new emp scorpion. first one ever

hey everyone, newb here. so me and my gf recently got an emperor scorpion from the local pet shop. from what they said it is still young ( the stinger is still whitish). our question is about our habitat. we did research on line and talked to the pet shop. as of right now we have a ten gallon tank with one inch of gravel, a screen, an inch and a half of sand, a screen, then three to 4 inch's of ecoearth for the floor of the tank. the ecoearth is moist and the sand is holding water but at the moment the tank is only holding at 70 degrees f and around 70 percent humidity. for the top of the tank i have a piece of cardboard covered with alum foil with breather holes. what more do we need to do the raise the humidity and temp ? ive noticed on the site that mid 80's on both is the best conditions for molting. just concered ill lose the first emp ive had because conditions werent right for molting

any help would be greatly appreciated

Hey man, welcome to the addiction.

So it seems you got the false bottom setup with the gravel and sand holding water. Now are you using a heat lamp, or a heat pad? Because I prefer 60w infrared heat bulbs, it gets the temp up to the 80's no problem.

Here is how I keep the moisture in my tank.


I have two pieces of cardboard with a layer of regular duct tape on one side. One piece on the right covers 1/3 of the top and the other covers 1/6 of the tank. Humidity has always been a problem for me, especially with the heat bulbs. So I really just dump a little water in there and when the top dries out it soaks it up from the bottom (but unlike you, I don't have a false bottom setup). And I mist it daily. Morning, afternoon, and at bedtime and this keeps the humidity at a good level. Whenever I leave home, I always leave the light off.

Hope that answers any of your questions.

Enjoy your new pet



Patrick

thank you for the response. right now i don't have a heat lamp or a heating pad. didn't know i would need one honestly. once i get one will that bring up the temp and the humidity both? and i have aluminum foil wrapped around my cardboard. is there any major difference between that and the duct tape?

thanks again.

Richard

Welcome to the forum.

Sealing off most of the top of your enclosure will help retain both heat and moisture. Some people use sheets of glass, Plexiglass or acrylic because it allows the passage of IR (heat) into the enclosure from an overhead IR lamp or ceramic emitter. Avoid placing the lamp fixture directly on the covering material to avoid cracking or melting. Some people improvise tops from what they have on hand: cardboard wrapped with duct tape or plastic wrap or aluminum foil have all been used successfully.

Your enclosure should have a warm side (~85F) and a cool side (~75F) to provide a heat gradient for your scorpion. This can be accomplished with either a heat lamp positioned on one side of the enclosure or a heat mat affixed to the side or back of one end. Heat lamps do a better job of getting heat into an enclosure than most heat mats you find at your LPS, although both are widely used. A lamp fixture with a dimmer will allow you to adjust the temperature without having to move the fixture.

For Emperors, moisture in the substrate is more important than moisture in the air. If your substrate is damp, the air humidity will be fine. Your false bottom should take care of keeping the substrate moist, although I don't think the layer of sand is really necessary. It doesn't hurt anything, but it does take up space that could be used for additional substrate. Most keepers just use gravel covered with a screen.

The reason we went with the sand was due to a few online resources recommending it.

To update we now have a heat lamp. a 50w night light heat light( actuall name ). It gives off a light purple glow. Before we got the light the temp and humidity were both around 70. Now the temp is still just 70 degrees and the humidity has dropped heavily to 40% and the emp does not move around at all. With this still being our first and being a young one at that, we really don't want to lose it

You probably want to swap out the blue bulb for an Infrared (IR) bulb. Scorpions are less sensitive to the red light produced by the IR bulbs. The blue "night light", "moon light" bulbs are intended for use with reptiles, rather than invertebrates. 70F is a little cool for an Emperor; they're native to West Africa and prefer temps in the 80s. Being cold blooded, lower temperatures will slow their metabolism and make them sluggish.

So now we have a 50 watt IR bulb. so far the tank is reading 82 on the " cold side ". the thermometer is on the opposite side of the tank away from the light. the tank is also good on humidity id say since the glass is fogged up in half of it. but is that to much humidity if its fogging up?

nah sounds like your humidity is right.