My Emp's new set ups.

My new set-up for the nine little guys I just picked up. The first pick is the container they were given to me in. The second pic is their new home. Third and fourth pics are my two older guys and their set-up. I know some people don't dig the water gel but these guys were all raised on it.

Nice setups a few of them look ready to moult.
I would change that gell for plain old water much better for them and they can soak in it if they want to

You got some nice sausages there. Congrats!

shadowfoot wrote:

You got some nice sausages there. Congrats!

LOL.

They are very cute!

Niffler wrote:

I know some people don't dig the water gel but these guys were all raised on it.

That doesn't mean it's any good for them. It appears that they were also kept in a box of rocks, leading me to conclude that the original owner didn't have a clue.

+1 shebeen
gel is good for roaches but it's breeding ground for bacteria and dont feed the emps efficiently. Give them a bowl of water and they'll actually drink from it and will even bathe themselves in it.

Plump and fat little scorplings...

Thanks guys, gel removed and replaced with spring water. My tap water is nasty.

I have recently learned at a scabies meeting that peat/sphagnum moss attracts fungis gnats due to the acidity that the moss retains.

Niffler wrote:

Thanks guys, gel removed and replaced with spring water. My tap water is nasty.

I use bottle water as well. Chlorine in the tap water makes me nervous for my emps.

Can you get a closer shot of the claws on one of your baby emps? I have no doubt in my mind that the larger ones are emps but in that fist picture of the babies they look like they have smoother chela then they should. But it's a little bit of long shot. It's just that every time I look at this post I wonder.

Thanks!

Good eye Yames, I didn't notice that on my fisrt look through. But I think you might be right.

Mako wrote:

I have recently learned at a scabies meeting that peat/sphagnum moss attracts fungis gnats due to the acidity that the moss retains.

Fungus gnats aren't bad are they?

I would assume that any flying insect that was not invited is bad news. As far as the gnats being harmful to this particular species of scorpion? Not sure. Perhaps one of the experts on here could answer that for us.

@Yames
I haven't seen them since I moved them, come to think of it I haven't seen a single one of my new scorpions since I re-housed them, lol.
Anyway I croppped and blew up one of the pics I took when I bought them home. I hope it helps. I'm almost afraid to ask why?

What we're looking for is how smooth the claws are. You see how your adult emperors have a bumpy pebble like texture. If the claws are smooth then you don't have emps at all. But rather one of the Asian forest scorpions. Zooming in doesn't give me a clearer view. It does look suspiciously smooth. At this point I'm guessing these aren't emps. But please compare yourself and take a new picture of the claws of one of them. So an expert like "scorpion lad" can chime in.

Suspiciously smooth chelae but I'm useless when it comes to Forest scorpions...

Hey guys,
I checked out a few of my little guys this morning. The claws are very smooth with no pebbling that I can see.
I tried to get a good close up pic of the claws but my camera isn't that good on the close up shots. Any tips would help.
Do I need to change their care because they aren't Emps? The set up is about 88 degrees and I mist it daily to keep up humidity. It's damp not wet.
Thanks again for all the help everyone has been giving me, this forum rocks!
Niffler

Since they're most likely a Heterometrus sp. the care will stay the same.

Same care. Keep up the good work just different names. They may not be as communal as emps either. But every scorp is communal until the day they decide to not be.

I disagree Yames, I think most het. species are just as communal as emps. I used to experiment around with a community I had of 2 emps and 2 H.spinifers and I did notice some weird behavior. For example given 1 heat source they would all buddy around and share one hide (the one closest to the heat source). If given multiple options for heat or none they would seperate by species. P. imps would tend to burrow under a hide and share it between the two, while the H.spinifers wouldn't burrow as much and chose to just stay under the hides but also share it between the two.

What makes that "weird" behaviour? Is there something about scorpions that would make a person expect a different outcome?

I ask because it would seem intuitively logical that they would group by species if there wasn't an environmental imperative to combine.