Emperor Scorpion Caresheet

[AshMashMash]

Not that there isn't enough on the internet, but I thought I might as well copy one across to here that I wrote for another forum.

The emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator, is probably the most commonly kept scorpion. It has a very mild venom in its sting (likened to that of a bee sting), and is generally a very placid species. For this reason, it is often the first species of scorpion kept by beginners.

Care:
Adults are best singly, though some people have success with keeping in M/F pairs, or M/F/F trios. In the wild, a mother will often live with her mixed sex offspring for an extended period of time. However, of course, keeping more than one scorpion in the same enclosure increases the risk of canabalism (whatever age). They grow to around 5-8" in body length.

A 50cm*30cm*30cm faunarium, tank or vivarium will suffice for one adult scorpion. Height is less important than floor space.

Scorpions naturally have a heat source from above (the sun), and so burrow to cool down. They MUST be allowed to thermoregulate in this way, and so they must be provided with:
1. A heat mat on the side of the enclosure
2. A deep (4-5") substrate, preferably something moisture retaining like eco-earth.

A gradient of around 25-30C, cool/warm end, is ideal. Hides should be placed on the cool and warm end (minumum 1 each), and a shallow wide water bowl placed on the cool end. Of course, water should be changed daily.

Humidity should be kept around 70-90%. This is less important for adult scorpions (which are moulting less frequently), and more important for younger scorpions, which moult frequently to grow.

They are ectotherms, of course, and do very little moving around. For this reason, a healthy adult can survive many months without food.

Normally, however, adults should be fed twice a week on 1-2 prey items, equivalent to their size (such as adult crickets, mealworms). Fussy scorpions may require you to kill/imobilise the food before hand, and leave it overnight. Others will catch their own live, or even take it off tweezers.

Younger scorpions can be fed every 2-4 days on small crickets, or chopped crickets. I have personally found that black crickets are not taken by younger scorpions.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

Here are some pictures:

Babys on mothers back:


Newly off her back:


Few weeks old:


Adult:

[Andy b 1]

niiice which one of those babies is my one?

[AshMashMash]

Originally Posted by Andy b 1

niiice which one of those babies is my one?

I'm going to saaaaaaaaay.......








...........this one:

[Andy b 1]

LOL thanks

[Ashley cook]

baby's,
do they usually lay that many babies?

[AshMashMash]

Originally Posted by Ashley cook

baby's,
do they usually lay that many babies?

Yeh, about that many apparently. She had 27.

[Mrs dirtydozen]

wow that pic is amazin, with all her babies on her back

[Ashley cook]

27!!!!! poor scorpion
__________________________
My Inverts0.0.20 Indian stick insectsgecko0.0.1 leopard gecko(share with brother)wanting to get African land snail Black emperors scorpion hissing cockroach hermit crab red velvet mitea couple of gecko`s

[AshMashMash]

Originally Posted by Mrs dirtydozen

wow that pic is amazin, with all her babies on her back

Ta! She was protecting her babies, thus the "" pose with her claw!

Originally Posted by Ashley cook

27!!!!! poor scorpion
__________________________
My Inverts0.0.20 Indian stick insectsgecko0.0.1 leopard gecko(share with brother)wanting to get African land snail Black emperors scorpion hissing cockroach hermit crab red velvet mitea couple of gecko`s

I showed you how to put stuff in your sig! Silly!

And yes, poor her! Must been sore the next day.

[Mrs dirtydozen]

i dont know out about scorps n didnt know they did that, i thought they would try n eat there babies. its mad how such a little thing is so clever would love to get some scorps next year sometime but i need to learn loads about em first.