# Pandinus imperator sexing



## nuclear_zombies (Apr 27, 2007)

I bought a black emperor scorpion the other day, it's the first scorpion for me. It never occured to me to ask about the gender of the creature:wall: 
I have no basis or pictures to compare the dimorphism, so could you all help me out here. I'm posting the best pictures I have of the scorpion, whom I've named Exar Kun (after a sith lord from Star Wars books). This would help me because I'm interested in taking a swing at breeding them someday.


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## Thaedion (Apr 27, 2007)

IMHO I would say they look like males.

You tell primarily by the pectin and genital operculum. Pectin have longer 'feathers' and the 'wings' are more 'straight out' on a male, females are more 'upsidedown-V' shaped and shorter 'feathers'. The genital operculum the round thing where the 'wings' come together points towards the head for a male and tail for a female. Thoes are 'lay-men' terms, I'm at work and am too tired to try scientific terms.

Thaedion


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## nuclear_zombies (Apr 27, 2007)

believe it or not, both pictures came from the same creature, one is without lighting. The second picture is obviously the better of the two, so unless anybody else has anyhting to say, I will tentatively indentify the creature as a male. Thank you Thaedion for the input!:worship:


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## Brian S (Apr 28, 2007)

Howdy,
Read this, it might shed new light on this subject 
Determining the Sex of Scorpions


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## nuclear_zombies (Apr 28, 2007)

Thank you BrianS, that was in fact very informative. After viewing the posts and accompanying photos, I am convinced that my P.imperator is in fact a male (this is good, because Exar Kun the Sith Lord was a male!), even just based on the size and positioning of his pectines. On mine they are large enough you can see them sticking out a little bit, if you are looking down at him. That means I need to buy a female!!


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## Aillith (Apr 28, 2007)

When you go to get a female, I suggest not going into a pet store and saying "I want a female emp" cause more then likely, they will 'guess' the sex.


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## nuclear_zombies (Apr 28, 2007)

Aillith said:


> When you go to get a female, I suggest not going into a pet store and saying "I want a female emp" cause more then likely, they will 'guess' the sex.


Yes, a good point. Now that I have an idea of what to look for, it will be hard to pull one over on THE JOE. I'll likely look at more than one in order to select a female...


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## Brian S (Apr 28, 2007)

nuclear_zombies said:


> I am convinced that my P.imperator is in fact a male


Me too 
I thought I would give you a link to that thread so you can now answer everyone's Qs as to what the sex of their P imp is, you're an expert now!!:clap:


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## Mr. Mordax (Apr 28, 2007)

This post from this thread should also help, especially if you expand your hobby beyond _Pandinus_ and _Heterometrus_.  

That post shows a female, too, so you'll know what to look for when you get Exar Kun a lady friend .


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## jeroenkooijman (Apr 28, 2007)

Brian S said:


> Howdy,
> Read this, it might shed new light on this subject
> Determining the Sex of Scorpions


I know those pictures from somewhere :} 

You can also look to the body size, if you look at the slender body of this emp it's clearly a male.


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## nuclear_zombies (Apr 29, 2007)

I am also quite surprised at how docile the creature is. I was kinda freaked a bit, He has a rather large stinger!! But he exibits minimal defensive behaviour. I've reached right into the tank (the first couple of times with a k-mesh glove for protection, I got mine at an army surplus store for $45 CDN) and scooped him out with no problems. The claw strength is also impressive:clap: :clap: PS- a big thanks to IHeartMantids for the info, which proved to be very fascinating. I am looking to get into scorpions as well, but only the larger docile species.


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## Mr. Mordax (Apr 29, 2007)

nuclear_zombies said:


> a big thanks to IHeartMantids for the info


My pleasure!  

By the way, I too was surpised at how handleable emps are.  I was scared to change the water dish at first, but now I love taking them out to show people.  My female is the most laid-back arachnid I've met, and my male who hates everybody just walks around if you've got him on your hand.

(It's getting him on your hand that's the tricky part -- he tries to look scary with big claws and hissing until you scoop him up from underneath the 'strate :razz


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## HufnPuf (Jun 22, 2007)

*images comparing both sexes...*

for those of us who are visual learners...


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