New EMP HELP!!

Hello guys,

Got my first scorpion ever on friday, got him in a small setup from my local exotic pet shop. i have bugjel and crickets to feed. i have places 2 crickets in the tank with my emp he has not eaten them so i dont know how long it has been since he has eaten. i also notice this morning he is very still. i have tried holding the cricket infront of him but he does not seem interested.

I have been told he is around 3 years old and does not look to be at full size as he is still very small. he does move about at night but i have not seen him budge this morning. am i doing anything wrong?

welcome to the forum an congrat's on your first scorpion.

first up throw the bug gel in the bin just give them a bowl of fresh water and put a stone or something in there so they can get out easy.

i wouldn't worry too much about him not eating as they can fast for long period's an he is probably settling in.

as for being still could be due a moult? at 3 year's old maybe not if that's the right age anyway.

post a pic of the scorpion an if you describe or post some pic's of the setup we can let you know if the setup from the shop is right for it

thanks Chrisc,

i removed the jel( will use this to keep the crickets alive) and filled the bowl with a small level of water. he has a small log to hide under which he seems to love and i have the heat mat attached to the side of the tank.

I have added a few interesting stones in to the tank aswell. he does not walk around that much but like you said he could still be settling in. i think he is much happier here then in the shop as he had nothing in there with him. at least now he has places to hide.

how often should i be feeding him and should i hold the crickets for him?

I dont have any pics yet but will get some up soon.

The gel is excellent cricket food. I have used it and plan on getting some in the future.
A hide is very important as your scorpion is mostly nocturnal and loves to hide.
Try letting him settle in a week and stop offering the crickets. After a week try again.
My Cavimanus who I have just 3 weeks, hasn't eaten a thing yet. But I stopped worrying. Let the beastie determine it's own tempo.

If it is still a small young scorp, you could try offering him food twice a week, 2 to max 3 crickets a time. If it is an adult and somewhat larger, you can offer it once a week 2/4 crickets, depending on its appetite. You'll find out the habits of your scorp in time!

Personally, I don't think you need to dangle the cricket in front of him, he is equipped with 2 very big attributes which are more than sufficient to catching the prey But, some scorpions do accept it when handed to them, my tarantula does anyway.

Looking forward to those tank and scorp pics;)


take care now ,


Joey

i might try feeding him again tomorrow. how long did it take yours to settle in? do you have any photos?

3 weeks I have her, and she still hasn't eaten. But that isn't a problem, scorpions can go quite a while without food.


My thread with pictures

wow! amazing tank, very nice scorpion aswell i nearly got the red claw myself but when i saw my emp i couldnt say no

Lol, I got that same feeling when I chose her. I was moving all the little containers with scorps in them to try and pick one. And I moved my hand and she gave a little bump to the box she was in, so I thought, hey... you are gonna be my new friend:)

I love that sort of thing. Creates a bond I think.

I was originally going for an Emp or Heterometrus species but I had that "click" with her.

most of mine get fed once or twice a week an i just chuck a couple of cricket's in the tub an leave them to it apart from the flat rock's with them i tend to squish then cricket's a bit first before chucking them in

well he hasnt eaten since friday so i think i will throw a cricket in tomorrow night and check for it again in the morning, thanks for all the advice so far guys

I would also leave him be for a week or so. He will be stressed from the move and will still need to adapt to his new surroundings, crickets running around and over him will only cause more stress.

enjoy whatching your emp now cuase if u have enough dirt in the tank and if its moist , the scorp will burrow and you probably wont see it too often.

i just leave the crickets in there, cuase my emps are in there burrow 24/7 and they sit at the entrance of there burrow with there claws open waiting for a cricket to walk by.

some people say to take the crickets out if they arent eaten within a few hours, from my experience, 80 percent of the crickets get eaten when im sleeping.

but i keep my eye out for dead crickets,

i have 4 emps and i put about 12 crickets in every 10 days, it takes about 6 days for all the crickets to disapear.

ive fed them with the tongs a few times when i first got them becuase i thought they would eat better if i fed them with the tongs,

but now i relize they do best if they catch them on there own.

he loves his burrow, he lives under a log i notice every few hours he swaps ends to have his claws out. i noticed in the past few hours he has opened his claws out where as before he had them shielding his mouth.

Claws open and out near the entrance to his hide is a good sign. Covering his mouth and guarding the area means he's begging you to stop slapping a cricket into his face.

Put a cricket into his enclosure at night when you go to bed and if it's still there in the morning when you get up take it out and try again in 3 or 4 days. Scorpions in general don't want large mammals watching them eat or noticing them in general.

This is how I feed my scorpions:

I choose a designated day to feed them once a week(In my case it would be thursday)

I prefer taking the back legs off the crickets because they don't jump away when the scorpions try and get them. Also my scorpions just rip the legs off anyways, so this means I don't have to go in their and grab all the cricket parts and stress them out. (leaving them in their means mold and mites)

I put the cricket near the mouth of the hide and kinda move them inside for the scorps to get.

Note: My scorpions didn't eat for about two weeks when I first got them. So if they don't eat, its no problem.

ah cool, i think i was just abit over concerned that he was not eating. he seems relaxed. every now and again changing sides of his hide to guard.

pictures would be nice

Still dont have any pics uploaded yet. he still has not eaten and has spend the entire day out of his hide stood on a rock. not sure if he is still getting used to the tank.

Last night he went on a walk about for what must have been half an hour, very interesting to watch

would he kill a cricket and not eat it? i have come home today to find a cricket dead just outside his hide but not eaten.

Sometimes emps will do that. Hasn't eaten yet?

yes if he's not interested he will just kill it so it doesn't annoy him

i put 3 crickets in last night i can see 2(including the dead 1) but maybe the other is hiding.

just checked, can not see the 3rd cricket. i handed him the only live one. he grabbed it with his claws, killed it then walked off. i guessing if he was hungry he would have eaten that 1.

Most likely he wasn't hungry so he killed it and left.

the body is gone im guessing he has eaten