# Random emperor scorpion death



## Golemer (Feb 26, 2007)

If there has been a post about this previously I apologize in advance cuz when I did a search I didn't find anything... but my emperor scorpion just died last night after owning him for almost a year... he ate fine not to much though... but right before he passed away I reach in the cage and changed his water and as usual he took a swing at me and almost stung me... which was not strange for him. He was terribly aggressive lol. So I just brought the water out and changed it put it back still about got stung no big deal it was good to see he was active as usual... well with in the next few hours he started leaning towards one side and all so I was worried about him and caught him ( the way I always have... grab the stinger and then place him in my hand ) well he was still trying to pinch me so I put him back... well a couple hours later I check again and he was dead.. I mean I know I did not harm him cuz he wasn't dropped wasn't squeezed nothing like that cuz I have handled him a lot in the past as well. Well he didn't act stressed or anything... just annoyed it looked. But I know he did not starve... did not drown nothing like that... maybe it was old age..? Cuz when I purchased him from the pet store about a year ago he was maybe 4 inches close to 5... from tip of the stinger to the face area... when I measured him after he passed he was a bit over 7 inches... so possibly it was old age..? I am not sure... I was just wondering if anyone else would have any idea as to why he might have died? I plan on getting another one shortly... hopefully a younger one. Another thing is... during the year I owned it... he never once shed... which I thought was strange since my ball python and rose hair have shed several times.. well thanks for your time and posting if you choose to do so.


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## Thaedion (Feb 26, 2007)

Greetings Golemer, Sorry to hear about the loss of your emperor.

Age could be a factor, but they usually live to 8± yrs, and any adults sold to pet stores may already be up in age. Did you check it out, as far as turning it over and really looking at it? My first death was due to mites, tiny brown specks all around the underside crevices.

What was the enclosure like, substrate, temps, humidity?

Regards Thaedion


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## Brian S (Feb 27, 2007)

I second the age theory. Those wild caught individuals you often see in Pet Stores have often seen better days. I have said this before and will again....If you want to get a good long lived scorp, try to find some captive bred youngsters from an arachnid breeder. If unable to locate any, purchase as many w/c adults as you can afford or have room for and try to breed your own. Captive bred specimens are so much better and healthier. You will notice a big difference. If you can get just 1  to have kids, it gets much easier.


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## Galapoheros (Feb 27, 2007)

Sorry to hear about your scorpion.  When I lose a arthropod, one of the worst things for me is to not know why.  Thaedion, did you get a pic of those mites?  That'd be nice to see if you have a pic.  The mite topic has been whacked over and over and over again in the myriapod section and I can't stop continuing to question some issues about them.  I do have the problem solved though by having predatory mites in my cages.  I had an emp apparently die of mites about 10 years ago along with many centipedes.  They all had the same symptoms.  They would get covered with the mites, stop eating and drinking, get dehydrated and start walking around in slow motion.  It was like they weren't getting enough oxygen, getting weaker.  I could go for a long time over the mite topic.  Yea I'd rather get babies than adults too.  Or like Brian said, get adults to get babies.  The most interesting part for me is watching them grow.


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## Thaedion (Feb 27, 2007)

Galapoheros said:


> ...Thaedion, did you get a pic of those mites?  That'd be nice to see if you have a pic...


No. I kick myself for not. They looked like small brown specks, the size of salt or sand grains. When I tried to brush them off they just stuck.  I'm going for the raising of them also. I have two I think are gravid.


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## jeroenkooijman (Feb 27, 2007)

Sorry to hear about your emp.  

I don't think it died of old age, I have a wc female living with me for over 5 years now. You also said it haven't shed, but if it has grown from 4 or 5 inch to 7 inch it must have shed. Maybe you haven't seen it becuase emps eat their old skin often.

Too bad without knowing the temperature, humidity etc I can't help you further.

Getting a younger one is very nice, I now have a few instar 4. They are great to look at. Good luck with finding a new, younger and healthier emp.


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## Golemer (Feb 27, 2007)

Well the temp I am not sure I didn't purchase a therm. or anything... I just kinda tried to keep the area around him IE the room around 80F and the humidity I tried to keep it humid but it hard to do without using a light bar... I don't like the thought of a light bar because of all the horror stories you hear about emps being baked. Now I can promise he did not have mites cuz I checked him daily and when he died I checked very good... no signs of having or had mites. But he was in a 5 gallon aquarium.. with I'd say 5 maybe 6 inches of top soil... I never can find potting soil or verm that is not treated with pesticides. But yeah he was acting fine one moment then the next he was gone you know... it's very sad... cuz I feel like I must have had something to do with it... maybe it got to cold.. I dunno... I am really confused. He was still eating well before he died as well.


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## EAD063 (Feb 28, 2007)

Golemer said:


> Well the temp I am not sure I didn't purchase a therm. or anything... I just kinda tried to keep the area around him IE the room around 80F and the humidity I tried to keep it humid but it hard to do without using a light bar... I don't like the thought of a light bar because of all the horror stories you hear about emps being baked. Now I can promise he did not have mites cuz I checked him daily and when he died I checked very good... no signs of having or had mites. But he was in a 5 gallon aquarium.. with I'd say 5 maybe 6 inches of top soil... I never can find potting soil or verm that is not treated with pesticides. But yeah he was acting fine one moment then the next he was gone you know... it's very sad... cuz I feel like I must have had something to do with it... maybe it got to cold.. I dunno... I am really confused. He was still eating well before he died as well.



Put it this way, if the scorpion never molted in your possesion, 99% chance it died of old age.
....Go get another one!


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## Piecesbread (Nov 14, 2018)

jeroenkooijman said:


> Sorry to hear about your emp.
> 
> I don't think it died of old age, I have a wc female living with me for over 5 years now. You also said it haven't shed, but if it has grown from 4 or 5 inch to 7 inch it must have shed. Maybe you haven't seen it becuase emps eat their old skin often.
> 
> ...


I've had my Emperor Scorpion for about 2 years now as a adult well, I just found it dead about five minutes ago and can't figure out as to why, so my question is can the temp below 90 kill it because my heat went out and I put the heat lamp on the aquarium but my room still dropped down to about 55, but my snake "Ball Python" was fine.


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