# Emperor Scorpion heating and feeding questions



## orkimedies (Jan 13, 2007)

hello, firstly, i got my first emperor scorpion 5 days ago, it is an adult male however i have attempted several times to feed him and he always refuses his meal, should  i be worried>?

secondly i have heard that you should not use heat lamps with emperor's as they are nocturnal and do night like the light, i was even told that exposure to it can be fatal to them but  i am having trouble keeping the tank in the desired 70-90 degree range especially at night, i have it set up with a large heat mat on the bottom of the tank and a smaller one on the side of the tank and for very cold nights i have a room heater which i can use but that takes all the humidity out of the tank.

can anyone help  me out here? what is a better way to heat the tank?


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## Brian S (Jan 13, 2007)

orkimedies said:


> hello, firstly, i got my first emperor scorpion 5 days ago, it is an adult male however i have attempted several times to feed him and he always refuses his meal, should  i be worried>?


Nope, thats often the norm



> secondly i have heard that you should not use heat lamps with emperor's as they are nocturnal and do night like the light, i was even told that exposure to it can be fatal to them but  i am having trouble keeping the tank in the desired 70-90 degree range especially at night, i have it set up with a large heat mat on the bottom of the tank and a smaller one on the side of the tank and for very cold nights i have a room heater which i can use but that takes all the humidity out of the tank.
> 
> can anyone help  me out here? what is a better way to heat the tank?


I would put both on the side. If you can heat the entire room that would be better.


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## cheetah13mo (Jan 13, 2007)

Brians right. If you use a heat pad, it's best to have it on the side. Emps will dig to get away from heat and cool off. If the heat pad is underneath, they will (not nowing any better because they run on instinct) cook. Not good.


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## orkimedies (Jan 13, 2007)

*it didnt work*

i tried that...


my tank is 3 feet long and 2.5 feet wide.
i attached the larger heating pad which is about 2 feet wide(by Zoomed) on the back "long" side of the tank 

and i attached my other heating pad which is also by Zoomed but only 8 inches long on the short corner of the tank, however with both these the temperature is hanging around 61.8 degrees, i can raise that by 20 degrees with my room heater but that takes all the moisture out of the tank according to my Hydrometer. what can i do?


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## cheetah13mo (Jan 13, 2007)

Do you have a gravel bed under the substrate? I've got a tube in the corner that goes down to the gravel. Once a week I dump a glass of water down the tube and the substrate doesn't get sooked and the humidity says up for a while.


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## orkimedies (Jan 13, 2007)

i do not have that at the moment, need to go out to home depot and get some tubing tomarrow,  but that still doesnt help my heating problem in a way that i like, i would much rather figure out a way to replace the need for the room's heater as it is impractical to keep that on for long amounts of time.


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## Brian S (Jan 13, 2007)

orkimedies said:


> i can raise that by 20 degrees with my room heater but that takes all the moisture out of the tank according to my Hydrometer. what can i do?


For starters, throw that guage away!!. As long as the substrate stays moist then the humidity is fine.
I would dump about 6-8 inches (at least) of moist peat moss in that tank. Make a plexiglass top then drill holes in the plexiglass. This will keep it from drying out so fast and you can then crank the heat up. When substrate gets dry, flood about 1/2 of it.


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## orkimedies (Jan 13, 2007)

would sand at the bottom of the tank work in place of gravel?


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## yuanti (Jan 14, 2007)

I use a ceramic heat emitter that hangs over the tank to heat the enclosure.  I had my H. Spinifers in there before my centipede but its a lockable critter cage (20 gal). I have a hinged aquarium glass top that I use to cover the locking top so that the humidity stays up 60-80% at all most all times.   The ceramic heat emitter is hanging over the tank by a few inches and keeps the temps around 60+ at night when the temp is low here during the winter (charleston, SC) and its about 80+ during the day.

Using straight coconut fiber right now as the substrate.  I have the enclosure in my bedroom on a dresser so I didnt want to fill the bottom of a glass 20 gal tank with pebbles and water.


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## EAD063 (Jan 14, 2007)

Do you have the tank near a window? I don't understand how your temp can be so low. I have the room temp set ay 73 and a very junky 25 watt heat bulb that I am using as a replacement at the moment and the temp right now is 81. You should also feel your substrate with the back of your hand. Most often the sub will be warmer than the air temperature. If it is comfortable to the touch then it should be suitable.  I would invest in either a ceramic or at least and IR heating bulb.

Ed


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## P.jasonius (Jan 14, 2007)

orkimedies said:


> would sand at the bottom of the tank work in place of gravel?


I use sand in the bottom of mine.  The gravel is probably easier to maintain, though.  I was thinking about switching.


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## orkimedies (Jan 16, 2007)

what is the best way to deploy an Arizona Hot lamp (8.5), and what is the best distance to keep a 100 wat ceramic heat emitter from the top level of substrate?


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## Brian S (Jan 16, 2007)

Get a thermometer and check the temps at varied distances.


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## orkimedies (Jan 16, 2007)

*further problems*

so now i have a 100 wat infra red ceramic heat lamp and a large heating pad to heat my 50 gallon tank but the temperature is still staying at 67.8 degrees, what more can i do?


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## BelfastScorpion (Jan 17, 2007)

I just use ordinary red bulbs.  These don't annoy the scorps because they are red.  A normal white light would certainly annoy them but not a red one.

I have all my bulbs attached to in-line dimmers.  This means I can dim my bulbs down or turn them up.  This then obviously adjusts the temperature as well.

I don't have false bottom setups but I mist the tanks every 3 - 4 days and the humidity seems to stay up.  I have all 8 of my tanks in the one cabinet with a seprate bulb attached to each tank and seperate dimmers for each tank and this seems to keep humidity up on my forest species.  Also if you have a lot of ventalation in your tank, try covering some of it up.  This will help the tank to maintain humidity.

Good luck.

BelfastScorpion.


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## yuanti (Jan 17, 2007)

what is your room temp outside the tank?

Also 50 Gal tank seems a bit big for a single emp.  Make sure you have something to cover the top up so there is less airflow...that way your humidity will stay up. 

The humidity in my 20 gal drops by 15-25% when I take the top off of it


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## kellysaxez (Jun 4, 2014)

Hi. I've discovered a great way to keep temp and humidity up. Cover one third of your tank with a wet, not dripping wet but a good wet, towel and place an IR heat lamp on the other third. Haven't had a problem with temp or humidity since, and don't need any longer to mist all day every day  Good luck


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