Concerns...

Hi,

My emperor has taken to lying out in the open, and sometimes moves very slowly with his tail out behind him. He has not eaten in the past 2-3 weeks, but I've read that this is not such a long period for an emperor to not eat. Ive seen that behaviour like this is generally bad, and I am concerned. Heat and humidity levels seem to be ok, so I dont really know whats up... can anybody help?

How do you know heat and humidity are good? Generally tail dragging is a bad thing. When combined with slowing down it's extra bad sounding. How old is your emp? I know we're always asking for pictures but they really do help.

1. Heat should be 30's C or 80's F
2. RH (humidity) should be in the %80's as well
3. Available drinking dish.
4. Hides which allow him to be in the dark.

Are you meeting all these 4 requirements?

And then sadly if you can't identify the age of your specimen it may just be old age? Any number of parasite or infections fungal/bacterial could be at work here. Is he with other scorpions could he be injured from some kind of fighting. Could he have fallen in the enclosure or had something heavy pinch him to cause a life threatening injury?

Not to freak you out we just could use lots more information. I hope this helped a bit. Just make sure these 4 points are covered and keep us up dated on his condition.

As for heat and humidity, the room temperature where he is is at 25 C and he has a red heat bulb over his enclosure. He has his water dish that i refill regulalrly and I mist him several times a day. When I got him this summer, they told me he was 5-6 months old, so hes around 8-9 months now I would assume. He has one hide nade out of a broken flower pot, should I add another? I was wondering if maybe it was the substrate? Could a lack of substrate, or the wrong substrate, be bad? He's alone in the enclosure, so no fight wounds, and I havn't noticed any signs of falling or things caving in inside the enclosure. I'll try and get some pictures up later this evening.

Thanks for your help.

Some substrate could be bad for them. Cedar for example. What do you keep him on Coco fiber or husk? Cause they are just fine. What color is his stinger? White? Yellow? or red? Is he showing a lot of grey skin like membrane around the black plates of armor on his back?

All your info on how you keep him seems to be A ok. When you mist his enclosure do you mist him? You'd probably want to stop spraying him directly but rather keep one side of the tank more misted to allow for a gradient of moisture and he will move to where it's optimal.

Posting a picture will allow most of our resident scorpion experts to age him for you. if you can get a picture of his under side particularly the sex opening between his pectines (wing things) we can confirm sex too.

At the moment I am keeping him in peat moss, should I change that? His stinger is a light brownish-red colour. I'm pretty sure he is a male, as his little wing things are pretty large, and I've been told males have the largest, is that correct? The only white membrane I see is in his joints, and where the ''underbelly'' starts. I usually just mist everywhere, he usually starts moving when I spray directly on him, although occasionnaly he'll just sit there. He reacted normally this morning when I lightly touched him with a small stick and started skittering away at his usual speed, and when a cricket tried to climb on his back he did the same, although he didnt attack it, is that a bad thing? I left two in the tank today, but it worries me a little, could they be harmful to him? I'll try and get some pics up tonight when I get home.

Brownish red in color would mean he's mature so maybe double the age the pet store told you. Or super old if you didn't see a molt it's tough to gauge age. Or that stinger color thing could mean nothing if he's not an emp. Some scorpions are mislabeled. It happens often enough.

If he's moving and at his usual pace then I'd say you have nothing to worry about. And he'll eat when he's ready. leave the crickets in over night they wont hurt him unless he's freshly molted but if he's freshly molted you will be able to tell and don't feed him then.

The best way to sex and emp is to look at the shape of the sex organ. it's the part between his wings where they connect to his body. If that is round or circular he's a he. If it's heart shaped with he point of the heart pointed down towards the tail then he's a she.

Do a quick search in the sites search bar for sexing emperor scorpions and you will find pictures to compare him to. Actually when I did the search I found my post with pictures and not to toot my own horn but I'm great!

Good luck and keep us posted. I can't wait to see your pictures.

Hi again,

He seems to have eaten one of the two crickets that were in there this morning. Here are a few pics so you can get a better idea.

Those are some pretty unclear pictures. I can't even make out where the scorpion is. Can you take some from above without the glass in the way? If you've using a digital camera set it to macro and get a few inches away for better shots. If it doesn't have that I still think ones without the glass in the way will be better. As I'm pretty sure it's auto focusing on your reflection.

Yeah they were taken with an ipod touch, not the best pictures for sure. Ive removed the red heat lamp, I think it was drying out the substrate. Speaking of which, I'm going to change it during the week or this weekend, it seems dry and earthy, which I am sure is not a good thing, plus I don`'t think there is enough, I haven't seen him burrow at all, and the substrate seems to be squirming with little insects, although the emp himself doesnt seem to have mites, from what I know. I'm keeping the room temperature at around 25 C, and I'll pick up a heat mat asap, should he be ok temperature wise until then?

Your red light will do a fine job. I would think you just need a piece of glass of plexy glass to fit at the top to trap in the humid air and stopping the substrate from drying out as fast. Little squirmy bugs are never cool. They may not harm your emp at all but who wants to look at them. I think if you don't have a piece of glass in the way the focal length will work out better.

The focal length? And what do you mean by fitting a piece of plexy glass on top? To cover the entire top of the enclosure? I spent a good part of the day researching, and I really think his enclosure needs to be changed. He hasnt been in his hide for a while, anything in particular that could mean?

Focal length is just the term for what your camera sees as it's target. With your reflection on the glass the camera focuses on that instead of the scorpion through the glass.

Yes to cover the whole top or most of it with some space for the heat lamp to fit so the heat comes in but the air doesn't leave as freely.

If he hasn't been in his hide for a while I would guess it means he doesn't want to go in there. I don't know what he's thinking but if he doesn't use his hide right now that's his option. Unless the hide is far away from the heat source. He will go towards the heat as 75 isn't as warm as they like. so if his hide is on the left and the heat lamp is on the right and he's always on the right... provide more warmth to his hide.

Alright. And the air that comes in from the opening for the lamp, will it allow him to get enough? Is that a problem for emps? I have a 75W lamp, should it be placed directly on top of the enclosure, or at a certain distance? And do you know what room temperature I should keep him in? Sorry if I'm bombarding you with questions lol, I'm just not much of an expert...

I cant get other pics up atm, but he is worrying me. he has been lying in the middle of the enclosure for a while, a few days now, he'll move a little once in a while. His tail is lying to one side, rather then up in the air altough it isnt completely flat on the ground. I think he is definetely lacking substrate. Also I'm worried the IR lamp is creating too much heat...

He seems to have just gone insane... he just started crawling forward, he seemed to be frantically scratching himself, his legs were all over the place. Could it be mites? I dont see any in his joints however... hes kind of brought his legs over his back now too

I think he may have just died... hes just lying flat, and doesnt repsond at all when i tried to make him move with a branch.