# Emperor Scorpion Will Not Eat



## Scorpionidad (Feb 13, 2014)

I've had my emperor scorpion for six months and she will not eat. She drinks water though, but will not acknowledge and actively chase prey. I heard that this species of scorpion has a hibernation period but six months?! I'm open to suggestions thank you!


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## ShredderEmp (Feb 13, 2014)

They don't hibernate, but they are known for fasting that long. They usually don't chase prey but instead will wait until it runs by their tunnel. All you can really do is make sure they are kept correctly and feed until they eat.


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## CptPV (Feb 15, 2014)

No there is no hibernation period. Do not be alarmed this is totally normal for Emperors and actually happens often. If they are overfed at one point then they can tend to not eat for very long periods of time or another possibility is she is preparing for to molt!  Do not try to force feed it as that can cause stress and even damage it if it is very close to a molt with will result in a failed molt and death  So just leave at least one small pinhead cricket in there for a few days at a time and then replace it after 3-5 days if it still hasn't eaten it. **** If you see it beginning to molt take any other live insects or animals out of the tank with it because they are very vulnerable during molt and even a cricket, if large enough, will try to eat it after a molt!! DO NOT put any live things back into the tank with it until it has fully hardened in its brand new molt


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## Scorpionidad (Feb 16, 2014)

OK thanks guys. She may just be fasting and could just as well be on her way to molting. I wonder, does the soil have to be moist? Especially before a molt? I appreciate it.


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## ShredderEmp (Feb 16, 2014)

For Pandinus imperator the soil should always be moist, but the top layer can be drier than the substrate below. Make sure they have access to water though.


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## Scorpionidad (Feb 16, 2014)

CptPV said:


> No there is no hibernation period. Do not be alarmed this is totally normal for Emperors and actually happens often. If they are overfed at one point then they can tend to not eat for very long periods of time or another possibility is she is preparing for to molt!  Do not try to force feed it as that can cause stress and even damage it if it is very close to a molt with will result in a failed molt and death  So just leave at least one small pinhead cricket in there for a few days at a time and then replace it after 3-5 days if it still hasn't eaten it. **** If you see it beginning to molt take any other live insects or animals out of the tank with it because they are very vulnerable during molt and even a cricket, if large enough, will try to eat it after a molt!! DO NOT put any live things back into the tank with it until it has fully hardened in its brand new molt


Thanks, I was thinking about force feeding her but now I won't. Back in '05 I found a scorpion at a pet shop that was on the brink of death; it was a large one and wouldn't move much. The pet shop let me take it home for free so I took it and force fed it fresh cricket guts until she came too. I saved that scorpion's life and felt pretty good. That is why I wasn't sure if I should force feed my current scorpion or not. I will just keep the substrate moist and leave a water bowl for her. She likes to gorge herself on the water. My flat rock scorpion is doing great; she eats crickets, roams the cage and drinks and lets me hold her. That's probably another reason I was worried was because I was comparing two different species of scorpions.


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## ShredderEmp (Feb 16, 2014)

CptPV, you can't force feed a scorpion in premolt. They won't eat no matter what. While it is true that crickets re documented attacking molting scorpions, not all insects will do that. For example, Blaptica dubia roaches will try to avoid a scorpion no matter what because they know it is a predator. Also, stress doesn't always result in bad molts. Most scorpions are always in some level of stress. Bad molts often come from the exuviae splitting in the wrong spot, but death does sometimes happen for other reasons.


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## KDiiX (Feb 17, 2014)

ShredderEmp said:


> CptPV, you can't force feed a scorpion in premolt. They won't eat no matter what. While it is true that crickets re documented attacking molting scorpions, not all insects will do that. For example, Blaptica dubia roaches will try to avoid a scorpion no matter what because they know it is a predator. Also, stress doesn't always result in bad molts. Most scorpions are always in some level of stress. Bad molts often come from the exuviae splitting in the wrong spot, but death does sometimes happen for other reasons.


aaah, that's not really true... i really really doubt that B.dubia "knows" scorpions are predators and that's why they don't feed on fresh molted. Because dubias aren't afraid of stepping on or running above scorpions that won't eat at the moment. If they know that the scorpion would be a predator than they wouldn't do that. The reason why there is a big difference between dubia and crickets is that cricket are carnivorous/cannibalistic and B.dubia are "vegetarian". Of course even B.dubia will feed on dead insects or other weak insects if its necessary to survive for example they haven't had water and food for long time.

Force feeding scorpions is pretty much senseless. A scorpion will die of dehydration long time before he starves. That means that a scorpion is super stressed be trying to force feed but may still not have eaten or recharged the hydration level. So a force "watering" would be the only thing that makes sense if you thing a scorpion might die because of to less care. Therefore just let some drops of water drop between the cheliceres. You may put the scorpion for some days in a small box with moist paper towels as "substrate" and repeat dropping water between the cheliceres every couple of hours. If that wasn't to late the scorpion will recover soon and will hunt for itself after some days of hydration


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## ShredderEmp (Feb 17, 2014)

Well when you have antennas that detect chemicals, I'm sure there is some sort of process that distinguishes whether it is living or not. They may not "know" with a human-like thought process, but there has to be some way of telling whether it is food, a mate, a predator, etc. I don't think dubias can be "afraid". It's more will I live or not.


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## KDiiX (Feb 18, 2014)

ShredderEmp said:


> Well when you have antennas that detect chemicals, I'm sure there is some sort of process that distinguishes whether it is living or not. They may not "know" with a human-like thought process, but there has to be some way of telling whether it is food, a mate, a predator, etc. I don't think dubias can be "afraid". It's more will I live or not.


as i said they just prefer other food as long as they get other food. If they could decide by the antennas if a scorpion is a predator they wouldn't step on his back etc. If afraid was the correct word I've choosen? I don't know, but B.dubia prefers to be vegetarian, that why they don't feed on other molted roaches or dead ones or other molting insect (btw they wouldn't eat a fresh molted cricket either, so if you wpuld be right they think the cdicket is also predator) as long as they don't need to eat. So theirs actually no guarantee that dubia never will feed on a molted scorpion even if its really unlikely.


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