Emperor scorpion trouble catching food?

[Tarantula1996]

Hello, I'm a bit new to owning scorpions and I've noticed my emperor scorpion takes a while compared to my tarantula to catch prey. It usually will struggle to catch the crickets with its claws and sometimes I will see later he killed the cricket and ate it finally but now most of the time, I see the cricket wondering the cage after a day and then I take it out. I fed him last night with the cricket with tweezers and it worked. Any suggestions or just let it do its thing?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Smokehound714]

all scorpions can be like this, particularly if old and their trichobothria are worn down or caked with dust, making it hard for them to detect exactly where their prey is.

smashing their heads will keep crickets alive while stopping them from moving or attacking your scorp. this is why you often see scorpions acting really weird, their instinct is to preserve these bristles so they can be very cautious about their prey fighting back. sure, a cricket cant easily kill a healthy large scorpion, but they can bite off trichobothria and reduce hunting ability.

 

[Collin Clary]

They do far better with larger prey. You may want to consider switching to roaches. They're quite capable of catching crickets when necessary, however if they're not particularly hungry they usually don't put a whole lot of effort into it.

 

[zyphonix223]

My Emp cannot/will not eat crickets or worms; so I had to go to catching large spiders (I was getting really desperate) which she ate. I wish we had roaches but they're illegal here.

 

[NMWAPBT]

As others have said try larger slower prey. I usually tong feed my emps! This seems to work for both of them and I can keep track of their eating habits. Mine will usually take multiple prey items in a single sitting! Good luck!

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

My Emp cannot/will not eat crickets or worms; so I had to go to catching large spiders (I was getting really desperate) which she ate. I wish we had roaches but they're illegal here.

That sucks, you might have to go a more gruesome route maybe try anoles or pinkies. You can try frozen pinkies by thawing them out thoroughly. If it refuses a thawed frozen pinky, then flush it (cant refreeze them again oh well lost a $1 or $2) and try live.

 

[Willa]

Mine is stupid. Had to do prekilled for a while before moving to tong feeding. If it is hungry, it'll get moving.

 

[Ncshooter]

My emperor will let crickets walk near him, around him... over him. He doesn't care at all. You dangle a superworm near him and he is on super quick. He'll actually start going after the tongs trying to get to them, sometimes I just drop them near him and he'll start feeling around to discover them. But yeah, he won't eat a cricket no matter what.

 

[FrankiePinchinatti]

My emperor will let crickets walk near him, around him... over him. He doesn't care at all. You dangle a superworm near him and he is on super quick. He'll actually start going after the tongs trying to get to them, sometimes I just drop them near him and he'll start feeling around to discover them. But yeah, he won't eat a cricket no matter what.

Haha, that's the exact opposite of my experience. They had been on crickets their whole lives and I tried giving them a superworm one day for a change and they actually seemed afraid of it, just waving their claws around like "get the hell away from me!". I think I have a video somewhere but not sure if you can upload those here.

 

[Ncshooter]

Haha, that's the exact opposite of my experience. They had been on crickets their whole lives and I tried giving them a superworm one day for a change and they actually seemed afraid of it, just waving their claws around like "get the hell away from me!". I think I have a video somewhere but not sure if you can upload those here.

My AFS is like that. She's like "WHAT IS THAT AHHHHHH" and bails. She only wants to hunt too, crickets are her deal.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

That sucks, you might have to go a more gruesome route maybe try anoles or pinkies. You can try frozen pinkies by thawing them out thoroughly. If it refuses a thawed frozen pinky, then flush it (cant refreeze them again oh well lost a $1 or $2) and try live.

Why the facepalm reaction? His Emp refused crickets and worms, roaches are illegal in his parts. Resorting to wild caught spiders is dangerous due to pathogens and parasites. Maybe thawed frozen pinky mouse will work if it doesn't maybe a live lizard or live pinky mouse will.

 

[zyphonix223]

Ok my Emp started eating. I pre killed crickets and worms and left them in the cave; they were gone the next day.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

Ok my Emp started eating. I pre killed crickets and worms and left them in the cave; they were gone the next day.

Congrats! Yeah it takes alittle experimenting to get a feeding response from fussy scorpions.