Emperor Scorpion heating and feeding questions

orkimedies

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
102
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?
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
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.
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
2,151
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.
 

orkimedies

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
102
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?
 

cheetah13mo

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
2,151
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.
 

orkimedies

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
102
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.
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
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.
 

yuanti

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
134
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. ;)
 

EAD063

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
Messages
1,415
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
 

orkimedies

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
102
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?
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2004
Messages
6,526
Get a thermometer and check the temps at varied distances.
 

orkimedies

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
102
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?
 

BelfastScorpion

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
May 21, 2004
Messages
152
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.
 

yuanti

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
134
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 ;)
 

kellysaxez

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
109
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
 
Top