Scorpion molting or dying?!

I am new to these forums but need help!

I have had an emperor since December and he stopped eating about a month ago, I assumed this was because he was pre molt.

However for the past week he has taken a very strange position, with his tail arched up over his head, his claws in front of his face and his legs all curled up underneath him.

The guy at the pet shop said it looked like he was trying to molt and suggested that we spray the tank every day and it should take just a few days... however that was over a week ago and the scorp is still not moving from its strange position, and it doesn't show any signs of actually molting.

It fell on its side for a few days and didn't even try to get up again, eventually I put it back upright, but am not sure if i was meant to!

I seriously thought he was dying, but he is definitely still alive, just seems to be very rigid, however when i mist his tank his tail does move a tiny bit so he is definitely very much alive.

I don't know whether this is at all normal but its stressing us all out wondering if he will be ok

Can anyone help with this odd problem...

can you post a photo please??

deffo need pics, scorpions can and will go months without eating, this is nothing to worry about.
However it sounds strange for it to have not moved at all, and even fell over? first of it sounded like its stilting, scorp sit with there bums up in the air to regulate there temperature but they dont do this constantly, most of the time a healthy scorp will be in its burrow/hide and come out to feed/stilt and explore at night.

Also you should be misting nearly everyday anyway to keep humidity up, or dump a jug of water in every few days or so, do you know what instar it is? ot even if it is indeed male? what sort of size is it?

generally scorps that are dying lay with there tail out flat with legs curled under them

hopefully you will be able to see this image at http://profile.imageshack.us/user/cairanscorp10/?cache_nocache.

Even when he fell over he didnt really move from this same position, I dont think he actually has the ability to move other than wiggling his tail and claws a bit

His legs are curled under him, but his tail was originally right over his head and touching the ground in front of him, but it has slowly gone to this position, I am a bit worried as my son adores him and was very upset thinking he might die, as when he first started doing this he looked like he was about to snap in half backwards!

dont seem like he is going to molt..i have no idea what is going on here?? :S maybe try move him a bit??w8 for someone more experienced than me to answer...

I think he is almost fully grown, his stinger was red tinted, but I have definitely seen much bigger ones, so maybe just one molt away from fully grown.

dont think that is going to molt...its fatty though...take a brush and try to move him a bit..

I know you are npt meant to stress scorps when they are molting so i left him a few days but when he didnt pick himself up from on his side I did it for him and moved him onto a less bumpy area of substrate to avoid him falling into a dip, but he doesnt respond other than tiny movements, he crawled out of his home a few days before this started (he normally lived under his bark) and refused all food, and just sat in the open for a few days, then we came home one day and he was all bent upwards. we spray him each day normally, but now i have been spraying the tank more often, and when i spray he does seem to react by wiggling his tail. its just so strange its been going on for this long...

try not to spray on him cause you stress him...try to move him with slightly moves...

P.S. my english are bad...if you dont understand something let me know

I have been spraying around but avoiding to get it actually on him, it looks a bit like he attempted to start molting then maybe stopped very early on, as i can see that where his claws cover his face, it looks like his head area is ever so slightly protruding more than usual. I dont know how long I should leave it. If I touch his tail he curls it around my finger a bit, but even if i pick him up he doesnt change position. I just added a couple more images, sorry they are not very good. http://profile.imageshack.us/user/cairanscorp10

whats his tail look like now? straight back? I cant see the color of the stinger is it milky white or red?

Looks like he is regulating temperature from those pics though

his tail is curled up over his back and his back is arched upwards. His stinger was red but since he has started this behaviour it actually looks like it has gone totally black. I dont know if you can see in the pics but his tail has also taken on a slightly greenish tint as has his underside,. which was much more orange before. His sides definitely look fatter too. I will see if i can get some closer pics

you heat him??

yes he has a 4 watt heat mat, he usually sleeps right next to it, but moved away to the other end of his tank a couple of days before he did this

hmmm just w8 for someone more exerienced than me to tell you what to do...wish you good luck!

He definitely has a lot of strength in his tail still too. If he is regulating would he be able to get up if he fell over, as when he fell over the other day he just laid there, and his pincers still didn't move from in front of his face. I just added 5 more images http://profile.imageshack.us/user/cairanscorp10

very strange, dont really know what to say, i would say as he is not moving when touched and stuff there is deffo a problem although i dont know what? if the telson is red its an adult,

also the last segment looks detatched/seperated with a large gap to the next one, from the pics? maybe has a blockage or parasites, really hard to tell without clear pics really

It looks white and chalky right next to his stinger too, that has seemed to appear in the past day or two. I think tomorrow i may have to go back to the pet shop and see if they can help anymore. strangely when he moves his tail the last segment is the only part that moves with it, and it seems like it is kind of sinking into the rest of his body, which is also much fatter than normal. the gap right before his last segment has always been slightly bigger than the rest but it has definitely increased in size over the last few days.

I think you might have a red claw, too blurry to tell

the 2 can often be mistaken, cause some emperor's have red claws as well

i think it is molting, just leave it alone for a few days, mist the the enclosure before bedtime, or just pour a bottle water everywhere.

The chalky stuff will be feces, there anus is right below the telson/stinger

Thanks everyone, I hope he is just going to molt, I just assumed it would have been much much quicker than this.

This is my first scorp so tbh I could indeed have a different type to what I thought, but the pet shop I got it from breeds loads of scorps so I assumed they may know their stuff. Hopefully.

I will keep my fingers crossed that it molts, as long as it still has life in it...

nice, I did not know that, should i be cleaning it off for him if he isnt doing it himself? sometimes little bits fall off lol

just leave it, when it does fall off then clean it off, you will stress it out if you keep touching him or bothering him

the older/larger they get the longer the molt takes, I have only witnessed one molt and that took 2 hours i think, but mine is an ant compared to an emperor/red claw that you have

as long as the tail isnt flatline you should be fine, scorpions tend not to eat weeks before or even months before they are about to molt

you shouldnt feed him for a week after the molt too, his shell wont be hard and the cricket could injure him.

It's hard to tell but it does look kind of P. cavimanus with the shine and maybe the shape of the claws. Looks male if it is. Either way if you're misting near it and it's only wiggling it's tail and was on its side for a few days, that doesn't sound good. Is it still walking around?