2 new emps... dont know if one is preg and if they are eating

I got 2 new emps last thursday and one seems to quite "fat/pregnant"... cant really tell. She has some of the signs of a prego but im not sure... there is spacing in the back plates... agressive to my misting but not agressive to the other emp. Also i put 6 pinheads in and i cant tell if they are eating... i have found 2 white poop things and i have 2/3 crickets still running from the misting. Also when do they start burrowing.... i have made 3 starter burrows(2 under logs and 1 under a rock) and at first both had there own burrow, then prego started sleeping near one of the water bowls and now nonpreg is sleeping on preg in the same burrow. Also if it helps they seem pretty young, they are about 3 inches and my substrate is about 2 or 3 inches deep and the temp goes from 72 to 82(dang texas weather). and i mist about twice a day. Also they are in a 55 gallon tank.

Without seeing a photo, I doubt anyone can tell you whether she's just gorged herself, is preganant, or preparing for a molt. If you suspect pregnancy, please isolate one of the scorpions into a different tank.

Scorpions might not eat for months at a time. They can go up to a year without food, so don't worry about that too much. I doubt there is a scorpion alive that has starved itself to death. When they get hungry, or less stressed, they'll eat.

Depending on their behaviors and their climate, they may start burrowing immediately, or they might never burrow. It depends on a lot of factors, such as heat, humidity, substrate level, stress level, and even personal scorpion choice.

Btw, that is a huge tank. For two, a 10gallon would be more than enough.

Try adding atleast 4 inches of substrate, and ensure that it is "dirt like" (coco fibre being the [generally considered] best) and not "wood" or "chip".

Ask per the temperature, if you can raise it to 80-86 your scorps are going to be much happier, more active, and likely healthier.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Cheers.

Make sure the substrate itself is able to support burrows. Damp and packed down coco-fiber works well in holding burrows.

hi welcome to the forum

If your emp is gravid (prego) it will have to be adult, juvinille scorpions cannot get gravid, also pinheads will be too small for emps this size try giving them adult crickets, their food needs to be big enough for them to catch/hold but also small enough to fit in there pedipalp (claw)

Also as you have not long had them i wouldnt worry about them not eating some tend to take a while to get used to their new home so wont eat, while others eat straight away it all depends on the individual scorpion.

ok thanks... btw i am using coco fiber and i noticed something else.... the teslon stinger thing on both of them are black... ill also try and get photos up as soon as possible. oh and one more thing... whats with the signatures where they got the scientific name followed by the numbers or vice versa.

the signature is just so people can see what scorpions you have got thats all.

is the orders of the numbers important?

nah, some people do it one way some the others, do what ever makes more sense to you

well do you think its important that there teslons are black?

are you sure that you have got an emp and not a h. spinifer

h. spinifer have a blackish telson

it said african emperor scorpion

i looked both of them up and they look just like both species...

have you got anyway of taking a photo of your scorps and uploading them??

ive been to a few pet store where they have miss-named h. spinifer and called them emps. if you can bro take a pic and up-load

this is my supposed gravid one



this is my non gravid one




and this is my tank

pic's aint coming up. you could try using photobucket, you upload your photo to photobucket n then copy the IMG code and paste it in your message.

ok... im gonna do that soon

here is my maybe gravid




here is my non gravid





and my tank

to me that looks like a h. spinifer, the black telson and pincers.

im gonna get a few more peeps to tell me what they think but i think you are right... there not much different from emps right?

also if you say your scorp is only 3 inch's long then that fat one looks like its pre-molt, they wont become gravid untill there adults.

what color is the teslon on one about to moult?

they do look similar and ive seen them confussed before, i mean hell i might be wrong, but ive not really seen an emp with a black telson.

well yep.... do afs do well with emps?