Temperature Problems

my scorpion was suppose to be coming today (but it didnt so tomorow hopefully), so i set up my scorpion enclosure last night. But the temperature in the tank this morning is at 68'F. Is this a big concern? and any ideas on how to make the temperature raise? i tried putting a towel over the lid but this didnt seem to do much it is always around 70'F

Btw the humidity is fine.



any help on how to improve enclosure would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Well first off maybe a lid on the enclosure should keep some of the heat inside... Maybe some heating pads on the sides (NEVER under, because the scorpions will dig and it will result in dehydrated and dead scorpions). Also try to put the enclosure higher in the room or on top of a table... Often its much colder at the ground and the floor also draws out heat so if it has to be on the floor try to isolate it somehow with a towel or something like that...

About the "decoration" of the enclosure: You should most definately put more "stuff" in there... Foreksampel more hides, moss, sticks, etc. This will make the scorpion less stressed and would improve the possibility of seeing it outside...

What scorpion are you getting? If its some of the larger scorpions that need lots of humidity (foreksample pandinus and heterometrus), you should get a larger water dish also as i've ecsperienced them "bath" before so as a good rule it should be big enough for them to fit in...

Good luck!

Thanks for help

i was thinking it looked a bit empty i will get some more "stuff" then

im getting an emperor, but its going to be young, so larger water dish probaly.
And can you have more than one heat mat on a tank to improve heating? i was thinking one on the side where the wood is.

Well eventually you will have to chance the water dish... And sure you can have more heating mats, but remember to keep them in one end of the enclosure so the scorpion have a chance to seek out cooler areas! And you should then have a hide in the cool end and one in the varm end aswell!

By the way how deep is the substrate?

i will probaly get another heat mat then and create another hide

and the substrate is about 2 inches deep.

dude that water dish will be fine for any sized scorpion...
just put some little rocks in the bottom to lose the worry of drowners...

something i did with my water dish, was made it even with the substrate...that way the scorps just walk up to it and do whatever they want...

between 4 to 6 inches would be better

another hide wouldnt hurt anything, like rene said, have a cool side hide and a warm side hide...
i cant help if youre going to be using a light, i have no experience with that..
or with heat pads...
ive never used either...

hmm yeah i will definately have to make it deeper and i was then thinking about my scorpion drowning, so i guess that will solve it. im gonna move some stuff around in there to make it better i think.

thanks a lot for help i will upload more pics when i have my scorpy in there

For the Pandinus Imperator a substrate of ATLEAST 10 cm. (4 Inch.) is a must and thats ATLEAST! The substrate also needs to be stamped so they have a chance of burrowing a hide that wont collapse...

And about the humidity... It needs high humidity as you know but that also meens lots of ventilation... If the air in the enclosure is humid and still it will cause the substrate to rot and will eventualy cause the scorpion to get deseases! So keep a high humidity by "watering" the enclosure daily but a lots of ventilation... I would suggets you put somekind of "net" on top of the enclosure or on two of the sides atleast! Remember it should be somekind of steel or it will get out or get caught in it!

Hope i'm not scaring you with all this lecturing, but it's better to keep the animal in the right conditions and have it for a long time (and if it's content it will also be more active) then keeping it the wrong way causing it to die in a short time!

By the way sorry for the bad english but i'm danish...

my tank has a lot of vents on it which is worrying me because i think its letting the heat out so i covered the lid with a towel. good idea or bad idea?

But if i get another heat mat that shoudlnt be a problem i hope.

I am just about to put more substrate in the enclosure so it will be around 5 inches. also i was going to put some sticks and "stuff" in the enclosure and i was wondering if scorpions are very good climbers and wont get stuck on anything?

Thanks

Ah, that is ventilation, couldn't quite make it out, but that shouldn't be problem then... You should close the top somehow... Heat raises up as you know so that is most likely the main source of the heat loss!

And yes, scorpions can climb and if there is no lit they will most likely get out if you put sticks in there! I think you should find a lit for the enclosure, sounds like that is the source of most of your troubles!

You are welcome

okay so just moved everything around a bit and made the substrate 4 inches high. Yeah i will have to cover the lid with something then.

as for the "lit" do you meen light ? or is lit something else : /

I think he means light.

Emperor must knows:

Raise that temp (around 80-85 is perfect). Likely best done with red or ceramic overhead lighting.

Tossing a towel over one side is fine. I build a complicated lid system, but have long since tossed it for a towel that covered about 2/3's of the lid.

Substrate sounds fine now (4").

atleast 1 more hide than scorp.

Rocks at the bottom of the water dish.

If you have anything that the scorp might be using to climb, ensure you have a lid.... they will get out! Trust me (and 2 hours of searching my desk) on this one.

Don't worry if it doesn't eat right away. It will eventually.

Don't worry if you never see it. When he becomes settled and happy, you likely won't.

Yeah i just realised i think he ment lid because there is no lid in the picture xD

and yeah thanks for all the useful pointers i dont have a lid its just the whole lid is ventilated so i put a towel over the whole of it and let the vents on the sides do there magic. but should i cover only 2/3 of the lid?

yeah all i need to do now is decorate it a bit more, rocks at the bottom of the dish.
i am considering a light but i would be a bit edgy on how to set it up.

Thanks a lot for all the help everyone

Churpy wrote:

Yeah i just realised i think he ment lid because there is no lid in the picture xD

and yeah thanks for all the useful pointers i dont have a lid its just the whole lid is ventilated so i put a towel over the whole of it and let the vents on the sides do there magic. but should i cover only 2/3 of the lid?

yeah all i need to do now is decorate it a bit more, rocks at the bottom of the dish.
i am considering a light but i would be a bit edgy on how to set it up.

Thanks a lot for all the help everyone

I did meen "lid" hehe

You can just use a 40W light bolt, i did with my pandinus imperators... Put a hole through the LID (if you decide to use one) or the ventilation and then put a cable with a light socket through. Plain and simple

That worked pretty well with mine and they had babies!

with the screen lid on my communal tank, i covered 9/10ths of the lid with saran wrap, and covered the same amount with a towel...
every other day ill open the lid so the tank can have fresh air moving around it...
(simulates day and night temp changes)

not to mention this is also as close as i can get to having almost perfect temp in the tank...
without a heat mat or a light...

i have 2 tanks set up like this and they seem to be working for me...
it took about 2 weeks of trial and error to get this right tho

Make sure you use a secure lid. You will be surprised at a scorpions ability to find a way to the top of the tank, this will give a an idea https://scorpionforum.darkbb.com/the-burrow-in-ghana-emperor-zone-f34/my-scorpion-is-an-escape-artist-t5294.htm.

Not only can they climb with their claws but they can hold themselves up with their tail extended to reach higher places. If say your scorp is four inches with the tail extended, and any point in the tank (including the tops of hides) is about four inches from the top of the tank, it'll be getting up there.

A towel alone will leave the chance for the scorp to get between the towel and the enclosure and get out.

oh rite i dont think it will get through my lid, its attatched on there well and the vent is very small.

I thought light damaged scorpions unless it is a special kind of lamp. lol

here is the towel and lid my tank has.

Churpy wrote:

oh rite i dont think it will get through my lid, its attatched on there well and the vent is very small.

I thought light damaged scorpions unless it is a special kind of lamp. lol

here is the towel and lid my tank has.

Damage them? No they would have a pretty hard time in the nature then with the sun and all But they are nocturnal so they don't like light and (mostly) stays in the hide when the light is on...

Much better with the substrate! I'm sure the scorpion will appreciate it

René wrote:

Churpy wrote:

oh rite i dont think it will get through my lid, its attatched on there well and the vent is very small.

I thought light damaged scorpions unless it is a special kind of lamp. lol

here is the towel and lid my tank has.

Damage them? No they would have a pretty hard time in the nature then with the sun and all But they are nocturnal so they don't like light and (mostly) stays in the hide when the light is on...

Much better with the substrate! I'm sure the scorpion will appreciate it

+1 on the substrate...
its pretty entertaining to watch them burrow

Yeah i thought it looked for suitable

i thought in the wild scorpions just stay under shade and not direct sunlight if you see what i meen.

and do you leave your light on all day? and turn it off at night?

haha okay I didn't know if you had a lid as well as the towel on top

Churpy wrote:

Yeah i thought it looked for suitable

i thought in the wild scorpions just stay under shade and not direct sunlight if you see what i meen.

and do you leave your light on all day? and turn it off at night?

some scorpions burrow (hets and Pandinus)
theres a few (like centuroides) that cling to the underside of something in the darkest spot...
and some desert dwellers are happy to find a dark underside of a rock...
unless the desert dweller burrows...

so they all have some kind of way to get out of the sunlight...
ive never seen mine go around the "brighter" side of the tank until the sun wasnt in my window anymore...

lol, my light doesnt work, i took the bulb out and cut the light wire so it couldnt be turned on, the only thing that works now is my ceiling fan and i have a different switch to flip to turn that on and off...
for the ceiling fan, i turn it on at night, to simulate temp drops...
during the day, well i like my room warm so i figure my emps are happy with it that way too

haha yeah i take it you live in quite a warm state then?

i think im gonna get another heat mat on the right side of the tank so the right will be warm and left will be... hopefully cooler.

Thanks for help

yeah...Florida...

dude its mostly trial and error...
just keep working at it and youll figure it out...

Churpy wrote:

Yeah i thought it looked for suitable

i thought in the wild scorpions just stay under shade and not direct sunlight if you see what i meen.

and do you leave your light on all day? and turn it off at night?

They stay out of the sun, correct, but it doesn't harm them

Yea i did! Now i don't have p. imperator anymore, but for the animals i got, i only use heating pads...