Probably the best feeling in the world... for us emp keepers at least :)

Just a while ago, I bought 4 crickets for my emp's weekly feeding (I hope that's more than enough). One of them was a very large female, the other three were smaller males. To make it short, the female cricket went straight into the emp's hide to be instantly caught and devoured ! Why is it so good ? Simple, it didn't get the chance to lay any eggs in the substrate Instant relief for me.

Man, I love my emp ! She's faster to react than my rosie, who is currently fasting or preparing for a molt.

Surely I'm not the only one who has this happen during feeding

Anyone care to share some interesting feeding tales ?

I remember one time I could barely get the criket out of the petco bag... mine came out of his hiding place and caught it as it was sliding out the bag!! Poor criket didnt even have a chance!

Crush their heads before feeding and no eggs will be laid

AshMashMash wrote:

Crush their heads before feeding and no eggs will be laid

that or cut the female cricket's "tail," that should keep her from laying eggs. However, some of them are pretty stubborn and will try to lay eggs w/ a stump.

I like the cricket to be lively and pose a "challenge" to the emperor.

It may be crazy hard to have a baby cricket free enclosure though.

I think it's wicked when my emp snags the cricket from my tong feeding, stuffs it in her mouth and then just walks around about her business just like normal. it's ilarious.

The easiest way to prevent crickets ovipositing in your tropical tanks?

Feed roaches.

This thread reminds me, though, of the day I bought my emps. They defied the norm and instead of hiding and fasting the first week I had them they stuffed themselves silly.

I took pictures, but never uploaded them to my site because the emps were moving around too much for them to come out in focus; I think this picture (taken months later) is an adequate re-enactment:


Edit: wait, no it's not -- one of the emps on the day in question tried biting the cricket in its midsection, thus folding it in half. I feel so sadistic reliving the events.

lol
I love watching them crush the little crickets xD
Head first is a sad death, but butt first is just sad. The crickets will still try to wiggle out, but to no avail...muahaha!!! Side devouring is awesome too
Way cooler than feeding your dog!

I feel sorry for the cricket - Ouch!

Haha. Mine like to chase them all over the tank!!

wow how do you get them to eat so fast i buy 8 at a time for both of my emps and it takes them about a week or so for them to eat them maby a day or two longer and they lay tons of eggs drives me nuts i hate it. will put them in their late afternoon they dont even think about trying to eat untill afer midnight and i never get to see it happen kinda sucks is there a trick to it???

emperor2 wrote:

wow how do you get them to eat so fast i buy 8 at a time for both of my emps and it takes them about a week or so for them to eat them maby a day or two longer and they lay tons of eggs drives me nuts i hate it. will put them in their late afternoon they dont even think about trying to eat untill afer midnight and i never get to see it happen kinda sucks is there a trick to it???

So far, my juvi emp has been a great eater... I usually give it 3~4 crickets a week, more if my rose hair refuses to eat hers. To speed things up... I'll "help" my emp by using my tongs to nudge a cricket towards its hide. In the past few days, she hasn't gotten out, but when a cricket enters her hide, she quickly grabs it and starts chowing down. And she's not greedy since she only takes one at a time. She still hasn't appeared to gain weight despite eating so much. I can't wait to witness a molt and see how bigger she'll get.

wow i think im going to wait a couple more days than normal to feed them so they are more hungry yea im waiting for mine to molt also ... sucks to waitttt.... thanxx

It's called "emps fast." Eight a week is more than any scorpion needs. I'd like to punch the guy who put "feed daily" on Petco's emp caresheet.

lol yea they told me they need 4 each emp weekly... shutttttttmmmmmdown.