# is my scorpion molting??



## eporter (Sep 10, 2011)

I have had tarantulas for a while, so I thought that I could take care of a scorpion.  I got an emperor scorpion, it is about 2 inches long (body length).  I have had it for only about 2 weeks.  I designed the set up based on the one they have posted on this website and kept the humidity and the heat pretty high, above 70's and in the 80's for the most part.  Now though it is moving a little irratically, moving the tail up and putting it down, twitching a leg but can't quite seem to get it into a position it wants, moving its pinchers up and down and a little left to right.  Then I looked at the back of its abdomen and I saw that it lloked like there were yellowish spots going down its back.  So then I though well its either dying or its molting and since I don't know what a molting scorpion looks like I thought I had better post it here.


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## OphidianDelight (Sep 10, 2011)

Doesn't look like this scorp is anywhere near pre-molt.  They will look like over-stuffed sausages; the tergites usually appear to be widely separated.


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## eporter (Sep 10, 2011)

so what should I do? it was not articulating its legs properly and was/is sluggish, does it just need higher heat? I have tried to feed it several times and it won't eat, I was going to try feeding it tomorrow when I can go into town to get crickets.  wait and see? I turned up the heat a bit to see if that would help.  any advice would be great.


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## Hendersoniana (Sep 10, 2011)

Humidity is in high 70s mostly 80s? I say maintain it at a certain level of 80%, dont let it fluctuate. But i dont know whats happening to ur emp. Just keep an eye on it for now. Maybe it could have parasites or something... Hopefully not tho.


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## eporter (Sep 11, 2011)

okay, I meant the temperature was in the 70's to 80's.  I don't know what the humidity is but the substrate is damp and the water dish is full.  I put the tube in the courner of the cage so I could put water in the bottom of the substrate and have it leak up to the surface, so i am assuming that the humidity is good.  maybe it got a little chilly in the room I keep it in? sometimes the temperature flucuates a bit because my roommate will turn off the heating lamp if she thinks its too hot -_-  blarg, will update if anything changes


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## Hendersoniana (Sep 11, 2011)

Oh i see, 70 and 80°F is good i guess. Hunidity can be increased by covering the tank with plastic wrap of some sort but make sure theres air flow. Good luck with ur emp, hope he is ok .


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## Ludedor24 (Sep 11, 2011)

I usually keep my tank between 80-85 degrees and about 75% humidity, I have a rock setup in the bottom but ill still mist from time to time. Yes plastic wrap on the lid is very nice , cover anywhere from 50-80% of the top. It could be that he/she is just adjusting to a new surrounding...Mine will act real strange if i change the setup from time to time. Does it have a place to hide? and is it Hiding at all, or coming out at night and walking fine then? But yeah doesnt look like a molt those guys are verrry fat, imagine what your scorpion would look like if it ate half a hot dog, that would be premolt.


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## eporter (Sep 11, 2011)

well it was hiding and wandering around before yesterday.....but the log that i put in there for it to hide wasn't exactly glued into place and I know it can rock a little if you move the cage.  maybe it moved or I accidently moved the log a bit and got a little squished when I was relocating the cage.....Blarg! there are so many things that could have happened


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## Ludedor24 (Sep 11, 2011)

You should go to your local pet store and pick up some Cork Bark, very very light and you can break it off into pieces that you want, it is very nice. I mean it could be that his limbs are damaged but not all hope is lost, he may recover...just try feeding with some tongs so he doesnt have to chase anything and keep water relativly close. Good luck.


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## eporter (Sep 11, 2011)

i got back from my errands with crickets in tow and it got worse, hardly moving now...i am using a squirt bottle to lightly squirt some water in its mouth but I don't know if i have to hold it upside down like a tarantula or not :S and i have it on a wet paper towwel in a small container.  its still moving but only if I touch it and its not even responding to water anymore....its hide must have injured it.....but I have caught my roommate picking up the cage and moving it around to look at it and poke it with a chop stick to get a reaction....if thats what happened to it....I am not a happy person....this all happened in one day, it must have gotten injured.


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## Hendersoniana (Sep 11, 2011)

Roomates can never be trusted unless they themselves keep these pets or if they have a healthy respect towards them... Does ur emp have any physical sign of injury? Like cuts underneath or something..U can try putting a dead cricket on its chelicerae and see if he reacts to it.


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## eporter (Sep 11, 2011)

it is not reacting to anything....but squirting water into its mouth seems to be helping...its moving more and more...but very slowly....no outside damage but there were some yellow spots you could see on its back...thats why i thought damage but maybe that was from lack of water? at least its moving a little bit more now...we will see what the night brings


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## Anonymity82 (Sep 15, 2011)

I am not an expert but I would have to guess an injury of some sort. Scorps will usually not just go from active and responsive to barely moving in a day if it had parasites or trouble adjusting to a new enviroment unless the changes were extreme. It might have gotten squished. Is there any chance that it's water may have been contaminated by anything? I'm not sure if stress (by your roommate poking at it and moving it around [although my scorp gets pretty pissed if I even nudge his tank]) could affect him that fast either. A squishing would affect him instantly. Idk what the yellow is though unless your log as yellow dye. If that's the case then it definitely got squished. Does your roomate not like you? Did you anger her in some way?


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## eporter (Sep 15, 2011)

unfortunately it died, i agree it was probably an injury....as for my roommate it didn't occur to her that doing so was bad....it was her idea (shaking the cage and poking the scorpion) of making it remember its wild instincts and for it to know that she cared about it......it took me over an hour to explain to her that no it doesn't work that way and that she was torturing the poor thing.  She had the mentality that what she was doing would not hurt the scorpion and that it was like giving a dog a pat on the head.  I was mildly livid when I found out.  I mean she ignores my tarantulas but decides to torture the scorpion....sigh, I will probably stay away from scorpions until I can get into a situation where i don't have to worry about my roommate killing off my pets.


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## Anonymity82 (Sep 15, 2011)

I think you should get a small breed of exceptionally poisonous scorpions and tell her they are babies who love to be cuddled lol. My fiance will not allow me to get a tarantula but she doesn't fear the scorpion. It must be because the scorpion is the "special child" of the arachnid family. Tarantulas are much more brutal haha. Plus, I think she has trouble telling the difference between the backside and the front of a T. If you don't know where its face is you probably have a higher risk of being bitten. Sorry to hear about your scorpion.


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## peterock44 (Sep 15, 2011)

hey eporter, i too live in the tri-cities and have some 4thish instar emps (5) if you wanna try again you can have a few.  gimme a holler one of these days, might be nice to talk with another invert person


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## eporter (Sep 15, 2011)

yeah it sucks, I want to try again in the future, my boy friend really likes scorpions and i think they are nifty too....its just so frustrating b/c my tarantulas are doing so well, molting, eating and everything happy inverts do...but this seems like such a failure on my part.  I shouldn't have let her get an interest in taking care of it until i knew her personality about animals better.  I guess live in learn...sadly enough she wants to get an adult for herself to take care of....I think I will cry on that day and glue down everything that possible can be glued down in that cage....at least if she does get it, nothing can squish it, it's not like i can prevent her from getting one unfortunately

peterock44-that would be great, if i decide to do that this year I will give you a holler.  I am in Pullman, WA College of Pharmacy at the moment, so I will be around during breaks, but if one of my mature male tarantulas kicks the bucket this year I will send you a message.  I really appreciate it, the invert community is the best.


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