Sick scorpion - what am I doing wrong?

[tattooedtrish]

I'm new to the forum, but I've been lurking here for awhile. I seem to have awful luck with emperor scorpions and I'm hoping you guys can help me out.

Both scorpions were bought at a reptile store in the Twin Cities.

I bought my first baby emperor scorpion around October 2010. He passed away suddenly around June 2011.
I bought emperor scorpion #2 in July 2011. He currently isn't doing too well and he probably won't make it through the night. He has been fine up until today, but today he has been lethargic, I've seen him belly-up quite a few times. When I try to pick him up or poke him, he gets back up and walks around a tiny bit. He was interested in the water when I misted his cage a few hours ago, but wasn't interested in the food when I smushed a cricket and tiny mealworms up and tried force-feeding him. He has not molted since I got him. I checked up on him about half an hour ago he barely moved his legs and tail (curled his tail up into his body) when I picked him up. I checked up on him again a couple minutes ago and he was belly-up on the ground again.

I'm trying to figure out what I am doing wrong, since I don't want to give up on owning scorpions but I don't want to kill any more.

They have both been kept in a 10 gallon aquarium. I put 20 small crickets in there every week. That's probably 'too much' but I want him to be able to find them easily. I also throw in a piece of collard greens or turnip greens for the crickets to eat every to every other day. I keep the cage in the same bedroom that I keep my other reptiles in, the temperature in there stays at around 80 degrees due to all the heat lamps.
#1 only had one water dish, and I misted his cage every few days. We are assuming he could have died from a lack of water/humidity although we don't know for sure.
#2 has two water dishes. I keep cotton balls in his water dishes, so he doesn't drown. The dishes are small, but so is he. I also mist his cage every day.

#2 currently has crushed walnut sand for the substrate, as well as Sphagnum moss. He did have soil (I forget what it's called although can check when I'm at the pet store tomorrow) + the sphagnum moss. #1 only had the soil and moss in his cage.

Here's a picture of the cage and setup -

you can see how small he is, he's on top of the cave. My apologies for the not so good picture, it looked better on the camera..

The best thing I can come up with for #2 is that he might have needed more heat, although I'm reading on here that temperatures around 80 degrees is fine.

What can I do differently for #3, whenever I decide to get him?

 

[Galapoheros]

For really young little ones like that, I would keep it in something like a 16 oz clear deli cup, moist coco fiber and with a top on it to keep in the humidity until it went through a molt or two. In the scorpion section, at the top there is a "care sheet" for emperor scorpions, did you see it? I think it's in the "sticky" thread section.

 

[tattooedtrish]

Yep, I read though it.

---------- Post added 10-12-2011 at 01:24 AM ----------

#2 recently passed away
My boyfriend checked on him, said that the stupid crickets were eating him.

 

[Galapoheros]

I just read through it too, like dave said, a lot of ways to do it. I don't do all it says there. You have to watch out if you're in an apartment, they sometimes spray, and sometimes neighbors spray next door, leaky walls and vents can bring that stuff in. Don't know if you are in an apartment though. You can put a baby one in a two gallon terr, I cover the top with plastic wrap to keep the moisture in. I cover it all the way. There are enough cracks around the edges for O2 exchange. wet coco fiber, maybe 3 inches for a young one, big flat rock or something it can sit under. Going to bed now, good luck!

 

[Ludedor24]

An emperor needs about 4-6 inches of moist cocofiber so they can burrow , about 75-80 degrees and 75-80% humidity. You can wrap your lid about 3/4 of the way with saran wrap to keep humidity in. I would throw in 3 crickets or so a week for one scorpion. If you are worried about him not being able to catch them you could always take the larger legs off, but you shouldnt really have to. You can lose the cotton balls and just put a few pebbles in the dish to keep him from drowning. Sorry about your loss. Maybe the next one will work out.

 

[Michiel]

what am I doing wrong?

1. you are keeping it too cold, should be 80-87 F....(high end, not the low end)
2. you are keeping it too dry
3. the substrate should be different (more cocofiber/ humus and not sand) and deeper
4. Feed 1-2 crickets per scorpion per week. Scorpions are predators, you are humanizing them by saying things like "I want them to find them easily"..Scorpions are sit and wait predators and will not look for the crickets, so they won't find them. The crickets find the scorpion. Scorpion can go longer periods of time without food, so don't worry about this......

 

[tattooedtrish]

Thanks for all the advice so far, everyone. I never thought about putting plastic wrap over the top and will do that for the next one. I do live in apartment, although if they did spray next door you would think that it would also harm the reptiles (I own 9 reptiles). I also will change the substrate & get a heat light, hopefully by the time I get a new scorpion Zoo Med supplies won't be out at the local pet stores. Thinking I'm going to do some more research on here on what else to feed them, I'm really not liking crickets anymore if they are just going to try to eat them. If my next one will be a baby (I may try an adult next, see if I have any luck with that) I'll keep it in a smaller container for the first few months.

 

[Galapoheros]

Reptiles are much less sensitive to pesticides designed for arthropods, but I did have all my alligator lizards die because of spraying while I lived in an apartment. I took one to a vet(lol), at the time they were just getting into reptiles(over 20 years ago). The free autopsy showed liver damage. Apartment complexes are supposed to give notice to all residence but I know not all of them do sometimes, esp. if a neighbor sprays, or if a neighbor complains of an isolated pest problem, management will go spray that place, no reason to tell you about it so they assume. I also think some don't bother to announce much if there is a "no pets" policy to begin with.

 

[tattooedtrish]

Interesting, I'll have to find a way to ask about it and make it sound like something like that could be effecting one of the cats or the iguana. My building is an all pet building, so nearly everyone has at least a cat or a dog. I'll have to double check the papers we signed, but I believe it says somewhere in there that they will let residents know if there is any sort of flea problem.