keeping live crickets in an emp tank

hello everyone ...

i have 5 emperor scorpions in a 29 gallon tank and i put 15 crickets in untill they disapear and then put in another 15, usually takes about a week or more for all the crickets to disapear. my scorpions are medium size so they are still going to be molting, so ive been checking on them becuase if i see one that has molted or is about to molt the plan then would be to remove all the crickets so they cant harm a new molted scorpion. but the crickets had babys in the tank. i didnt think that was a problem too much becuase there is no cricket food in the scorpion cage so the baby crickets will just die. and the crickets have been going to the bathroom in the scorpion cage.

now the only reason ive been leaving the crickets in the cage is becuase emperor scorpions are not aggressive feeders. they crawl past the crickets all the time without going after them and half the time when i try to feed them with the tongs they dont eat. i thought about taking the crickets out in the morning and put them in the next night, but i dont want to disturb the scorpions everyday by moving the caves to catch crickets.

anybody have any thought on this ???????????

I would not advise leaving crickets overnight in a scorpion's enclosure, especially if the group you are having are not adults. Dead crickets attracts mites and with the "help" of humidity, fruit fly larvaes may appear. Too much of these guys will stress a scorpion which is going to reach his molting phase.

The issue is not that Emps (Pandinus imperators) aren't agressive eaters.

If they let a cricket walk pass them, it simply means that they are NOT hungry.

Give them a break off feeding for 1-2 weeks and try again. If they are have not molted or about to molt, they would readily take the feeder you are offering them if they are hungry

but they do eat all the crickets, i put 15 crickets in about 5 days ago and there is only 1 left 4 died and i removed them.

if i dont leave the crickets in there the scorpions will starve

Its definitely good if majority of the crickets are eaten

If you are always there to do regular tank maintenance e.g. picking up dead cricket or cricket left-over body parts, it's fine. The main risk here is having crickets attacking a molting scorpion.

Like some of us here, i do keep them in groups of 15-20.
I prefer to shower them weekly with B.lateralis roaches. I usually do not have time to tong feed them individually so if what's on their menu for the week are crickets, i'll just pick up adult crickets individually by the head and do a head-crush at the same time while i threw them in the tank.

As i do not lift the hides to check for premolt scorpion, it'll be a safer bet for me to use roaches or head-crushed crickets at times. It's not that b.lateralis are 100% safe but i would say they are much much safer as compared to crickets.

u have 15-20 scorpions together ? how bigs your tank a 40 gallon ?

I'm not using a tank for them actually. Imo, the glass tank has veritical height which is a luxury i cannot afford in my "invert lab". Hence, I'm only using Exo-terra faunarium PT-2310, which allows me to stack up several faunarium vertically. PT-2310 is the largest floor space of the series i can find.

The twenty has been there since 4.instar and have now fully matured at 7.instar with zero death. Of course, it would be better if the keeper can provide a larger floor space but for people with space constraints like myself, we had to make do what the best in what we have.

Basically, in this setup, there's not much floor space which isn't covered by slates. A large water dish sits in the center, always filled up with water. Feeding comes in weekly from 4-6.instar and now that they have matured at 7.instar. I only feed them once every two weeks on average.

Back to topic, i would advice you trying roach as feeders e.g. B.lateralis or B.dubias if you are able to get your hands on some. Give your scorpions some variety if possible.

oh i understand.... my tank is tall so im putting in a custom balcany. using thin wood or a peice of cardboard with carpet , a ramp going up to the balcony, but im going to have to put a wall on the balcony or another ramp going down so they dont fall off. im still kicking the idea around thinking of how im going to do it. so there will be as second floor in the cage.

If you want different elevations in your tank, I would recommend building them up with substrate rather than adding a structure. Also, cardboard will mold and rot in a humid tank.

To get rid of the baby crickets, cut a couple of drinking straws in half and place the pieces around your water dish so one end is over the water and the other on the substrate. The baby crickets will crawl up the straws, fall into the water and drown.

alright thanks

i know what u mean , i found a plastic container i was going to elivate using plastic poles from my cricket keeper and make a ramp but the cave and the water dish is in the way so im just going to do something with the soil