Feeding Confirmation

[Gorgon]

Sorry if I missed this elsewhere; also, this is my first official post on the Forums:

Should I be feeding my young female Emperor Scorpion in her habitat? I've got a lot of Spaghnum moss in there on top of the washed gravel and it's really hard to tell if she's downed any pinhead crickets since they're so small. Should I just monitor her weight and be alarmed only if she loses weight?

She's currently only at 6 grams and I believe she's about 9 months old.

 

[GordoOldman]

I should think at 9 grams you could be utilizing larger prey items than pinheads.

 

[Gorgon]

I should think at 9 grams you could be utilizing larger prey items than pinheads.

Thank you, GordoOldman -- I appreciate the reply.

She's actually at 6 grams but yeah I've always been a little concerned about her as her appetite never seemed very ravenous and she's always seemed a little timid about prey. So it's seemed like anything bigger than a pinhead scares her. But if you think I should go a size up, then I'll do that. This is my first scorpion, after all. (Her name's Deimos.)

Plus, the guy at the pet store I got her from told me a very different (and probably very wrong) way to keep her habitat; compared to the one here at least: https://arachnoboards.com/threads/basic-emperor-scorpion-p-imperator-care.11336/

I trust the above post by SkinheadDave a lot more than the guy at the pet store since the latter told me he hasn't had very much experience with scorpions. But I only found this forum 2 1/2 months after I had Deimos so for all I know her environment was suppressing her appetite. Her humidity was probably only half of what it should have been for that time so I think this is likely.

I *have* seen her with prey in her chelicerae -- just not actively chewing. (She would move into a hide when she had prey.) That was in the old habitat though. I haven't seen her eat yet in the new habitat but I've only had this new one going for 2 weeks.

Another thing is thing is I've never seen her shed. How is this possible after having her for 3 months? Did I just miss it somehow? Do they shed like snakes? (I have a good deal of experience with snakes. I had 2 Royal Pythons and 1 Jungle Carpet Python before moving out here to Albuquerque. Now I just have 1 Jungle Carpet.)

I have some pictures coming up that will hopefully make some things a bit clearer...

 

[GordoOldman]

Definitely folloq the advice by skimheaddave on set up there...

You could try chopping up mealworms or crickets and placing them on a deli lid in the enclosure...youngsters often will sneak around in the dark and scavenge.

 

[Gorgon]

Definitely follow the advice by skimheaddave on set up there...

Yes, definitely following his advice to a "t".

You could try chopping up mealworms or crickets and placing them on a deli lid in the enclosure...youngsters often will sneak around in the dark and scavenge.

Thank you -- I'll try this as well.

As for the photos, here's her old enclosure that I used for the first 2 1/2 months I had her. It was a black plastic tub with ~8 gallon capacity. I used a mixture of Zoo Med coconut fiber and Zoo Med fir bark for the substrate. The hides are little black plastic enclosures of differing sizes with an average size of about 2" x 2" x .75". Each of them has a tiny opening just wide enough for her to get through. To provide additional cover, I used paper towel pieces and bent them over the branch.

 

[Gorgon]

And this is her new enclosure. I have a 10-gallon aquarium with a 1"-high cover of washed gravel on the bottom. (I know - it needs to be 2"-high so I'm getting her more right away.) On top of that is a thick layer of spaghnum moss. She has the same small hides from the old enclosure with an additional larger subenclosure (also black plastic) on the left side of the tank. it's about 1/5 the size of the aquarium and within it is more gravel and spaghnum moss as well as an additional water pool (like the one on the right) and 2 of the small plastic hides in the corners. A slightly larger pool is outside the enclosure (visible from the photos) and 2 more of the small plastic hides are in the other 2 corners you can see covered with gravel.

I keep the humidity ~75% with the temp ~95°F on the right and ~85°F on the left during the day. At night, the enclosure is about 75°F to 80°F throughout and the humidity stays roughly the same. I just prefer to have a day and night setting for her so it's not incessantly hot all the time. Is this a good idea?

 

[Gorgon]

This is her in my hand about a month ago and there are also 2 shots (wide and close) of where she chose to hide today. (Her first time choosing this spot.) She's under part of a branch and some moss and you can see the condensation from the spaghnum moss on the glass in the close-up.

 

[Gorgon]

So, the questions are:

[1] Is it ok to have the day/night cycle I mentioned above? (I keep the humidity ~75% with the temp ~95°F on the right and ~85°F on the left during the day. At night, the enclosure is about 75°F to 80°F throughout and the humidity stays roughly the same.)

[2] Does the setup look alright in general and conducive to healthy feeding?

(By the way, I didn't choose the rainbow-colored gravel purposefully. (I have nice, blue-colored gravel on order.) I chose it because it was the smallest-grain gravel my pet store had and, given Deimos' (relatively) small size, I wanted her to be able to burrow into it easily.)

Thank you guys very much in advance (particularly you, GordoOldman) for any further help you can offer.

 

[Dr SkyTower]

It can take a while for them to become accustomed to their new enclosure and they may or may not feed during that time. They can easily go without feeding for months. They do like to burrow so if she has enough substrate to burrow into (or a hide that she can lurk in) she'll feel safer and may not be so timid if you put bigger prey in there. She's an ambush predator so she'll sit at the mouth of her burrow (all you'll see of her is her claws sitting at the entrance - a sign she's hungry!) and wait for prey to walk right into her pinchy embrace! And the new enclosure looks much better than her old one!

 

[Gorgon]

It can take a while for them to become accustomed to their new enclosure and they may or may not feed during that time. They can easily go without feeding for months. They do like to burrow so if she has enough substrate to burrow into (or a hide that she can lurk in) she'll feel safer and may not be so timid if you put bigger prey in there. She's an ambush predator so she'll sit at the mouth of her burrow (all you'll see of her is her claws sitting at the entrance - a sign she's hungry!) and wait for prey to walk right into her pinchy embrace! And the new enclosure looks much better than her old one!

Thank you very much for that, Dr. SkyTower. I just caught her tonight trying to burrow on top of one of her sides so I picked her up and showed her that it was already dug. I'm installing another burrow within the next 5 days.

When I picked her up, she was very sprightly so I'm thinking that's a good thing. I've also seen her just with pedipalps out from within a burrow -- and that's a good thing as well, by your account, which I trust.

I used to have a phobia of large insects but I've never been afraid of arachnids. I was surprised that I can actually "pet" her by stroking the top of her abdomen -- and she seems to like it!

Thank you again for your reply -- trust that I take it to heart! I love Deimos very much and she's now part of my family, which consists of German Shepherd, Jungle Carpet Python, and Scorpion -- all ladies!