- Joined
- Aug 6, 2003
- Messages
- 359
Brand new to this forum - looks like an excellent resource, many knowledgable & experienced hobbyists. Read a book last month on scorpion care, but it was not very thorough. Just bought a 4.5" Emperor one week ago (not sure of sex yet. I know what to look for but since I only have one scorp I'm not really sure if pectines are relatively "feathery" or not). After reading up (including skinheaddave's post on 'Emperor guidelines') looks like I need to make some changes to my setup. Have him in a 5 gal. Kritter Keeper w/a 7 watt Kritter light in lid, 2" peat, bark log, small water dish. I have some experience keeping herps & limited experience w/inverts (mostly mantids), but this is my first scorpion. I live in the Arizona desert, so very dry in my house. Room temp is 72-76. I've been thoroughly misting the peat several times daily. Sounds like I need a different lid (Kritter lid is very ventilated) and a gravel/tube setup to get humidity up (is the tube really necessary? Any details on how to set that up?). I have been leaving the light on all day and turning it off at night. Guy at the store set me up with this gear & said it should be fine, not to worry about a thermometer or humidity gauge, but I suspect I need to give this more attention. The scorp is often active at night, but it hasn't eaten since I brought it home 7 days ago. I left two large crickets in with him for the first two days, tried to feed him one w/foreceps a couple times at night when he was out & prowling, but he just turns & crawls away. Removed crickets so as not to stress him out. Tried with foreceps every day since. Tried a bloodied large mealworm last night with no luck. Have seen it sit with claws open (hungry?), but refuses food then too. Do you let crickets roam free or always feed from foreceps? I know they often fast, but since he hasn't eaten for me yet I'm getting concerned. I'm sure getting the temp & humidity closer to ideal will help. Any suggestions? I want to get this right ASAP.
Thanks,
John (BigBadConrad)
Thanks,
John (BigBadConrad)