First Post/Desert Emps?

ZooRex

Arachnobaron
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Mar 13, 2007
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Wow, finally have the time to post. I've enjoyed par oozing the articles, pics, and links on this unbelievable site! (as well as greatly improving my Latin skills). Years ago I added a Chilean rose to my collection of pets, she's cool but it didn't blow me away. But now I'm gettin back into the hobby and will soon expand my collection of arachnids ten fold.

Anyway, I work at a pet store and over see the reptiles and exotics. Today a huge guy walks in of which everyone but was scared to talk to. I introduce my self and wind up in a conversation about Emps, a species I've read about and am taking care of at the store. The guy obviously knew what he was doing, he told me about his giant male that lived to be 15 (who recently died which is why he bought three more from me) and about his breeding attempts. Then he starts talking about how he only uses only sand with his Emps, and it's worked great for him. I was taken back because I had learned about their need for humidity especially during a molt. What do you guys think about this? Thanks ~ Rex
 

quiz

Arachnoprince
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Maybe his sand is soaking wet and it probably works for him but I wouldn't use sand in my emps enclosure.
 

ZooRex

Arachnobaron
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Nope, I asked him that, He said its dry, and that no other substate wet, moist ect ever worked for him. Strange huh. ~ Rex
 

Mark Newton

Arachnobaron
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Nope, I asked him that, He said its dry, and that no other substate wet, moist ect ever worked for him. Strange huh. ~ Rex
It's not strange at all. I have studied in quite a bit of detail the environmental physiological needs of an Australian desert burrowing scorpion, Urodacus yaschenkoi. I am not a believer of keeping species on anything bar what they have adapted to, as close as possible at least. Of course, not preaching that others should do the same here, my personal choice. One of the reasons why I always study scorpions in the wild before keeping them in captivity.

Our desert scorpions also require humidity to live, ecdyse, bear young etc, humidity around 95% in fact. How does this occur in a location with 200mm of rainfall a year.,. a xeric zone??? Simple, the soil holds water. In 1000g of soil at a depth of 350-400mm you will find about 15g of water in total, which is more than enough to bump the humidity up to 95%. Very little water is needed to saturate an atmosphere, especially in a small volume, adding lots of water is unnecessary and will likely kill the scorpion. I suggest for our species to keep the tank sealed to air loss, but this may not be necessary for the emperor. I'm not sure what sorts of burrows they dig etc. So, even a water dish in an enclosed space will eventually create a saturated atmosphere, and that may be all that is needed.

Ask him if the tank was sealed off to air loss. if not, then it is a bit odd, but if the air loss rate is low it may still be enough to create the necessary RH.
 

Brian S

ArachnoGod
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It sounds to me that guy was blowing alot of smoke. Emperors need a humid environment
 

jamesc

Arachnoknight
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I went into a large chain store, lets just call them PetGo for now since I don't want to say the name. I asked the so called "expert" about them. He explained how they were from a desert climate and could be kept in large groups as they had there housed on sand and a desert setup. I asked him if he happened to have anything like from an African rainforest, something that could be kept more humid. He said no. I then said, "what about these Emperor scorpions from the African rainforest that you have housed wrong" and he just stood there and drooled. Gotta love the "experts" {D
 

kahoy

Arachnoangel
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those experts are one of those fanatics of "the rock"

they "love" watching the movie "scorpion king"

LOL!!!

emps on egypt?
:D
 

Zman16

Arachnoknight
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I went into a large chain store, lets just call them PetGo for now since I don't want to say the name. I asked the so called "expert" about them. He explained how they were from a desert climate and could be kept in large groups as they had there housed on sand and a desert setup. I asked him if he happened to have anything like from an African rainforest, something that could be kept more humid. He said no. I then said, "what about these Emperor scorpions from the African rainforest that you have housed wrong" and he just stood there and drooled. Gotta love the "experts" {D
lol! {D

It seems that many people think that scorpions only come from the desert. Its always fun to shoot down the experts {D . I don't know how emps can survive with only sand.

BTW: I wonder what PetGo stands for. :D
 

Arachno Kid

Arachnoknight
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Jul 26, 2006
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I went into a large chain store, lets just call them PetGo for now since I don't want to say the name. I asked the so called "expert" about them. He explained how they were from a desert climate and could be kept in large groups as they had there housed on sand and a desert setup. I asked him if he happened to have anything like from an African rainforest, something that could be kept more humid. He said no. I then said, "what about these Emperor scorpions from the African rainforest that you have housed wrong" and he just stood there and drooled. Gotta love the "experts" {D
Tcha, I have been wanting to do that for a while, lucky.


Anyways, Dont belive everything from a petstore, I kept my anoles on SAND for 2 years cause of them, which is probally why they died,.

Ask this forum for anything scorp related and you will get the answer.
 

EAD063

Arachnoprince
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I saw some good ones while getting a brick of cocoa fiber. Out of the 8 enclosures they had live repltiles and a couple amphibians in, I saw 3, that required high humidity, all the rest were labeled LOW humidity. But the worker took the liberty of flooding every single enclosure to the point where there was full condensation on every tank. Those "long-tailed" lizzards, the ones that have a tail like 3x the size of the body, well they all had nubs for tails so I assume that means terrible husbandry. I wanted to snap a picture butI don't have a camera phone and I don't think they'd appriciate me stepping back and focusing with a real camera to get a good pic of they're poor setups.

So goes to show, even with care requirements right in front of their eyes, people still can't get it right. As for an emperor on sand...well you could keep a monkey alive on ice, but how healthy would that be.
 

EAD063

Arachnoprince
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which monkeys?

the "experts"?
{D
Okay so the example was a little extreme. :razz: . Hey kahoy, by the way, I was watching some show and I think they called a kahoy (if I heard it right) this giant sea mammal which eats vegatation. Is that where your name comes from or did I just head it wrong?
 
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