My first scorpion

Yesterday my husband and I got a female emperor scorpion. I've done a lot of research so I know the basics,,, but I can't find any information on scoprion behavior/body language.

I've been watching my scorpion closely enough to know when she wants something.. literally... I could tell when she was hungry, so I nudged a cricket in her direction and she devoured it.
It's obvious when they're scared or piqued, but how do they convey other emotions?

There is one thing in particular that my scoprion does... she starts moving her pincers from side to side. It's very curious... she often does this when I talk to her (don't judge me...).

Hi Penny. Congrats on your first scorpion!

Scorpions don't really convey emotions. As you said, it's easy to see when they are frightened or startled. This is not a communicative display so much as it is a reaction. In a similar manner, it's easy enough to interpret aggression as they assume a sort of "threat" posture with their pincers out stretched and open wide and their tails held high, ready for "attack". Aside from fear and aggression, your scorpion isn't likely to "feel" anything you're going to see in her body language.

Over time you may notice patterns in her activity and behavior and if this suddenly changes, it could be an indicator of something. For example, gravid females will often behave differently. Physical discomfort will sometimes cause them to move in unusual ways or do things that seem strange and they will often become aggressive or refuse food.

Other noticeable behaviors are related to the mating ritual.

As far as her reacting to you talking to her.... Scorpions don't hear in the same way we do. They are however EXTREMELY sensitive to vibration. They are covered in tiny hairs that detect the slightest vibrations and the most subtle changes in wind speed. When you speak close to her, your voice is generating vibrations and your breath is generating "wind". To a scorpion, these signals from above are typically an indication of something trying to eat it. The reaction you're seeing is most likely nervousness.

All that being said, scorpions can be highly unpredictable and will at times do things that seem very odd and defy logical explanation.

I hope this was at least a little helpful. Enjoy your scorpion!

Kristopher wrote:

Hi Penny. Congrats on your first scorpion!

Scorpions don't really convey emotions. As you said, it's easy to see when they are frightened or startled. This is not a communicative display so much as it is a reaction. In a similar manner, it's easy enough to interpret aggression as they assume a sort of "threat" posture with their pincers out stretched and open wide and their tails held high, ready for "attack". Aside from fear and aggression, your scorpion isn't likely to "feel" anything you're going to see in her body language.

Over time you may notice patterns in her activity and behavior and if this suddenly changes, it could be an indicator of something. For example, gravid females will often behave differently. Physical discomfort will sometimes cause them to move in unusual ways or do things that seem strange and they will often become aggressive or refuse food.

Other noticeable behaviors are related to the mating ritual.

As far as her reacting to you talking to her.... Scorpions don't hear in the same way we do. They are however EXTREMELY sensitive to vibration. They are covered in tiny hairs that detect the slightest vibrations and the most subtle changes in wind speed. When you speak close to her, your voice is generating vibrations and your breath is generating "wind". To a scorpion, these signals from above are typically an indication of something trying to eat it. The reaction you're seeing is most likely nervousness.

All that being said, scorpions can be highly unpredictable and will at times do things that seem very odd and defy logical explanation.

I hope this was at least a little helpful. Enjoy your scorpion!

Thanks for the info.. I wish there were more studies on scorpions. Mine is supposedly pregnant yet she seems pretty relaxed (I believe that she's pregnant though after seeing her eat two crickets within six hours O.o)

I did know she couldn't actually hear.. (I don't want to come off as being any more dumb than I am lol). Although I was hoping the vibrations from my voice would soothe her. Are there any particular "noises" they like?

No... they don't like noise at all. Unless it's the tiny pitter patter of insect feet scurrying across the ground because that means FOOD! lol. and don't worry about seeming dumb. We were all new to this once.

Pregnant, really? Did the seller tell you she was gravid? Emperors have a long gestation period and in the early stages you can't really tell by looking at them, but in the later stages, they swell up quite a bit and you can sometimes see the white lumps which are their embryos through the soft tissue on the sides of their bodies.

When you have time, post some pictures of her.

Lol. I would love to post pictures but I have no camera atm. Hopefully I will get one soon.

He said she was pregnant... not sure how much I trust him. She is a bit chubby, and if she is expecting then I don't think it's any time soon.
Also, they told me not to give her anything from outside because of mites.. I took their word for it but am still suspiscious this may just be marketing.
If I find a bug in the house, can I feed it to her? Or is that a bad idea?

Welcome to ScorpionForum!

It is a bit risky feeding bugs from outside to your scorp, its hard to know wether pesticides that could be harmful to your scorp have been used nearby. Also there's a chance of parasites althought i'm not sure how common this is. I'd feel better giving them live food thats safe.

Alright, thanks. =)
I think I'd rather be careful too.. but dang it will be tempting whenever I see a roach.

hehe, I have to resist temptation whenever I see a spider!

Great advice Kristopher Thanks for sharing!

hahaz.. speaking of temptation when seeing "potential feeders" in my home.

I'm guilty of feeding my Heterometrus Spinifer the following when i first started this hobby:

Roach 0.0.4 (Home Caught!)
Typical household lizard 0.0.1 (Home Caught!)
I do however, rinsed them with running water for about 1min to wash off any insecticide that might be on them

PS: As the peeps here would agree.. try not to feed them wild/home caught bugs!

As for now, i am breeding my own roach colony (B. Lateralis) as my main supply of feeders for my scorps.
It is definitely free from parasites and it does save you some money in the long run too

Before i forgot.. Welcome to the "Scorpion family" Penny !!

Hi welcome to the forum....yay another girl!

I also have to admit to feeding our emp a spider lol and we dont have to worry about what we feed our euscorpius flavicaudis as they would naturally eat the things we find around anyways...like moths and other insects, but really to be safe i would stick to shop bought feeders like crickets,locusts, mealworms and roaches.....

and a little warning to you keeping scorpions is a addiction now you have one its only a matter of time before you will be looking for the next one lol

Hey welcome to the forum, you are in a great place where a lot of people on here have a lot of knowledge and insight and everyone is willing to share.

Definitely get your hands on a camera whenever you can, everybody around here loves pictures!

As for the guy at the petstore, chances are he doesn't know much, most don't as it is just another odd thing to stuff in a corner to make a buck off of.

I have never had an emp but with all of my communal scorps and what seems to ring true with store bought adult emps is if they are not gravid they will be gravid very quickly.

Do some searching on here to distinguish if yours is fully mature or if what you have read gave you the same info that should work, also there are lots of posts describing the different features and activities of gravid scorps. If you can identify that yours is indeed fully mature and you got it from a place that had multiple scorps in an enclosure you probably are most likely gravid. That is my deduction any.

Emps have a gestation period of up to 18 months if I'm correct on that (someone chime in if I"m not, just thought I read that somewhere) and that being said even if where you got yours did not have any others with it, there is a good chance she was still around others at some point in that gestation period

Another sure shot is to confirm the sex, have you read how to do this? There should be pictures online and definitely on this forum explaining how to do so if you are not 100% sure.

There are a lot of people on hear that could answer all these questions for you with 99% certainty with pictures And did I mention we like pictures lolz!!

Well, good luck with your new addition and hopefully many new additions to come! And again welcome to the forum and the hobby

Lol, it's ok if I end up getting addicted. It's a pet both my husband and I can appreciate (he doesn't like the messes and smells from my ferret, and the cats get on his nerves sometimes too).

She appears very female and looks mature to me. She was alone in the pet store but like you said she had probably been around other scorpions before that.
I might be able to take a very low quality picture right now... if the ability to send pictures on my husband's new phone actually works (his last one didn't).

Eep I just so happy to have her. ^_^ She's so cute when she sleeps... and she seems 20 times happier than she was at the pet store.

Well said iitomodachi, did he mention we love pictures? lol definately worth trying to get some up. Hopfully she's gravid for you!

She already ate all four of her grasshoppers.. in less than two days. The pet store said she'd only eat about two a week. Should we go ahead and get more now?

yeah i would, i always make sure i have food in...we feed ours every other day about 3-4 times a week is about right i believe

Alright... also I was going to start keeping crickets in a seperate container until it's time for them to meet their doom.
I felt kind of bad seeing the last cricket in there... having seen his friends get eaten, and now eating their remaining byproducts... the poor thing was hiding for its life.

So anyway, would a shoe box be good for the crickers or is it too low?

There are many reasons why you should keep your crickets separate from your scorpion until feeding time, more for your scorpion's benefit than the cricket's. If you scroll toward the bottom of the forum page, you will see a section for feeder care sheets. Inside, there is one written specifically about crickets.

Yeah u should only feed one at a time and if it's not eating quite soon you should remove it and try again a while later, female crickets will lay eggs in the viv also so many people remove they egg laying part ( this is like a kinda spike on it's bum males have the normal 2 but families have an extra one in the middle

Alright.
Also, she doesn't look as happy as yesterday... she's walking with her tail down more and keeps trying to get out of her cage (I let her out for a while).
Maybe her hiding spot isn't dark enough?

They do that for a while when they are in a new environment like climb up the sides specially in the corners I found thy like to explore but tht soon wears off and you then might not see her for weeks there hides should be in complete darkness really as they are nocturnal animals and uv is harmful to them that's why you need to also be careful about what lights you use or heat sorce the best thing if your gonna use a bulb for heat is an infrared heat bulb

You should really read the Pandinus Emperator caresheet as well. Emperors should be provided with deep substrate as they make burrows and prefer to spend most of their time in them.

heres link to the emp care sheet

https://scorpionforum.darkbb.com/caresheets-f29/pandinus-imperator-and-most-heterometrus-spp-tropical-forest-scorpions-t38.htm

I got the deep substrate and the dark like... for some reason she hasn't made any attempt to burrow. I don't have a spray bottle though so the humidity is probably off (I've been flicking some water in there for now- I plan on getting the spray bottle today).

I couldn't find very many options for what to put in her cage. Would it be bad to put a towel or t-shirt in there for her to hide in? Or could I use rocks from outside if I wash them first?

bark is prly the best thats what we use or you can get reptile hides like this ,,,

http://www.netpetshop.co.uk/p-28625-exo-terra-reptile-vivarium-cave-hide-out.aspx?CAWELAID=525516080

we also use one of these then our female burrowed in and under it , this is our viv for our emps




there is also a water dish in there but it wasnt in there when pic was taken, there water bowl should be big enough so they can lay in it too apparently lol


also you dont need a spray bottle really you can just dump a cup of water in there every week or so many people do this rather than misting or as well as, dont put towels or anything in and if you are using items from outside always bake them first to kill of any unwanted stuff that could be dangerous to your scorp

oh and as for burrowing some just dont our male never did but our female burrows like mad, also when they get old they dont seem to feel the need to burrow anymore so ive read