my emperors are generating food!also racist scorpion.

orkimedies

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
102
my emperors are never hungary for crickets anymore.

food is literally bursting from the soil in thier tank.

a few weeks ago i was watering my scorps late one night when i noticed both my emperor enclosure as well as my forest scorpion tank were full of thousands of tiny crickets.

i have been leaving slices of orange in the tanks for the baby crickets which is nice because i feed them to spiderlings and my baby frogs.

but even before this there have been 3 other types of edible intruders, 4 if you count the wolf spider i watched climb into the emperor tank and then get eaten shortly after.

the first are ordinary sow bugs (isopods) i have no idea how they got in there but they have been popping up from the soil intermitently.
and from what i have seen my scorps love the taste of them.

as well as this there have been these tiny little beetles which i can usually find in my back yard in socal, again i do not know how they came to be however they are no more, digested to the last.

then the last and most annoying are the remnants of superworms (zoophobs) that have spent months in the soil and popped up as darkling beetles.

normally i catch these and let them go as my scorpions have no interest in them, i often find them hiding in the same hole as my scorps sometimes even just hanging out on top of them. they have been steadily appearing often in numbers for the last 3 months or so.

for some reason (forest scorps included) none of my scorpions have ever eaten these beetles or even attacked them, they completely disregard them.

until recently my 2nd smallest emp which i got when it was in it's 3'rd instar, sense it last molted it now kills these beetles on sight but it never eats them, and i have watched time and time again, it is the only scorpion i have that attacks these things, and it does the same thing every time, it pulls thier head off and some times a wing and then just walks away.

these beetles smell much worse than the local stink bugs we have here, a potentil reason these are left alone by the scorpions?

it would make my life easier if they would just eat the damn buggers.
 

Thaedion

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
894
the small little things , (crix babies) could also be spring tails or some type of scavenger bug. The isopods... did you bring any ornament in from the yard without boiling or baking? could of piggybacked to your tank.

I would suggest a complete tank change and bake your old substrate before using it again. You have a small unbalanced ecosystem in there and the results may be undesirable.
 

orkimedies

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
102
no they are deffinately crickets, i looked at them under a magnifying glass and they have grown from pin heads into smaller crix, i brought nothing in from outside.

other then the two that got canibalized in the last 6 months there has been no problem with my emps, the substrate should be good for a while, it is a 50-60 gallon tank that took along time to bake all the substrate the first time.

i also do not like to disturb them because they have constructed a tunnel nearly a foot in length
 

Thaedion

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
894
those were my other thoughts on the matter. Now female crickets can lay hundreds of eggs at a time, they walk around and push their 'bottoms' into the soil and lay eggs.
 

ideas1

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
68
I agree; I dont think its a good idea to grow your crickets where you keep your scorps... but it sounds like you have your mind made up so do as you do
 

Mr. Mordax

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
2,301
If you don't want stinky darkling beetles in your tanks, I'd suggest either moving away from mealworms or tong-feeding to prevent burrowing. Mealworms are great feeders, but I HATE how they burrow. :rolleyes:
 

dylandimig

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Messages
1
Hey yeah, I was wondering since you guys sound pretty good with scorps, what should I buy for my first one? I was thinking Emperor Scorp. but unless you guys think other wise?
 

Urizen

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
63
You need to control your terreriums better. This sounds like it has the startings of disaster.
 

Thaedion

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
894
Hey yeah, I was wondering since you guys sound pretty good with scorps, what should I buy for my first one? I was thinking Emperor Scorp. but unless you guys think other wise?
hello dylandimig.

Not to set you off from posting on AB here, but to post a Question in someone else's thread not related to the topic is bad etiquette, called hijacking. Second before you post please use the search function, search for 'beginner scorpion' or 'first scorpion' etc. you'll find long lists of what experts and enthusiasts recommend. Also keep searching and set up the environment before you bring the scorpion home. :D

cheers
 
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