Emp outside of hide - She died =(

My one emperor has been outside of her hide for almost a week now, whereas the other ones stay in their hides. Is this normal activity?

That happened to one of my juvies a couple days before she died.

:-/

How's the weather there? Sometimes i get that on hot days.

The enclosure is almost always around 80F and the humidity seems good. She's 5i, btw.

might have a molt coming up. Is she sluggish?

I dunno. She's not dragging her tail or anything. When I touched her with tongs, she moved very fast and aggressively.

sounds like it's just chilling and expecting a molt.

Her claws are twitching and she keeps trying to get comfortable ...

Edit: Hmm, weird ... She stopped that.

Yup she's dead

This sucks.

Her sides are like dark - almost black. I'm guessing whatever that was caused her to die.

The other 2 emps came out to check on her earlier. It was weird ...

Aw, man.

I hate it when I'm right.

Yup. I guess it's time to update the sig.

I put her in rubbing alcohol to preserve her; just like with my two B. jacksoni's.

eventually enough of them will die on you to create a graveyard of alcohol and dead specimens....like me


Don't sweat it some scorps just die.

I have a pile in my freezer. When I get around to it I preserve them long-term by acetone drying and I pose them.

My current pile just has a subadult emp and an H. arizonensis.

You've showed us that before, Eddy. That's exactly the picture that came to mind as I was holding her lifeless body.

Sorry to hear that! I just lost my Brachistosternus sp.

Thats the same that happend to my female, sat outside her hide and died

Sorry for this question in this thread but what does alcohol do to preserve them?
I put mine in a deli cup in the freezer. I use to have a H. Arizonensis dried out on display on my shelf till my brother decided to touch it and broke him in half
I had it for about 5 years, it was hard enough to clean the dust off without breakin it lol
Still glowed to was cool
How do you properly preserve them?

I'm not sure what the alcohol does to preserve them - I just know that it does. I've had two B. jacksoni in alcohol for months now and all that happened was some discoloration. I'd put them in the freezer, but my mom would freak out.

Any idea on why her sides were almost completely black? Should I change the substrate for the other two now?

No idea on why her sides were black, Brandon. The substrate ought to be fine as long as it doesn't smell weird, but if you're worried, you can sterilize it or change it.

Alcohol preserves them because it's an aseptic environment -- microbes can't live in it, and they're what's responsible for decay. They also require moisture, so that's why dried specimens do so well.

I personally soak scorps in acetone for a few days, which is both an inhospitable liquid for bacteria and it replaces the water in the scorpion. Since it evaporates faster than water, after the soaking they air-dry pretty quick.

Would I be able to air-dry my scorps that have been in alcohol for months? ;x

Should be -- but it also depends on what concentration alcohol you were using. Most store-bought stuff is only 70%, and it's also contaminated now with all the moisture coming out of your scorps, so it's probably a lot less pure at this point.

In labs and such ethanol is typically used at a concentration of 90% to 95% -- I'm not sure how different it is in terms of preservation than isopropanol is (the stuff you find in most drugstores).

They've been in a Pepsi bottle the whole time with the cap on. I'll see if I can air-dry them. If not, then oh well ;x

Btw, it was regular store-bought rubbing alcohol. Probably 70% as you've mentioned.

You could also take all of them out and put them into fresh alcohol that's still at 70% for another dehydrating phase. Or put them into a higher-concentration solvent. Acetone is cheap and it's not terribly dangerous if you get any on your skin (assuming you wash it right away -- salons use this stuff to remove nail polish).