emperors (are they ?)

[scorpion-boy]

i have 6 emperors that all live happily together they were a colony of 3 when i bought them and iintroduced 3 more - what i noticed is the 3 that lived on there own woud hunt dig etc on their own but since becoming a colony seem tohave their own jobswithin the colony
what im asking is - do scorps become like a working colony likeants where each has there own job - i have one ( the largest of the group ) that does all the hunting and gathering - another two that do the burrowing and digging and the other 3 i barely see at all as they are always within the hide - its quite fascinating how they have become this way and appointed each other toward seperate tasks

[lucozade3000]

Humm, how should i put this?...

It's cute, but scorpions are nothing like ants working together towards a communal set goal. The "communal" scorpions will live together, they will tolerate eachother but not in anyway work together as ants or termites would do, they wont share food and invite eachother for a sleepover.

I think the word colony(by definition)used when refering to scorpions is misused and a bit misleading. It should be interpreted as "group"

Could the largest one be large because he's doing ALL the hunting and gathering as you mentioned?
How big is your tank?

-J

[TEENY]

They wouldn't work together.....although this would be awesome lol
The biggest one will be biggest because it eats first sand does majority of hunting, just like my biggest one. Some are just more prone to digging and others hide a lot more especially the smaller ones

[scorpion-boy]

the set upis 4 foot long by about a foot in height an depth plenty room for them all its set-up to be self sufficient there are colonies of cockroaches in there that live mainly at the colder end of the tank underneath the moss and substrate and venture out on a night whereas the scorps live under a log under the heat bulb at the other end ( ill post a pic soon ) i often find the odd roach dead or paralized and left that i will chuck under the log for them - im not sure what cockroaches they are they were in there when i bought a couple scorps from someone and they just remained in there breeding - i occasionally buy them crickets too but as for the scorps there is only really one that willbother to venture out and hunt - she is really active for an emp the rest just seem to be doley bums and sit around day and night

[scorpion-boy]

this is the setup they live in

i use a heat bulb rather than a heat mat cos A the mats in my opinion dont work when stuck to the rear of a set up and B if ou sick it under the tank when they get hot they naturally burrow t col down thus cooking themselves

this is the cool side of the tank mainly substrate and a goodlayer of moss

other sid of the tankis the warmer side - the scorpslve underneath that log - the log is hollow but they dig under it and the skull in the middle they hide in when hunting

under the log but cant get a godpic in this light without disturbing them toomuch

and this is one of the roaches that are breeding in there - not sure wht they are but theres thousands this is a edium sized one there are a couplehuuge oes in there somewhere but the scorpsdont seem to have any trouble with them - ive found them sat down with the scorpsbefore unbothered

[lucozade3000]

Pretty nice set-up you have there and i totally agree with you concerning the heat mats, they are useless if you need to reach above 24/25..
but to be completely honest, i would clean the whole tank, get rid of every single bug in there and start fresh. Doesn't sound very healthy specially in the thousands... and get a good 5/6in of substrate.

-J

[scorpion-boy]

yeh i wouldnt mind getting them all outta there but as soon as you disturb the substrate they dive upand go everywhere. so then i have to search hours in the house making sure i got them all - i dont wanna remove the scorps and poison the tank cos it could harmthemwhen they go back in - and if i take the tank outside t empty i dont want them running off and seking shelter round the garden or finding there way back in and colonising

havent a clue how to safely dispose of the little critters other than collect them all one by one wich will take days

y'cant even nukeroaches can ya
think illmaybe shovelall the substrate into a bucket and get a lid on it - quickly

[My plague]

Originally Posted by scorpion-boy

yeh i wouldnt mind getting them all outta there but as soon as you disturb the substrate they dive upand go everywhere. so then i have to search hours in the house making sure i got them all - i dont wanna remove the scorps and poison the tank cos it could harmthemwhen they go back in - and if i take the tank outside t empty i dont want them running off and seking shelter round the garden or finding there way back in and colonising

havent a clue how to safely dispose of the little critters other than collect them all one by one wich will take days

y'cant even nukeroaches can ya
think illmaybe shovelall the substrate into a bucket and get a lid on it - quickly

Get a tub pop the scorps in there and shovel out all substrate and roaches etc

[scorpion-boy]

tried that - they all just run up your arms down your front and scarper lol its what to do with them after ive cought them thats the main worry
imight just eddit the numbers in there catch the really big ones and leave some little ones, this way ill still get the free food source but without the hassle of the mighty sized roaches

[lucozade3000]

Sounds like a serious infestation.. cut open some large black bin bags, place them on the floor below the tank and use some double sided tape that you place around the tank to block any escape routes or do it outside, they wont rush back in, just disperse and feed birds and spiders..

-J