ten will actually canabalize and thats only if completly starved. These are one of the few scorps that actually group up when communal, and even share food. They are communal both in captivity and in the wild. Scorpions are MAINLY solitary but you have special exceptions. C. sculpt are a good example and so are M. martenssii.
-Eddy

P.s. What makes this hobby so much better than the Tarantula hobby is that we can keep out scorps together.

True, (not being nasty jd) but this guys last scorpion died because he forgot to give it water so is it wise for him to have a colony of emps after all, if one wants to be the hard man of the group so to speak lol and fights the others damage can be done fairly easy

Still say yes. Here are my reasons.
1. He read up on PROPER care now.(ask experts how many of them put their first emps on sand)
2. I hate people only getting ONE scorpion especially emps since they are on the CITES list. If you must HAVE this species might as well breed it.
3. They are a lot cooler to watch when in a colony.

animal cruelty? I was asking for a suitable tank buddy, so they wouldn't fight. Crickets are of course food... Alright, I'll keep five in the tank then. I still don't understand how it's possible that 2 starved crickets does not out weight the nutrition value of one healthy cricket. I'll do the heat mat idea. I kept one side 2 inches only because I read that they like to burrow holes underneath the water dish and get stuck and die. So... no deep substrate there. hm.. what else...

The scorpion's lair is at the very bottom of the 6 inch area... What can I do to make sure the soil doesn't collapse on Scorpi and kill it?

Also... why do I need to take the crickets out?

Also... When I asked if I should make the tank really hot to get Scorpi active, I was thinking 95F. This to my understanding is pretty normal... which doesn't border animal cruelty. 95F should give their metabolism a jump start in my opinion... but I don't know, so I'm asking.

yea i guess you win the debate eddy,
here have a cookie *gives e-cookie*
im gunna be getting another 4 ft long 2 ft wide and 2ftviv and then will be having a colony hopefully, the emps i buy are captive bred, i know this for sure as i buy them from people i know breed them themselves, see i am a good boy now

hey! I forgot to give it water because I was away on vacation! It was only a week... I thought the water bowl would still be filled with water, but I guess it got hot and evaporated. So yes, it IS my fault and I am taking responsibility for it, and I'm trying to do a better job on this one. Stupid lady at the store told me to use sand... I simply ignored everything else she said.

95f is too high, 80f is just right i think if you did pump them up that high he'she would just burrow down further to avoid the heat, you take crickets out because if there not being eaten there just gunna walk around and annoy your scorpion, they have in the past killed peoples scorpions ( usually because scorp is mpulting and therefore vulnerable ) or if its a female cricket may lay eggs in the substrate this happens quite alot even if there not in there for very long lol, so its just safer to take them out

sorry i wasnt trying to be nasty with you about it, we have all made mistakes it is how we learn, i come off harsh occasionally sorry for that, this isnt one of those forums where people attack other people for making mistakes (im sure youv seen that kind) so sorry for sounding that way, oh and welcome to the family

"The scorpion's lair is at the very bottom of the 6 inch area... What can I do to make sure the soil doesn't collapse on Scorpi and kill it? "

I'm worried about this the most...

dont let it dry out, is your scorp big? i havnt heard of any adults dying because of a cave in, not sure about young, but yea keep it moist and to be honest he/she probs wont let it collapse on them

JD, i figure thats what you meant but I wasnt sure so I just deleted it..no warning or anything. Trust me I'm a layback admin . If you want another tank buddy just get more emps(Try to get them captive bred, please). A starving cricket can start nibbling on the scorpions soft spot so be careful. You can switch to roaches or just feed it crickets when neccesary. 95F is pushing it. Normal temp is 80-85. But you can boost up their metabolism by cracnking it up to the low 90's. Or just keep one spot of the enclosure at 95. More than 95 will most likely kill your scorp. Make sure you keep the enclosure moist. An emp can go A LONG TIME without water but if it dies of dehydration is because the enclosure doesnt have enough humidity.
-Eddy

Oh and most emp burrows dont collapse just make sure you pack down the substrate dont let it loose. And welcome to the forum.

i vouch for eddy he is the best admin of any other forum i have seen, but if something can be perceived by somebody as animal cruelty then i guess he cant risk people taking it that way really

lycanlord19 wrote:

i vouch for eddy he is the best admin of any other forum i have seen, but if something can be perceived by somebody as animal cruelty then i guess he cant risk people taking it that way really

I hope Mike and Kejser dont read that....you should proably throw their names in there too LOL.

well yes they are both kool aswell lol i wasnt saying there not good because they are good aswell.

sorry for leaving you out mike and kej and connie aswell ofcourse

how could you leave connie out of that list lol

because connie isnt an admin...

*what he said*
She's a mod.....you know what the whole scorpionforum team is awesome.

....i wanna be awesome....

Well your pretty awesome too then....fine All Scorpionforum members, team, and their affiliates are awesome.