Emperor barely moving !

[Strider]

It didn't eat for a month, and he's fat enough to molt.
now it's lying outside its hiding with his tail flat and barely moving
4th instar, humidity is 80% temp is 26c\78f
what do i do ??

---------- Post added 05-09-2012 at 01:34 PM ----------

Now it climbed on its hiding but the tail is still flat..

 

[Pixxie]

The only thing I could think of is if it's dehydrated, but you said the humidity is 80%. Or its stressed out because the conditions you have it in are different from the conditions it's used to. See if you can get a hold of whoever was keeping it before and ask them how they kept it (temp, humidity, substrate, ect.)

I don't know a whole lot about scorpions, so correct me if I'm wrong. But when they're that small, wouldn't you not be able to tell by how fat they are if they're about to molt or not? Or are they bigger than I'm picturing at the 4th instar?

My husband had to take an emperor scorpion back to the pet store yesterday because it stopped eating and was barely moving. They said that it became dehydrated while trying to molt. Since it was trying to molt, it didn't want to move to the water dish. He also said it could have been stressed out because it wasn't used to the new enviroment.

What substrate are you keeping it in?

---------- Post added 05-09-2012 at 08:15 AM ----------

Oh, and I'm not sure if this is true or not because I've heard 2 different things about it, but the guy at the pet store (the one that deals with the arachnids) said, that if it's trying to molt, to spray it a few times a day.
I have also read online that doing this is not good because it can cause the outer skin to stick to the new skin, which is obviously bad when it tries to molt.
BUT, the guy from the pet store has owned scorps for years, breeds them (successfully), and has done this to scorps before when they're in premolt. He swears by it. He said he has to spray his emperors around 8 times a day when they go into premolt to make sure that they're hydrated enough.

Two completely different opinions about this, I'm not sure which I trust, but I'm leaning towards the pet store guy because I know how experienced he his. And he's not your typical pet store employee who will give you missinformation just to make a sale, and make up answers to the questions he doesn't know the answers to. Maybe someone else can tell what they think about spraying scorps in pre-molt?

 

[SK8TERBOI]

I work with allot of scores and I find spraying can be harmful and I heard it can cause the 2 layers to stick

 

[Michiel]

It seems dying...tail flat out is bad news...when a molt starts, it is usually finished within 48 hours...did it have water to drink since you keep it?

Spraying on scorpions directly is not necessary , some like it, like Pandinus and Heterometrus and the layer story is crap..the exocuticle is waterproof....the new skin does develop under the old, but still the cuticle is watertight and proof...some species submerge themselves as defense (Heterometrus) and these would drown if that 'theory' was true...

It might have become ill, difficult to say without pics....These things also happen, even if you are sure you provided the right conditions...

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[Strider]

it's been fat like that for about 5 months, last time he ate was a month ago, last time I tried to feed it was a week ago. It decided to climb on its coconut hideout as you can see, but tail is still down... I increased the humidity to 90%. Im using potting soil, and feeds it less than 1inch meal worms

 

[Michiel]

Would not worry too much, it does not look sick to me...

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[Furret]

Emps can be a bit droopy after molting; give it a few days..it should be up and running again

 

[Michiel]

this animal is prior to a molt, not just after:screwy::screwy:

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[Strider]

Just died... R.I.P

 

[Anonymity82]

Just died... R.I.P

Aww sorry! . I lost mine during a molt awhile back. Sucks. Don't beat yourself up. You did what you could.