Emperor Feeding Frenzy...

[thesupermonkey]

I recently purchased another Emp for my tank. All three hang out under the same rock even though there are hides for each of them. The new one seems particularly ravenous. My usual routine is to take about 4 or 5 cricks, remove the legs and drop them in. Apparently this isn't going to work any more. In the past when my scorps have been very hungry they politely munch one crick at a time while holding another in each claw. Golith (the new emp) rushed in and stuffed all 5 cricks in her face simultaneously! The funny part is even with the amount of food she is consuming (approx. 12+ cricks this week alone) the membrane on the sides is only barely visible! I've got some pictures and video (although the video isn't accessible since my site won't allow video hosting) of her feeding. This is not even mentioning the large mouse and all of the cricks she ate last week! Is it possible it's simply because she's so active? Should I continue feeding her as long as she's receptive?

 

[ScorpDude]

So long as her weight stays fairly stable, just let her eat all she wants She must just be hungry

You can also stick your video on youtube

 

[aggie08]

Dang! Never learned her manners eh? I wish mine did that! That's pretty cool.

 

[quiz]

same thing happen with 4 of my emps. I didn't feed them for 3 weeks then when I finally fed them. All 24 cricket gone then they stopped feeding again. But 2 of my females ate about 3 big cricket each today.

 

[thesupermonkey]

Let's see if this works...


Golith eating a mouse and a cricket.

 

[Empwrangler]

He sure snatched up that mouse. Emps sure do love prey that large. I never fed my emp a mouse or even a pinkie but I tossed a hissing roach in their and I have never seen them so excited.

 

[cashewman1]

What age is best for full grown mice? Ive fed my larger male a pinky so far, other then that just crickets, Cant give full accurate length but id say his body is around 2 in

 

[thesupermonkey]

I don't usually feed my emps mice. Golith seems to have an insatiable appetite and I figured maybe a mouse would slow her down. I don't like feeding them mice for a couple of reasons...

A. The mice have razor sharp teeth and there's always a risk of injuring the scorpion.

B. They like to rip the mouse apart. So this means you're going to have to clean up all of the left overs before they start to rot. This means turning over and uprooting all of your hides which is a pain and doesn't make the scorpions too happy either.

C. Unless the scorpion is particularly adept at catching and subduing large prey it can be particularly stressful for the mouse and the scorp as they struggle to subdue the other.

In this case the mouse died in approximately 20 seconds. I'm not sure why or how Golith is so proficient at killing large prey and doing it so quickly. I've never actually seen her make the kill since they always hunt better when they're not agitated. They tend to attack from their hides and pull the prey in so I try to let them hunt naturally by not disturbing them before or during feeding. What I can tell you is that Golith is notably stronger, faster and more voracious than my others. This part might sound a bit odd... but my two larger scorps Golith and Ares work together on large prey. I couldn't seem much without bothering them but it was visible that Ares had hold on the head of the mouse and Golith was holding one of the feet. Golith's claw pressure is impressive. After removing the remains it was evident that the rear foot was only attached by skin (she'd completely crushed the bone). I can't say if the kill was the result of a sting or not. There was a point when I first got my scorpions that I was only feeding them mice(I now know this is very unhealthy for your scorp!) and from what I've seen the results are always varied. I've seen a very long envenomation directly into the abdomen but even that took a full minute to take effect. So if the kill was due to a sting it would have had to have been a large dose in very concentrated & vital area or maybe envenomation by both scorpions. Golith is probably between 4.5 to 5 inches so throwing a mouse around (as is apparent in the video) is NO problem for her. Mice are strong, fast and agile so I'd say if you are going to use them make sure the mice you use are smaller and lighter (if possible) than your scorp. I'm not saying they won't take down prey larger than themselves but it's just less stressful & painful on the mouse and scorp if it's over as quickly as possible.
Munkey

 

[ThatGuy]

man ive never seen an emp hunt like that befor, very quick ! thats pretty amazing.:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[sick4x4]

damn

wow i am always amazed to see nature at its best, im not a fan of just feeding t's or scorps or even pedes mice..yet i must say i was impressed..how big is the emp and do the others share in the feast? and the most important question where do i get one that big lol so i can make a video lol just kidding ....kool stuff