New to scorps and having trouble

Hello all, new to this forum although not to inverts or forums in general.

To be quick:

I have 4 juvenile emperors (from about 1.5 to 2 inches, not babies but not full grown) in a 20 long with about 2 inches of soil topped with 2 inches of moss. I have 3 hides: One large cork bark piece, a small pile of slate stones, and a fake tree with a big hole at the bottom. The room is kept at 78 degrees consistently via a space heater. I am still playing with getting the humidity right, but I mist thoroughly daily. Top is a screen with plastic wrap taped across the top of it.

I've had these guys about a month now, they nest together under the cork bark and I hardly ever see them (which is a good thing I hear). Recently one of the smaller ones came out and started sitting further down in the tank on some moss. It hasn't moved in about 5 days unless I interact with it, in which case it rears it's tail and responds normally. I am worried it is hungry and so I've been trying to assist it with crickets. I've gone so far as to drop it directly in front of its face and he/she even caught it in the pincers, then let it go. It was very frustrating and I'm worried I'm just stressing it out and doing more harm than good. I've seen it literally push the cricket away with its claws. Now I know they can go a while without eating but I've only read that about adults and not juvs. I also know that molting is a frequent cause of lethargy and not eating, but in all molting videos I've ever seen the scorpions are obese or at least very fat, this guy/girl isn't fat at all. So ...I'm pretty worried. Tonight I'm going to try and tong feed it a mushed up cricket. The thought of this poor guy starving to death in front of me is horrible, any advice would be great!


Stephen

It should be fine , the fact that it had one and dismissed it just tells me its not hungry they can be very picky sometimes and go a while without eatting. I wouldnt get too worked up about it , it will eat soon enough.

Can you take a pic of the enclosure?

1. The temp seems a bit low. What bulb are u using? All you need is an infrared heat lamp that you leave on 24/7 on one side

2. The moss does not sound good they might do better just with the cocofiber substrate. That way they can dig easier.

3. Make sure the hides are partially covered so they feel protected inside them and its darker inside the hides.

4. Do you have a water dish? Make sure they cant drown in it add some small rocks at the bottom of the water dish.

5. Make sure part of the screen is open for ventilation

6. How big are the crickets? They might be too big for the baby scorpions to eat. Also try giving them mealworms.

7. You should be fine with misting the inside of the cage 2 times a day. The side with the heat lamp is always going to dry up faster.

These are my suggestions so far, hope they help.

Also yeah they can go for a while without eating so as lud said i would not worry so much it may not be so hungry. Maybe you can ask the pet store what their feeding schedule was.

Thanks for the responses. I noticed last night when I was offering him the mushed up cricket that he is missing a leg on one side. So I'm starting to get the feeling he was attacked by his tank mates. Last night I moved him to a plastic tank (3 gallons or so, something spiders are kept in) as a precaution. After I visit the pet store today to pick up a new hide and a tank for him I'll take some photos and post. If he did lose a leg to an aggressive tank mate, with his lethargy, should I assume death is imminent? He didn't put up much of a fuss when I moved him, but he has moved himself to a different part of the little enclosure, so he is moving on his own.

To respond to a few questions that were asked:

- Yeah 78 is low, but since we're in winter I figured keeping them in the lower temps would be reasonable, if you think this is too low I will look into a heating pad. Currently no bulb at all, just keeping the room 78 with a space heater.

- The moss idea I got from a book, but honestly I don't like it. I'll probably remove most if not all from the main enclosure.

-Crickets are from medium to large size. Should I give him a dead mouse to scavenge? How do you keep the meal worms from burrowing? A small plastic lid?

Thanks again, updates later today after work.

Stephen

The tropics don't have a winter; the temperature stays pretty much constant throughout the year. The ideal
temperature for Emperors is 85F. Your tank should have a warm side (~88F) and a cool side (~82F). I prefer IR heat
lamps over heat mats. The lamps do a better job of heating the air; the mats just heat the glass (radiant heating vs.
conductive heating).

A small amount of moss here and there is ok, and if kept moist can help with humidity. Two inches is too much.
You're better off replacing it with coco fiber.

If you scorpion is refusing small prey like crickets, it's unlikely it will feed on a mouse. Plus, feeding mice to scorpions
is messy and generally not recommended. For meal worms, you can try tong feeding.

My girl is fussy about crickets. I don't know if she's slow or impatient or what, but she really doesn't eat them often. I've seen her attempt to chase, but that doesn't seem to work out well for her. Not to mention, I thought they just stuck around and waited for them to come into their lairs. So after she had no food for a week and she was trying to catch it with no success, I figured she was hungry and devised Plan B. In a relatively high bowl(low enough that she can get in it with no problem, but the worm cant get out), I put just a small amt of substrate, and a superworm. the substrate is so the worm will think he's buried and it seems to make it easier on her. She sure loves those things, cause i see her in the bowl shortly after feasting. I still put a cricket in there, but they usually(not always) get what I perceive as too large for her and gets released into the wild.

Maybe someone here has more accurate info, but I think super and meal worms are just fine. I just use superworms cause those are better for my beardies digestion. He likes them as a treat now and again

What I usually do is drop the cricket near the hide and most of the time they go inside the hide. If the scorp is hungry hell get them no prob. With the mealworms u just gotta drop it near them and make sure they grab them or they do burrow. Make sure u dont have a bunch of crickets running around in there that could bother the scorps. Take out what they dont eat.

Get a long pair of tweasers that they sell at pet store you could even wiggle it in front of them a bit. I would not give them any mice.

Look into getting the heat lamp for one side and try and get your temp and humidity nice. I dont know much about injured scorps so i cant comment on that but maybe shes just trying to recover and is not interested in eating right now.

Ok headed to the pet store now for a small tank, heater bulbs, and non-moss substrate.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice, I thought I had prepared for these guys pretty well, too bad I didn't find this forum first! Oh well, like I said once I get everything set up I'll take photos of the original tank and the new tank as well the 3 healthy scorps and the sickly one. Hopefully tonight.

Stephen

Good luck have fun show us pics when u get a chance

A question came up tonight while I was at the pet store. Because sometimes I am gone weekends I am worried bulbs are going to be too dangerous an option for me, and leaving the bulb off during weekends doesn't seem to be a good idea for the Scorpions. So, my options appear to be limited to under tank heaters, which I have used in the past for different types of crabs and spiders. Is this an acceptable way to increase the heat in the tank? I read a few posts that say undertank heaters aren't the greatest but it's better than nothing right?

I currently turned the ambient temperature in the room to 80 and have managed to stabilize the humidity between 80 and 90%. As for the sick scorpion, I put a freshly killed superworm near him and we'll see if he scavenges. If he doesn't give it any attention I'll try a live one the next time. The guy has been so stressed lately with his attack, and my inspections that I am just trying to play it safe and see if I can get him to eat a meal that won't burrow or harass him back. I have to wait until tomorrow for the substrate so pictures will have to wait.

Thanks again for the patience and advise.

Stephen

They say not to put heating pads under the substrate or on the bottom because scorps burrow and they could get burned or too hot. I think its best to put them on the side.

I would leave him alone as much as possible. Avoid any extra stress. Messing with his tank too much will stress him out just give him a few days or something?

Another option is using timers on your lights so maybe during the day they are off and at night they go on for a while to give a little extra heat since it would be colder.

OK, took a bit longer than I had thought to get things going, but I transferred the sick scorpion to his own 10 gallon and took the majority of the moss out, adding soil type substrate in exchange. I am unable to post links to any photo right now because of my new member status, but I have some ready to go as soon as the 7 days are up.

So right now I'm just letting the sick one relax in the dark in the hide. I will probably throw a small cricket or two in this weekend over night to give him a chance to eat. I have two heating pads ready to be attached to the tanks, currently planning on putting them on the sides of the tank by the main hides. The room is at a stable 80 degrees ambient and I have succeeded in getting the humidity to stabilize in the tanks as well. Any other suggestions on how to make the sick one more comfortable? or how to improve over all setups?

Thanks in advance for any help or advise,
Stephen

You should be able to add photos. Upload them to a site like tinypic.com then click the image thing in the post toolbar and put in the direct image url. Or just put the url in the post so we can click it.

I would just leave him be in peace, try feeding him in a few days. Take the cricket out if he doesn't eat it so it doesn't bother the scorp. Try not to disturb him in his hide.

Just get the temp up a tiny bit and u should be good.

When I added them to imageshack and tried to post the url a message from this website came up saying new members can't link or post (I am paraphrasing) links for seven days. I'm sure it's an antispammer measure

^^yep you are correct