# Female P. Imperator



## winter_in_tears (Dec 21, 2008)

Here are a few pics of my Emp burrowing and hunting.












She is big. 7" from head to the tip of the stinger.


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## Vidaro (Dec 22, 2008)

wot substrate is that? looks like hay?!:/


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 22, 2008)

haha, nah, it's coconut fiber with soil mix. It looks like hay because she was burrowing and made a mess. lol  

The substrate I bought comes in a brick that you have to put in water and then it breaks up into soil, wood chips and coconut fibers. Is this substrate correct for p.imperator?


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## calum (Dec 22, 2008)

sounds alright, I use a substrate called "terra-spider", it comes in highly supressed blocks, and expands to like 5x the size, really useful stuff.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 22, 2008)

^ are there any links to the pics of the substrate. Terra-spider? I never seen it. What is it?


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## Vidaro (Dec 22, 2008)

http://www.thespidershop.co.uk/inse...d=772&osCsid=83beac6ea8d2944be51ef7ee59697b4a

Cocofiber is the most commonly used substrate coz its easy to find and works great depending on ur pet sp. of course.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 22, 2008)

*P. Imperator*

Thanks for the link. Yeah, this is exactly what my emps are dwelling in. I mist the tanks every other day and was able to achieve the recommended temps and humidity.

I have a question. May I put the scorps together? Will they mate or kill each other? I tried to put them together for 2-3 hours observing. The female is very nice to him, she even dug out a burrow for him. The problem is he is too aggressive towards her. I don't understand. I read that people keep emps together.

The female is 2 inches larger than the male, yet it's him that is being an a**hole to her. I am getting a flat rock soon and I need one of the tanks free, should I just put my 2 emps together and let them be and let nature do it's thing?


I added a few pics of the habitat I created for the female. The male is in a similar environment, just a smaller tank, cuz he is smaller


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## calum (Dec 22, 2008)

put them together, they will be fine. the tank is plenty big, you could probably get away with 3 in there, mabye even 4, although that's pushing it a bit. they will probably mate, the only thing I would say is to increase the humidity a bit, Emp's like moist substrate.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 22, 2008)

calum said:


> put them together, they will be fine. the tank is plenty big, you could probably get away with 3 in there, mabye even 4, although that's pushing it a bit. they will probably mate, the only thing I would say is to increase the humidity a bit, Emp's like moist substrate.


May I put a flat rock scorp on the rocky side of the tank? Will the emps jump him?


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## cmart822331 (Dec 22, 2008)

emps are communal. they would be fine together. though, im not 100% sure, but i think you may have territorial issues if you just throw one in the others enclosure. just keep an eye on them in the beginning. you may have to change things around a bit to make more of a neutral ground. again im not 100% sure on this but i think i read this somewhere. maybe on here.. someone else may know more on this subject.


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## calum (Dec 22, 2008)

multispecies tanks never work out well, and the enviroment is wrong for A Hadogenes spp. hadogenes need bone dry tanks with low humidity.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 22, 2008)

thanks for all the great advice guys. It seems like my female emp has welcomed the male with no problem and is treating him good, but it's the male who is aggressive towards her. Is this normal? I had to separate them. The male is trying to fight.

I want to breed them tho. When is the best time of the year to stick the male in her tank for a little bit so he can do his thing?


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## calum (Dec 22, 2008)

just a header, they are probably mating not fighting... are you sure they are both opposite sexes? If you are unsure post a pic and we'll sex them for you.


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## cmart822331 (Dec 22, 2008)

yes, they very well could be mating. heres a vid of emps mating, if this is what it looks like, theyre probably mating! [YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kdVvoSP8QtY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kdVvoSP8QtY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]


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## calum (Dec 22, 2008)

Those aren't actually Emps mating.... I'm guessing by the indented chelae they are Pandinus cavimanus. or mabye P.militaris..hmmmm.....  but the scorpion actually giving birth IS a P.Imperator. what's up with that lol. 


anyway, the mating thing looks the same for both species.


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## cmart822331 (Dec 23, 2008)

calum said:


> Those aren't actually Emps mating.... I'm guessing by the indented chelae they are Pandinus cavimanus. or mabye P.militaris..hmmmm.....  but the scorpion actually giving birth IS a P.Imperator. what's up with that lol.
> 
> 
> anyway, the mating thing looks the same for both species.


i did notice the indent on the chelae among other things and though they probably werent emps.. but i figure the mating process is about the same.. but yeah what is up with that??:?  so much for trusting national geographic!!


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## calum (Dec 23, 2008)

well, the majority of the population wouldn't know the difference... only us scorpion nerds. leelz.


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## pnshmntMMA (Dec 23, 2008)

now im a little freaked out. my emps sometimes wake me up in the middle of the night with the noise of their fighting or mating or whatever. i hear them clicking up against the glass and chasing each other around, it looks like fighting but i dont know. yes there is a male and a female in there. how do i know if they are for sure mating, maybe i missed it? i need to know because one day down the road if my parents see baby scorpions in the tank they will have a meltdown haha...not huge fans if you will.  thans for any help


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## cmart822331 (Dec 23, 2008)

pnshmntMMA said:


> now im a little freaked out. my emps sometimes wake me up in the middle of the night with the noise of their fighting or mating or whatever. i hear them clicking up against the glass and chasing each other around, it looks like fighting but i dont know. yes there is a male and a female in there. how do i know if they are for sure mating, maybe i missed it? i need to know because one day down the road if my parents see baby scorpions in the tank they will have a meltdown haha...not huge fans if you will.  thans for any help


see mating video above^^^^ theyre not emps but its pretty much the same..
fighting video! 

either way, if youre worried about your parents being upset about it, you should seperate them. though you would have a long time before any babies arrived. unless shes already gravid!


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## pnshmntMMA (Dec 23, 2008)

ahhh its all blurring together, my emps dont fight much, so maybe it was mating? they havent done it since...thy usually sleep in the same burrow, well id say about 60 percent together, 40 percent apart. my female is a wonderer. male is lazy. i actually hope shes gravid, but no signs yet, shes not fat in any way, normal size. but when i move in less than i year that would be cool if she had some scorplings.


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## calum (Dec 23, 2008)

pshment, they may be fighting because they have mated and the female doesn't want the male around.


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## pnshmntMMA (Dec 23, 2008)

uh oh haha, how long does can the mating last? i mean, i coulda missed it i guess one night?


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## calum (Dec 23, 2008)

I'm not sure how long it lasts, probably just a  few minutes or so... 

so yeah, they coulda' being goin' at it whilst you weren't looking.


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## pnshmntMMA (Dec 23, 2008)

so how soon til i can see signs of her being gravid? (haha my parents think i have 2 males in there...fooled them) got any thread links for me or anyhing? thanks for the help calum


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 23, 2008)

after seeing all the cool info you guys posted and the video clips, I come to the conclusion that my scorps are indeed fighting. The female doesn't want any part of it, the male looks to sting her in the side every time they are locked up.

This is really frustrating. I will try to post more pics. I used the diagram for sexing the scorps on this forum. I am pretty sure mine are male and female.

Can 2 males get along? Can 2 females get along?


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## calum (Dec 23, 2008)

they probably are mating if the male is stinging the female, this is part of the process and is called "sexual stinging", not sure why they do it, probably to exite or calm the female down. 

when they are doing this, do they lock thier chelicerae? sp they look like they are "kissing"?


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 23, 2008)

yes, they did that, but after that, like a few hours later she made a nice burrow under the bark and invited the male in. Then, she left the burrow to explore the area. When she tried to come back to her burrow the male almost killed her. It was one of the most violent acts I have ever seen. Definitely not mating. She got really pissed and kicked the male out of her burrow because she is so much stronger and bigger, therefore able to do that.

I was so upset that I almost killed the male myself, I was so infuriated.


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## calum (Dec 23, 2008)

It's allright, scorpions are tough animals. I think the male is best put in his own cage, if he is being such a bitch.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 23, 2008)

cool. thanx. That's what I did. I separated them about a week ago. They are doing great, like nothing happened. Eating well, burrowing, etc.

Do you think it's a good idea to try and hook 'em up later on? like in a few months or so? I really want them to mate. What do you think?


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## cmart822331 (Dec 23, 2008)

winter_in_tears said:


> cool. thanx. That's what I did. I separated them about a week ago. They are doing great, like nothing happened. Eating well, burrowing, etc.
> 
> Do you think it's a good idea to try and hook 'em up later on? like in a few months or so? I really want them to mate. What do you think?


a week ago? :? did i miss something? i thought this was all taking place in the last few days???? :? :? :?


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## calum (Dec 24, 2008)

you could try hooking them up in a few weeks time, but I'm thinking they have already mated and that is where the Aggression is coming from. but, you could try again in a few weeks time.


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## pnshmntMMA (Dec 24, 2008)

so calum, how perfect do conditions have to be in order for them to mate, or is it pretty much inevitable and out of my hands. i mean i havent been doing anything special to increase the chances of mating, just the normal misting and feeding.


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## calum (Dec 24, 2008)

I would imagine as long as they are living in adequate conditions they may breed. but if the conditions are _optimum_ I think you've got a pretty high chance.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 24, 2008)

cmart822331 said:


> a week ago? :? did i miss something? i thought this was all taking place in the last few days???? :? :? :?


I was describing their behavior in the last few weeks. In the beginning they were separate. Then a week ago I did the experiment to put them together. That didn't work out that well, and now they are separated again. I am sorry I wasn't more clear. This wasn't happening as I was posting. Just describing what happened that's all.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 24, 2008)

calum said:


> you could try hooking them up in a few weeks time, but I'm thinking they have already mated and that is where the Aggression is coming from. but, you could try again in a few weeks time.


already mated?

I forgot to mention that they actually spent 1 night together under the same bark piece. They showed slight aggression that night, but nothing serious.

It's was the following day that all the aggression took place and I separated them.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 25, 2008)

here are a few more pics

this specimen here is eating a meal worm. specimen is 5" long from carpace to aculeus.







this specimen is over 7" long. Sitting here atop a bark piece.


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## calum (Dec 25, 2008)

cool. 



some of my scorpions are scared shitless of mealworms.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 26, 2008)

The 7" specimen I posted. Does that look like a female?


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## calum (Dec 26, 2008)

you can't really sex this species dorsally, but it does look "chunky" enough. 


try and get a ventral shot of the pectines & operculum if you want them sexed properly.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 30, 2008)

Nice! just as I thoght. Clearly one is a female and one is male. She has a heart shape piece near the pectines and he has an oval shape near the pectines.

Also a small update. My scorps ate butter-worms today. They were so thrilled to try them. I have a feeling that they will eat any insect I find in the nearby woods.


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## calum (Dec 30, 2008)

cool, I occasionally feed younger instars Waxworms, they get all messy trying to eat them.


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## winter_in_tears (Dec 30, 2008)

Can I feed mine with grubs? We have mousies, tips and spikes. These are common grubs that I can find in the woods out here. You think emps are down to eat those?


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## pnshmntMMA (Jan 3, 2009)

whatever you get from your yard or local areas, just BE SURE there are no pesticides of any kinds or anything that could pollute the food. just like gut loading crickets, your scorps eat what their prey ate essentially


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## Atreyuhero4 (Jan 3, 2009)

how do you know when the female is sexually mature also can you leave the male in after they mated and after she has had the babies?


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## calum (Jan 3, 2009)

You can tell if an P.imp is mature by looking at the telson colour. 

*notice the deep redish-brown colour, this indicates the scorpion is mature*
http://www.pandinusimperator.nl/images/Pandinus 006.jpg 

if the telson is white or cream coloured the scorpion Isn't mature.


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 3, 2009)

Atreyuhero4 said:


> how do you know when the female is sexually mature also can you leave the male in after they mated and after she has had the babies?



From what I researched and was told by the guys here that it's best to remove the male from the enclosure right away after mating. You can re-unite them later after the babies have grown up a little.


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## T.ass-mephisto (Jan 3, 2009)

calum said:


> You can tell if an P.imp is mature by looking at the telson colour.
> 
> *notice the deep redish-brown colour, this indicates the scorpion is mature*
> http://www.pandinusimperator.nl/images/Pandinus 006.jpg
> ...


are emps ready to mate almost right after the final molt? or does it still take a little while? i read a care sheet that said it can be up to a year after the final molt to reach sexual maturity


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 4, 2009)

^ yes, that is true


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## calum (Jan 5, 2009)

I didn't know that. 

you sure?


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## Galapoheros (Jan 5, 2009)

Oh no, that's bad info.  They can mate after just days after their last molt.  Here's a female I put with a monster male emp only days after she molted.  She was captive born and has since had babies from this mating.  You can see that she hadn't even turned all black, like she is now, when she mated.  Oops, forgot pic, I'll go get it.






I feel like I needed to add that this has been my experience.  I guess it's possible it could take a while after a molt but how would somebody know that it's possible it could take a long time to sexually mature after the final molt, esp. a year?  Maybe somebody had an emp that wouldn't mate for a year and assumed that it wasn't sexually mature, but instead, it was some other factor.


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## calum (Jan 6, 2009)

cheers for that.  

I didn't think you had to wait a full year somehow.


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## T.ass-mephisto (Jan 6, 2009)

i thought it sounded weird. but the care sheet was good on everything else. the only other thing was it said to feed your scorps with a tweasers and only feed them one cricket a week.that doesn't sound right however.am i wrong?


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## calum (Jan 6, 2009)

I tong - feed my scorplings sometimes, or even handfeed them, but only for the lolz. I usually just throw in a few crickets and let them hunt properly.


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 6, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> Oh no, that's bad info.  They can mate after just days after their last molt.


That's cool, I didn't know that they can mate just a few days after. But just like the user before me said, I also read that it's a year after their last molt.

BTW, in that pic that you posted. How come you have a cavimanus and imperator together? Are you sure these species can inter-breed? I never even knew that you can have cavimanus with emperor. wow.


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## cmart822331 (Jan 6, 2009)

those are 2 P.imperator. as he stated, the smaller one with the red/brown all over, is a recently molted P.imperator. it hasnt turned completely black yet. take a look at the chelae, it is most certainly a P.imp.


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## cmart822331 (Jan 7, 2009)

he either has a black light on them or the camera flash is giving the same affect on them. right after scorps molt, before their exo hardens, they do not fluoresce under black light. this one is showing res/brown because it recently molted.


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 7, 2009)

haha nice, I love it how you guys like to go all scientific on my azz. Sorry guys, I'm new.

I have a quick question. My female imp. has partially closed up her burrow. What does that indicate? or possibly indicate?


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## pnshmntMMA (Jan 7, 2009)

it might be just clumsiness, my emps always fill in their man made burrow with substrate when then run in and out. they sit outside it almost as if waiting for me to fix it then when i do they run back in. if only they were that smart haha


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## calum (Jan 7, 2009)

sometimes scorpions fill te entrances to thier burrows and stay in there for a while. It's completely normal.


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 8, 2009)

I also have her under a red 50 watt incandescent light. Is that a good heat source? I only turn the lamp on at night. Is that ok? incandescent?


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## T.ass-mephisto (Jan 8, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> I also have her under a red 50 watt incandescent light. Is that a good heat source? I only turn the lamp on at night. Is that ok? incandescent?


i keep my tank between 78-84 (at night its a bit cooler) whats the thermostat say? from what i read they can survive at high sixties but won't eat much and will be about as entertaining as a rock


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 8, 2009)

The temperature I keep my emps at is 80-85 with some humidity. The temp for my flat rock is 85-90.

My question is about the red incandescent light. Will it harm my scorps?


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## pnshmntMMA (Jan 8, 2009)

no everyone says those are fine. actually since i started using one in november, (before i used a reptil light, VERY BAD if it has uv light, the pet store guy said itd be a good light for scorps..but hes a retard). anyway before i trailed off, my scorps have been alot more active. when they come out at night they come out in force, anything that moves they go after. red light also adds a cool color to the room its in haha


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## T.ass-mephisto (Jan 8, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> The temperature I keep my emps at is 80-85 with some humidity. The temp for my flat rock is 85-90.
> 
> My question is about the red incandescent light. Will it harm my scorps?


like he said before me anything with uv is going to be bad for your scorps. so be carefull when buying and read the boxes fully.

also a side note i have heard that blacklights when used to often can cause blindness in scorpions. is that true? (don't worry i don't have one just curious)


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## calum (Jan 8, 2009)

scorpions are already practically blind. I belive the only use they have for thier eyes is to see how light or dark it is. some species of scorpion live in complete darkness 24/7, thus lacking eyes completely. such as _Belisarius xambeui[/I. 

pic; http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/b_xambeui_spain2.jpg 

so I don't really think UV would be harmful to a scorpions' eyes. mabye it is, but I doubt it._


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## pnshmntMMA (Jan 8, 2009)

ive heard the intense uv light from black lights and other stuff is bad for the scorps carapace and such. something to do with magnesium? i dont remember but that rings a bell. either way, its not good for them.


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 11, 2009)

Is a gravid Emperor scorp. communal with Emperor males?


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## calum (Jan 11, 2009)

I think they tend to get a bit pissy at cagemates, but I've seen scorpions with babies in a communal enclosure and they got along fine.


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## pandinus (Jan 11, 2009)

pnshmntMMA said:


> ive heard the intense uv light from black lights and other stuff is bad for the scorps carapace and such. something to do with magnesium? i dont remember but that rings a bell. either way, its not good for them.


it has a tendency to errode away at their cuticle, which eventually causes them to lose their ability to glow, as well as effectively blinding the little eyesight they have left. the reason you dont keep a scorpion under a uv light for extended periods is the same reason you dont hang out in a tanning bed for extended periods. the same UV waves and similar problems.


John


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 12, 2009)

What is a true lifespan of an Emperor? I read all these sites telling me all different lifespans. What is the average in the wild? and what is the most years that you guys know of an emp being alive in captivity? Thanks.


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## T.ass-mephisto (Jan 12, 2009)

winter_in_tears said:


> What is a true lifespan of an Emperor? I read all these sites telling me all different lifespans. What is the average in the wild? and what is the most years that you guys know of an emp being alive in captivity? Thanks.


i had a friend who got his at 3rd instar and it lived like nine and a half years.
in the wild i'm sure its only about 7-8 years


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## winter_in_tears (Jan 16, 2009)

I never leave crickets in the tank for more than 2-3 hours. I usually feed my scorps meal worms anyway. I have a problem. Many tiny baby crickets spawned in one of my emperor's tanks. I cleaned the tank right away, of course. Did anyone else encounter the same problem before?


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## calum (Jan 17, 2009)

yes, adult crickets have a tendancy to lay eggs in humid, warm setups. it's perfect for eggs. I always cut the ovipositor off before I throw in any crickets.


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## winter_in_tears (Apr 15, 2009)

Hi guys! Just a small update. She is doing great! The female is significantly larger now. I have tried different feeding patterns and the size of the abdomen is staying consistently the same size. I would say she has been like that for 6 or 7 months. I know she is due for some scorplings real soon.

I want to thanks all you guys and this forum for teaching me how to take care of Emperors. I really think I got it down. My H. Paucidens is also doing great and is just as simple to maintain as the Emperor. The only thing different is the climate inside the tank, terrain and the substrate.

I think now I am ready to move on to the next step. What should be my next scorp? What is good to get right after learning Emps and Flat Rocks? Thanks in advance.


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## winter_in_tears (Aug 24, 2009)

she did it! I can count 10 scorplings, there might be more. It's been about a week and the little ones have molted. Few questions.

The little fellas are eating their molt skins as we speak. Is that a natural occurrence? 

I feed the mother every day now. One day I will feed a moth, another day a meal worm. Is this ok?

When should I start feeding the scorplings? and what should I feed them?

I do not want to separate the family. What can I do to improve their habitat so they can all live together? (pics of the enclosure are on page 1).


Thanks in advance guys!


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## winter_in_tears (Nov 13, 2009)

the boys are growing very fast. I can't tell which molt they are on, but they are like dark purple in color.

Now I count 12 of them. I didn't separate anyone from the mother. She is still feeding them, burrowing areas for them, takes care of them. I live up north and it gets cold, she always finds ways to keep the youngsters warm. Good mother and no need for separation. knock on wood.


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