My EMP Is in trouble. :(

Hello, I fear my emp may be passing on soon. I've had this guy since 07/29/11. For the past two weeks maybe more or less, He/she abandoned his hide. He's been in different places in the tank. But always there for a couple days at a time. His tail has been laying flat behind him. Today I found two white bugs on him and more in the tank. Thoughts?? When I touched his tail, he didn't seem to move much. I misted him a little a he crawled about 2 inches and stopped. Is he in molt?

Sorry looks like it could be getting to the end for this little guy . The white bugs are most likely mites. If he was going to molt he would be much fatter

Why is it dying though?

This is him, This was taken just 11 days ago...

I'm gonna move her into a small kritter keeper till i can get new soil. Maybe she'll bounce back. What can I use for bedding that's around the house???

For anything around your house.... nothing unless you have a bad of organic potting soil or peat moss just laying around. If you lived close, you could have this full bag of peat that I bought for my emps but only used about 1/10th of. I bought mine from a hardware store. And its waaaaaaaay to much lol. Maybe shes just old and its her time to go. But looking at the pics, im not sure if its the flash or what but, the telson looks off white, thats a sub adult color.
Either way, good luck.

I have fox farms ocean forest soil. ... it has chems in it so can't use that. Yeah, her stinger or the "flesh" right before the sting has always been real white. The stinger itself looks brownish redish.

Just went to the store today. Got a small tank. He was in a 20 gallon. I got him a 15.3 in L X 8.6 in W X in 10.6 H Acrylic tank. Put in a whole bag of Eco Earth which fills it about 5 or 6 inches high. Don't think he's gonna burrow anytime soon so the amount of eco earth in there shouldn't matter. I put in one half log hide and a water dish that I had laying around unused. Tired to feed him a cricket with tongs but he just clawed it and dropped it without eating. Hopefully he'll bounce back... Sigh

those mites and behavior dont sound good.its white telson says its not an old emp and it wouldnt be the cause of its illness.the mites would be of concern here.also the temperature of the enclosure.maybe its too cold and the lil guy is trying to get away from the mites and find some heat.

PICS...

Maybe the heating mat is messed up. I've reused it on 4 times. Sticking it on and off diff tanks. I got to get a temp prob. Ordering off of ebay when I have the money.

Hopefully now it's in a new tank with new Eco Earth and No more mites he'll be better soon! I'm worried about the little guy. When i moved him to the new tank I didn't see any mites on him. (Couldn't look under him though. Hopefully none come over to the new tank and screw everything up. I'm broke. I can't afford another bad of eco earth....

Should I take the cricket out now? It's pretty much dead. Guess I'll try feeding him again tomorrow.

haaaa.i have a male emp in the same tank!
id get rid of that heat mat.it doesnt do anything on the side to raise air temperature.it just makes the side of the tank where its adhered to warm.get a heat lamp with a built in temperature control dial,those run about $20 and get an infra red heat lamp rated to the heat lamps wattage,which would be 50 watts or 75 watts.the bulb will be like $15.
on my tank thats like yours i covered half of the lid with foil to keep humidity in. one part is open for the heat to come in and on the other side its open so some heat can escape.
ill take some pics of that tank i have later so you have a better idea of what im talking about.
you said your low on money,id say when you get the money for the lamp,bulb and thermometer get it.in the meantime your emp will have to make do with what you got.
keep the heat mat on the side and cover some of that lid.also make sure you disposed of all that mite contaminated earth.

leave that cricket in there overnight and take it out tomorrow if he doesnt eat it.and dont try feeding him tomorrow,try again in like five days and when you do if your tong feeding try to just herd some crickets into your emps direction or hiding spot.i have a picky eater that wont take from tongs and one that will take anything anyway you give it.
your substrate looks a lil on the dry side.shove that log into the corner and put some of that eco earth on the walls end to block off its visibility so you emp feels more secure.also id block out the back of that with some black construction paper of background so its all not so open.

k, I'll buy that lamp whenever I have money Which I'm 400 behind on rent so that's gonna half to be down the road a bit. I have no paper so I just backed up the tank to my sofa so it's ghetto backed out. I'll leave the cricket over night. I'll cover up half of the lid and give a light mist of the eco earth. Bump with some pics of your tank pls.

It looks like impaction to me :\

+1 on the moisture, get the humidity up in there.

dont rely on misting alone for humidity.over fill the water dish slowly so it pours over into the substrate and gets the under the surface all moist.

ill take some pics tomorrow when theirs natural daylight.infrared pics look horrorible and i dont wanna light up the room disturbing all the nocturnal friends.

Just checked on him. The cricket seemed more alive than he was. Took me a minute to get any movement out of him. The cricket was in the same place as last night. Right in front of him. I added more humidity by misting and pouring the water in his bowl letting it over flow. I fear he might pass any minute. Least I can't say I didn't try .

Any updates on how the emp is doing? hopefully hes hanging in there still!

Sadly no. He passed away two days after my last post. He will be missed. Love you Jax.

aww.. dangg, well sorry to hear. RIP JAX

So sorry to hear about your loss. I've recently lost my 2. RIP Jax