Pandinus Imperator Intermediate-Advanced Care Tips?

[Chambord]

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since my first post but Arachnoboards has been invaluable to me for data collection! I'm in the process of planning a bioactive emperor scorpion ecosystem terrarium. I'd like to mimic the west African habitat that they inhabit and have a ton of plants from the region leftover from a previous project actually. First of all, I was wondering if anyone had stumbled across this site/paper: http://www.continentalneoichnology.org/organisms/pandinus-imperator/traces/ (Hembree 2014).

It's a pretty detailed description of many fossorial species burrowing habits, and I thought it would be useful for the board. I wanted some anecdotal confirmation as well as having some peer reviewed literature about the substrate depth. It looks like the deepest burrows for Pandinus imperator that the Hembree team cited was 30cm, but that seems to be an outlier with more typical burrows being around 10-15cm deep. What has been everyone's experience with burrow depth of their emps?

My second question is a diet related question. I have scoured the internet for any literature that actually cites or reports a emperor scorpion feeding on termites in the wild. Although I see TONS of anecdotal reports that they live in termite mounds, it seems like an actual study of emperor scorpion gut contents has never been conducted. Even accredited sources like zoos that state that emperor scorpions 'eat termites' I haven't been able to locate a single source or study for that, and would greatly appreciate it if someone could confirm this before I start a termite farm LOL.

My last question was related to breeding as I'd love to get a breeding pair! The following article; https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzbu...ocId/3978/file/Mahsberg_Brood_care_family.pdf

Is a research paper from the 90s about correlation between presence of the juveniles from the mother's. It looks like the research points to approximately 200 days being the optimal time for separation from the mother. At least within the scope of the research. What has everyone else's experience been?

I've had a blast doing all this research for the emp I plan on getting soon, but I would appreciate any other tips! I plan on stocking the bioactive tanks with the following species of isopods and any tips on cohabbing with scorpions and whether it's even a good idea would be greatly appreciated! Lots of conflicting information about that as well haha.

Cubaris murina
Porcellionides pruinosus

 

[Diao]

Thank you for sharing those links, that type of information is perfect for hobbyists and researchers alike. I'll touch on the housing and burrowing topic first since that one is relevant to all keepers of Pandinus.

In my experience, almost all fossorial species of scorpions that I have kept and allowed deep enough substrate to burrow have made the helical burrow type mentioned in the article. The only time I see burrows dug out in a completely straight line is when it seems that the individual digging simply ran out of space in their enclosure. I would guess that given ample substrate depth the majority of animals would dig a burrow with at least some kind of bend or angle at some point of the tunnel. These days I have more animals and even less space than I did in previous years, so my enclosures typically provide 2"-6" of substrate, and I find that the Pandinus I currently keep still dig, but its making something more of a scrape under a provided hide than a proper burrow. They will sometimes start a burrow, but run out of room before barely even being started. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's with more space and time I experimented with deep containers (24") to provide enough substrate to allow burrowing, and other than for research purposes, its really ends up being more of a pain in the ass than anything else. I say that, because they WILL burrow, and when down that deep, you have zero control over anything, and digging them up for whatever various reasons is time consuming and a mess. Now if you are just keeping a single individual or group and don't have any other animals to worry about then I suppose I could see being arsed to do it maybe to see how different age individuals/groups prepare burrows throughout development. Also, if you plan on keeping a breeding pair, then allowing for deep burrowing can really complicate things when you have fresh young to keep track of with the mother. I did this with a Heterometrus silenus, and the mother gave birth in her burrow and didn't come out until the babies were 2i. The young will at times try to dig off their own little "side" burrows off the mom's main burrow, and can end up accidentally trapping themselves and you'd never know they were even gone. So, long way to say is that with a breeding pair I don't recommend giving super deep substrate like that.

Which leads to the second article topic of keeping young with the mother and their natural diet. I too have heard tale of Pandinus imperator living in termite mounds in the wild and consuming termites as a primary food source, and I'm sure it happens, but I doubt its the primary mode of existence for the whole species. I know Gigantometrus swammerdami also makes use of termite mounts for shelter and food source, so this might just be a common among larger scorpions living in areas where you'd run into termite mounds. The second article makes mention of millipede remains being seen in the living areas of wild Pandinus imperator, and I have read that on multiple occasions that they seems to quite enjoy eating millipedes, so perhaps some research into the most common/widespread millipede species of western Africa would be a good start. Other than that, I would say dubia roaches would still be the best bet based on how easy it is to maintain a colony for feeding purposes. I know my Pandinus and Gigantometrus definitely prefer crickets to roaches, and will happily stuff down a dozen crickets before eating one larger sized roach, so perhaps preference is based on the ease of subduing/consuming the meal rather than the meal itself. However, I do find that my Heterometrus spinifer young and adults have zero preference, and will scavenge pieces of dubias I cut up exactly the same as chasing down a cricket, makes no difference. If you don't mind a bit more work, I would also highly recommend super worms as a feeder. Pandinus imperator seem to love eating super worms, but they are a bit more time consuming to maintain a colony of for feeders, but still relatively simple. That would be my first recommendation if you don't mind the extra work.

Lastly, with breeding, I highly recommend keeping the young with the mother as long as possible. I've raised loads of broods of Pandininae and Heterometrinae by keeping the young with the mother, and it is always the easiest and most successful option of rearing baby scorpions. The mother's will actively catch and disseminate prey to the young, and I've even seen the juvenile Gigantometrus swammerdami preening each other. I've also seen that the young of Pandininae and Heterometrinae will scavenge and consume each others molts, even going to far as to fight over them. If you end up with a brood I would absolutely plan on keeping them with the mom throughout their development as long as possible. Offer multiple hiding spots, and if later on you start to notice individuals breaking off from the group (maybe 4th instar and above) then its always an option to simply remove and place those in their own enclosures if needed.

Great first post! Keep us updated on.your status if you end up with a pair, cheers!

P.S. As far as bioactive enclosures go, I just keep various springtails and dwarf white isopods (Trichorhina tomentosa) in with all my non-desert scorpions.

 

[MorbidArachnid]

Great info! Did you notice any difference in things like stress/longevity for the emps that were allowed deep burrows vs shallow burrows vs scrapes? And I didn't realize scorpions would eat their molts at all, was that just the babies or have you seen adults do this too? And any issues with keeping dwarf whites with them? I usually don't recommend isopods, esp dwarf whites because of how prolific and voracious they are, but admittedly I've been basing this recommendation off of what other people have said about them eating animals during a molt, I haven't keep them together myself.

 

[Diao]

Great info! Did you notice any difference in things like stress/longevity for the emps that were allowed deep burrows vs shallow burrows vs scrapes?

I couldn't say how it could effect the longevity of the individuals, I didn't end up keeping them in the deep substrate enclosures long since it was such a pain to keep track of them, clean, etc, when they are down that deep. About a year, maybe? They were definitely happy to dig, though.

And I didn't realize scorpions would eat their molts at all, was that just the babies or have you seen adults do this too?

The oldest individual I've seen doing this was i6, and that was a Gigantometrus swammerdami. I have, however, seen this behavior mostly from species from higher humidity environments, although that might not be the determining factor causing the behavior. Other than Gigantometrus swammerdami, I've seen it in Heterometrus spinifer (Malaysian locality) and Pandinus imperator (Sierra Leone locailty). The Pandinus imperator I kept years ago (ones that were almost assuredly savannah form) I never actually personally watched exhibiting this behavior, but there were times I found pieces of molts that could very well have been partially consumed when I wasn't around. I was also much more diligent about removing the molts from their enclosure than I have been with the forest forms I have now, so they didn't have much time to be taken/eaten.

And any issues with keeping dwarf whites with them? I usually don't recommend isopods, esp dwarf whites because of how prolific and voracious they are, but admittedly I've been basing this recommendation off of what other people have said about them eating animals during a molt, I haven't keep them together myself.

No issues, but I've tried to be careful about adding them to enclosures with smaller/younger individuals, as I, too, have heard they can be problematic, but I haven't run into any issues so far. I have found that the combination of springtails with the isopods is the magic combo for outcompeting pesky mites but also not letting the springtails get to insane levels in really humid environments. But, as they say, everything is OK until it isn't, so don't take my success so far as a hard and fast rule. I've had to deal with some headaches keeping H. spinifer properly hydrated over the years and this is the best method I've found to being able to keep my enclosures full of babies at the right humidity levels while keeping all the nastiness that comes with moist/wet containers at bay. Lesser of two evils, I suppose.

 

[Chambord]

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed response! I was able to recently procure 3 young individuals (photos coming soon!) that are approximately 2in telson to pedipalp, around 2 weeks ago.

So far I have been keeping them together and monitoring their patterns daily. I feed 3 small crickets around every 3 days, and so far they've been slowly plumping up, everyone's been eating well. Seeing how closely related termites are to roaches as well, I'm willing to chock that up to a 'close enough' if I need to LOL.

I've been housing them in an approx. 8" Wide x 13" Long x6" Height plastic container with some ventilation. I've also added about 3" of substrate, and 3 flat stones as a hide for each scorpion in case they would each like their own space. I was curious to see what kind of communal habits they have, and so far, I have not seen the three of them separate from the same hide. They really seem to like each other, even if given the opportunity to be elsewhere, or when food is introduced.

I had a theory that larger scorpions such as Pandinus, may live communally to preen one another, and prevent predation from opportunistic scavengers like our (usually) friendly isopods during molting. Your report of Gigantometrus cleaning one another seems to support that, and I'll have to make a note to keep an eye out for any other observations, particularly the consumption of molts as well.

To piggyback off of that thought, the emps I received were much smaller than I expected to get, so I am just going to wait on my isopod colonies to establish. Even if an adult emperor would be fine with isopods, putting any other animal in the enclosure at this age would make me anxious LOL. I am considering adding my springtail colonies, I have two species;

Entomobrya unostrigata (Cotton Springtails)

and

Hypogasturidae sp. (Unknown)

I am not sure if anyone has experimented with various species of springtails either, but springtails.us has a great supply and an even greater wealth of knowledge when it comes to rearing more exotic species. I've selected these two genera because they most resemble the reports I've seen on iNaturalist within the natural range of emperor scorpions. If anyone is unfamiliar with iNaturalist, it's a great resource to document wild organisms found outside! I'm sure that the typical stock of Folsomia Candida, or tropical Collembola sp. would be fine given their (generally) worldwide distribution, but what can I say? I like to party.

I am curious though, @Diao, you had mentioned some varying localities and types such as the savannah form. Are there any physical differences between varying localities? This is the first I've heard of it, and you have piqued my interest! I'll have to dive into the literature again to see what's been documented on speciation and subspecies, but seeing how confused people can be between even Heterometrus and Pandinus, I can't imagine we've broken much ground on the subspecies level...

 

[MorbidArachnid]

Yea! Here is a really good paper that talks about it, basically Emperor scorpions show a decrease in size in the more Northern areas of their range (the savannah) vs the Southern areas (which is more tropical). I don't think there are any morphological differences besides size tho I have heard the Forest form tends to look greener.

I also did a deep dive about Emp sizes here (with a lot of links to papers about them).