# Emperor Scorpion not going out of it's hide! :(



## Quinquangular (Jun 2, 2013)

For the past 3 or so days I haven't seen it at night or out of it's hide.
I fed it a mealworm today by lifting up the piece of wood and getting my tongs. It's a 5+ inch burrow and I had to dig deep. It grabbed it and I guess it ate it, and I put it back on top.
I caught a little crane fly and attempted to feed my emp as a variety of food. The substrate like fell on the scorpion and I frantically used my tongs to pick up the substrate and move it off of it.. I think I really stressed it out. It's was defensive with it's claws grabbing and then having them hold together like protecting his 'face'.

Will it be okay? I cleaned out the substrate from the hide... I hope that stress of moving the substrate around and poking it on accident a few times didn't... Annoy it so much to cause death.
Anyways. How can I feed my emp if it's never out of it's hide. I want it to get out of it's hide more and search for food. Should I get like a food bowl and cut the legs off of mealworms and dubia roaches and put one of each in a bowl so it can hunt?

I'm worried that it might die.. Since the claws are towards it's face and it can be a death position. Or a defensive position?
Idk. Oh dear. Gahhh.

Edit: This is the last time I'm going to take out the log to hide it. I'm too scared of stressing it out anymore and/or colapse the substrate on it. I'm afraid to hurt or stress it anymore.. I just wanted to feed it and now I probably stressed it out a LOT from poking it and taking off substrate over the scorpion.

---------- Post added 06-02-2013 at 03:34 PM ----------

And...
Another question:
Can I catch insects in my front/back yard? I KNOW that my front and back yard arne't treated with any chemicals. There are plenty of weeds in my front and backyard, so it's obvious and I also asked my parents. I want to add variety to my scorpions diet! And, I can maybe catch a cricket or a grasshopper from my back yard or in my wood pile, so I can let it get some food it can chase. Since all I have are a growing mealworm colony and only 23 ish dubia roach nyphs. Not even adults!


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## AzJohn (Jun 2, 2013)

They like to hide and can go a long time without eating. I might see one of my emps out and about once a week. I have 4. Read this thread in the sticky section above. http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?11336-Basic-emperor-scorpion-(P.-imperator)-care. Follow the advice found in the thread and let the scorpion alone for a while. They are not a hand pet that enjoys your attention. If you are doing a good job caring for them, you'll wont see them often.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 2, 2013)

If your scorpion is hungry, it will come out and catch it's food. Most Pandinus imperators stay hidden for long periods of time and don't eat for months on end. AzJohn is correct,  and the link has great info.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Quinquangular (Jun 2, 2013)

Okay thanks guys!
I'll just stop messing with it I guess. 
I read that already a lot and followed most of the guidelines.
Already set up a false bottom, covered the top to maintain humidity, and such.

I'm just curious now on what to do with the food. I'd rather prefer a more natural and mixed up diet of some insects. 
Nothing around my house is treated with pesticides or anything related to that, so would it be alright if I caught some grasshoppers or crickets (these black crickets I find occasionally under the firewood pile next to our fence) from my backyard to feed it once a month or so?
I would like to give it some variety.

The emp doesn't seem to react to anything like blowing on it. But, I'll leave it be for now on. Hopefully I see it out at night.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 2, 2013)

Don't feed it anything from outside because even if it doesn't have pesticides, it could still have parasites that would harm your scorpion. You could try raising your own crickets by raising crickets, raising roaches, raising mealworms, etc.

Reactions: Agree 2 | Informative 1


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## Quinquangular (Jun 2, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> Don't feed it anything from outside because even if it doesn't have pesticides, it could still have parasites that would harm your scorpion. You could try raising your own crickets by raising crickets, raising roaches, raising mealworms, etc.


I have like 22 dubia roach nymphs growing, and I have a mealworm colony growing with like 7 pupae/alien looking things, and already 1 small beetle that recently molted.

Isn't raising crickets loud, smelly, and they eat a lot of food... Ugh. -_-
I would do it if necessary, but. It's just so much of that strong nasty smell I can't smell. People say that.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 2, 2013)

Quinquangular said:


> I have like 22 dubia roach nymphs growing, and I have a mealworm colony growing with like 7 pupae/alien looking things, and already 1 small beetle that recently molted.
> 
> Isn't raising crickets loud, smelly, and they eat a lot of food... Ugh. -_-
> I would do it if necessary, but. It's just so much of that strong nasty smell I can't smell. People say that.


How big are the dubia nymphs? When a female matures, I notice that more than one male will mature with her. Once you start seeing males, use those as feeders only. I would recommend buying some adults if possible, however.

I wouldn't use the mealworms at all until there are enough adults and young.

You could buy crickets at a store, and then keep them in a critter keeper until they are fed off or die. If you buy a bunch, you won't have to go to the store constantly.


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## Quinquangular (Jun 2, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> How big are the dubia nymphs? When a female matures, I notice that more than one male will mature with her. Once you start seeing males, use those as feeders only. I would recommend buying some adults if possible, however.
> 
> I wouldn't use the mealworms at all until there are enough adults and young.
> 
> You could buy crickets at a store, and then keep them in a critter keeper until they are fed off or die. If you buy a bunch, you won't have to go to the store constantly.


Probably an inch or so. Like 3-6 of them are like that. The rest are fairly insignificant in length.
:/
I won't use any mealworms then. And I guess I'll try to scrap up some money to get some dubia's online.

Any places you recommend? Last place I got them from was Backwaterreptiles. Bad reviews from what I read on the site, but the dubias came fine with NO adults. I might buy the 25 adults from them, if I can't find a better and/or cheaper place.

Thanks!
I looked at my emp with my black light for a second and it moved positions. So. It's not dead. I guess. Lol. Thank god. Ahh. Last time I mess with it.

For future reference, by the way,. What if I need to replace or clean out my tank? How will I remove my emp from the long hide it made under my log? It won't easily come out, lol. Such a long tunnel! I think next time I'm going to do at least 5 inches of substrate because the tunnel he made hit the mesh and I'm glad I put it there for the false bottom!

Edit: I'll stop by my /crappy/ LPS and get like 10 crickets. Would that be substantial for a colony to begin with?
Can't I just like rip up a cardboard egg carton or a few of those and scatter them around with a water bowl with cricket quencher and some food like cereal?


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 2, 2013)

I don't think I'm allowed to mention sellers here, so go to the second online dealer in the reviews section . 

You could keep the crickets like that, but if you put substrate, you might get some young.

As for cleaning, I think that is only a need be if you have a infestation of mites, mold, ants, or any other harmful animal. If you want to though, you could just remove all the decorations and then dig him out, but I don't plan on changing any of my scorpion's substrates.


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## Formerphobe (Jun 2, 2013)

AzJohn said:


> They like to hide and can go a long time without eating. I might see one of my emps out and about once a week. I have 4. Read this thread in the sticky section above. http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?11336-Basic-emperor-scorpion-(P.-imperator)-care. Follow the advice found in the thread and let the scorpion alone for a while. They are not a hand pet that enjoys your attention. If you are doing a good job caring for them, you'll wont see them often.


This is excellent advice.  Especially:
_Read this thread in the sticky section above. http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?11336-Basic-emperor-scorpion-(P.-imperator)-care
Follow the advice found in the thread and let the scorpion alone for a while._

Re: wild caught prey - No.  Even if your family uses no insecticides in your yard, your neighbors may.  And bugs don't recognize property lines.

None of my scorpions have been particularly fond of roaches of any kind, preferring crickets, mealworms or superworms.  Some scorpions may have different food preferences.

Above all, you need to *leave your scorpion alone*.  The more you muck around with it, the more stressed it will be and less inclined to eat.  The more stressed it is, the higher the likelihood of an early demise.
Let it establish a burrow and get comfortable.  Once it has established its burrow, drop a prey item or two at the mouth of the burrow once a week.  Do not dig out the scorpion to offer it food.

I see my adult animals multiple times per day in their burrow entrances, and some of the juveniles and babies are almost always out and about.  They have established burrows and routines and the only time I open their enclosures is to feed and water every weekend.  I don't even clean their enclosures.  
The reason I see them so often is because I leave them alone.  I give them no reason to feel the need to hide.  
Scorpions are not interactive pets.


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## shebeen (Jun 3, 2013)

Quinquangular said:


> Edit: I'll stop by my /crappy/ LPS and get like 10 crickets. Would that be substantial for a colony to begin with?
> Can't I just like rip up a cardboard egg carton or a few of those and scatter them around with a water bowl with cricket quencher and some food like cereal?


Quick Guide to Breeding Crickets


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## Hassanakbar (Oct 7, 2021)

ShredderEmp said:


> If your scorpion is hungry, it will come out and catch it's food. Most Pandinus imperators stay hidden for long periods of time and don't eat for months on end. AzJohn is correct,  and the link has great info.


Do u know about scorpions for sale ?


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## darkness975 (Oct 10, 2021)

Hassanakbar said:


> Do u know about scorpions for sale ?


Check the classifieds.  This is not the place to inquire about that.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Albireo Wulfbooper (Oct 12, 2021)

Hassanakbar said:


> Do u know about scorpions for sale ?





darkness975 said:


> Check the classifieds.  This is not the place to inquire about that.


especially not on an 8 year old thread

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Ti1220 (Jan 2, 2022)

Quinquangular said:


> I have like 22 dubia roach nymphs growing, and I have a mealworm colony growing with like 7 pupae/alien looking things, and already 1 small beetle that recently molted.
> 
> Isn't raising crickets loud, smelly, and they eat a lot of food... Ugh. -_-
> I would do it if necessary, but. It's just so much of that strong nasty smell I can't smell. People say that.


For crickets it's not as bad as you think just drop some oranges or potatoes. For the smell  I don't know but I don't have that problem. Flukers has some good orange cricket food,water and vitamins all in one.


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## Joey Spijkers (Jan 3, 2022)

Ti1220 said:


> For crickets it's not as bad as you think just drop some oranges or potatoes. For the smell  I don't know but I don't have that problem. Flukers has some good orange cricket food,water and vitamins all in one.


Again, this thread is 8 years old.


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## Ti1220 (Jan 3, 2022)

Joey Spijkers said:


> Again, this thread is 8 years old.


Dang didn't even notice that


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