Advice for soon to be Emperor mama..

I know we have some T breeders here. Anyone with experience breeding Emperor scorps?


My Emperor girl looks to ready to give birth this spring. She is so big that I can't believe she hasn't exploded at the seams. She spends 99.9% of her time deep in her burrow. Her enclosure has a healthy colony of spring tails which blanket the top of the substrate when I pour water in to keep everything moist.

The tank has over and under heat as well keeping it a good 85*. My main concern is what to feed such tiny scorps. Once they are born and begin to move off the mothers back, (she has a separate enclosure ready) what is small enough for the babies after they molt? Fruit flys? Will they eat the spring tails? And how big do they have to be before they can take pinhead crickets?

I'm still debating fixing individual cups for each of them. If I do this it will be difficult to keep them at the proper temperature. In aware I may lose some to cannibalism if I leave them all in one tank but I will add more places for them to hide.

Thanks.

http://184.72.239.143/mu/a6898c0e-c8ac-05a5.jpg

http://184.72.239.143/mu/a6898c0e-c8c6-e704.jpg

http://184.72.239.143/mu/a6898c0e-c8e2-bac3.jpg

http://184.72.239.143/mu/a6898ff4-719b-88bd.jpg

http://184.72.239.143/mu/a6898ff4-71b2-f368.jpg

Get in a order of pin head crickets for the babies.

I'm not a huge expert on the little babies, but pinheads are what I'd say as well.

Well while they're on the moms back the mom will feed them, at least that's what all my scorps did when they had babies. Once you separate them, then you wan't to feed very small crickets. If you need any advice or help let me know.

She is cool looking. Let me know how it goes with her. I have been wanting to get one for some time, but don't know a thing about their care.

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

She is cool looking. Let me know how it goes with her. I have been wanting to get one for some time, but don't know a thing about their care.

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It's simple, it really is.

Eco Earth bedding, high humidity, 80%+. A hide, what I did is I went to wal-mart and bought the bottom of the clay pots, the thing you sit the pot on that traps the water(whatever it's called), turned it upside down but before i did, i made a hole and then i took 3 fingers side by side and came upward out to make an entrance, I put that thing upside down pushed it down, put more substrate over it then packed it and did any additional space mods to it, I used substrate about 4" deep cause I know emps like to burrow sometimes. I used a top of a butter thing as a water dish.

http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/im...htedimage6.jpg

The thing on top is the clay pot bottom thing I was talking about.

If you really want to get into scorpions let me know as I at one point had over 10-12 diff species and I was breeding them and all and I'm fixing to get some extremely rare species, one species hasn't even been in Europe's pet trade and they're way more advanced then us as far as that is concerned.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neal

It's simple, it really is.

Eco Earth bedding, high humidity, 80%+. A hide, what I did is I went to wal-mart and bought the bottom of the clay pots, the thing you sit the pot on that traps the water(whatever it's called), turned it upside down but before i did, i made a hole and then i took 3 fingers side by side and came upward out to make an entrance, I put that thing upside down pushed it down, put more substrate over it then packed it and did any additional space mods to it, I used substrate about 4" deep cause I know emps like to burrow sometimes. I used a top of a butter thing as a water dish.

http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/im...htedimage6.jpg

The thing on top is the clay pot bottom thing I was talking about.

If you really want to get into scorpions let me know as I at one point had over 10-12 diff species and I was breeding them and all and I'm fixing to get some extremely rare species, one species hasn't even been in Europe's pet trade and they're way more advanced then us as far as that is concerned.

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Thanks a ton. I will have to wait until I get home to see the pic. Dang work filters... What size tank would I need, and would a misting system be a good idea. I already have a misting system hooked up to my GTP cage, I could run a tube to the Emp tank too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Thanks a ton. I will have to wait until I get home to see the pic. Dang work filters... What size tank would I need, and would a misting system be a good idea. I already have a misting system hooked up to my GTP cage, I could run a tube to the Emp tank too.

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I used a 10 gal. I changed the water out whenever she tracked dirt in it, and what I did is I covered about half the screen to hold the humidity good.

As far as the misting system, I'm sure you could depending on how often it misted? I misted daily with a spray bottle and kept the substrate damp. People say to let the temps adjust overnight, and you can, but I never varied that much.

During the day the temp was 85-87, and at night the temp was 78-80.

I used to hold my emperor, though I would never recommend to anybody to hold a scorpion as you never know if you're allergic or not, even though the emperor's sting is equal to that of a bee sting, and it uses its claws more then anything because they're rather powerful, so rarely will it sting. If you have to pick your emperor up for any reason I recommend using triceps with rubber tips and grabbing toward the last segment of the tail right before the stinger, you can even do this by hand as a last resort but be careful because they can twist their stinger a bit and if you're not on the right angle it'll stick you. Also watch out because they can come back with the claws and get you, well not sure about emperors but I had this happen with a smaller one and it freaked me out and I let the tail go and it swung that tail around and tagged my fingernail(this was like 3-4 years ago).

A lot of the time when you mist the tank the scorpion will drink from its own claws.

As far as molting goes, if you don't get an adult you may see them stop eating before a molt, and make sure when they're going through the molt that you don't put anything in there or anything a few days after as it takes the exo-skeleton a few days to harden back up. I feed 2x a week and clean up any cricket leg remains. Also never leave food in there overnight as it can stress the scorpion out if for some reason it doesn't eat.

Edit:
If you get more then one you want to go with a bigger tank as they're communal but they're known for fighting, especially if you introduce one after the other one has made home.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neal

I used a 10 gal. I changed the water out whenever she tracked dirt in it, and what I did is I covered about half the screen to hold the humidity good.

As far as the misting system, I'm sure you could depending on how often it misted? I misted daily with a spray bottle and kept the substrate damp. People say to let the temps adjust overnight, and you can, but I never varied that much.

During the day the temp was 85-87, and at night the temp was 78-80.

I used to hold my emperor, though I would never recommend to anybody to hold a scorpion as you never know if you're allergic or not, even though the emperor's sting is equal to that of a bee sting, and it uses its claws more then anything because they're rather powerful, so rarely will it sting. If you have to pick your emperor up for any reason I recommend using triceps with rubber tips and grabbing toward the last segment of the tail right before the stinger, you can even do this by hand as a last resort but be careful because they can twist their stinger a bit and if you're not on the right angle it'll stick you. Also watch out because they can come back with the claws and get you, well not sure about emperors but I had this happen with a smaller one and it freaked me out and I let the tail go and it swung that tail around and tagged my fingernail(this was like 3-4 years ago).

A lot of the time when you mist the tank the scorpion will drink from its own claws.

As far as molting goes, if you don't get an adult you may see them stop eating before a molt, and make sure when they're going through the molt that you don't put anything in there or anything a few days after as it takes the exo-skeleton a few days to harden back up. I feed 2x a week and clean up any cricket leg remains. Also never leave food in there overnight as it can stress the scorpion out if for some reason it doesn't eat.

Edit:
If you get more then one you want to go with a bigger tank as they're communal but they're known for fighting, especially if you introduce one after the other one has made home.

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Thanks again. I have a twenty gallon at the house that I could set up. My humidity where I live is very low all year round, so I would probably need to hook up the misting system.

Do you ever feed pinks?

I only plan on getting one. Would a twenty gallon be alright?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

I know we have some T breeders here. Anyone with experience breeding Emperor scorps?


My Emperor girl looks to ready to give birth this spring. She is so big that I can't believe she hasn't exploded at the seams. She spends 99.9% of her time deep in her burrow. Her enclosure has a healthy colony of spring tails which blanket the top of the substrate when I pour water in to keep everything moist.

The tank has over and under heat as well keeping it a good 85*. My main concern is what to feed such tiny scorps. Once they are born and begin to move off the mothers back, (she has a separate enclosure ready) what is small enough for the babies after they molt? Fruit flys? Will they eat the spring tails? And how big do they have to be before they can take pinhead crickets?

I'm still debating fixing individual cups for each of them. If I do this it will be difficult to keep them at the proper temperature. In aware I may lose some to cannibalism if I leave them all in one tank but I will add more places for them to hide.

Thanks.

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Hey Monica,
I have delt with a few gravid emperor scorps and what I did is just get small crix (not pin head small but a bit bigger) and crush the heads and put them in the tank with the babies. They will eat them and tear them apart with their pinchers to their likings. I also tong fed the mothers and kept them nice and well fed and I personally didn't have any babies eaten. On the last emp that gave me babies I even left them in their with the mother for longer then needed as she was doing such a good job. I would not recommend doing that but just saying. Like snakes you will know your emps and have a round about idea of how things are going to go and how you should proceed if you know what I mean. You will also see little things that look like rice moving inside the mother if she is gravid. Pretty cool looking. Good luck :D

Gravid
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...2/4b9c6651.jpg

Babies and new mom
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...2/c80a4c3e.jpg

Thanks for the answers :) She has not popped yet but now she is even bigger than when I took those photos. She still shows no interest in food. I imagine there is no room for food in there lol!

I'm just keeping her enclosure moist and warm. I figure she will have them soon. Sometime this spring. I can see white rice-sized babies inside her. Nothing moving yet though. I thought they were encased inside a thin egg membrane while inside the mother? And that they "hatch" from that just prior to being born? So should I even be able to see movement?

I don't know a lot or anything really about scorptions but I know they sell wingless fruit fly cultures that might be great for the babies to eat! I used to use them when I raised baby tree frogs. Good luck with the new ones :)

Regards,

B

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Thanks again. I have a twenty gallon at the house that I could set up. My humidity where I live is very low all year round, so I would probably need to hook up the misting system.

Do you ever feed pinks?

I only plan on getting one. Would a twenty gallon be alright?

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I've never fed pinkies, but I know people that have. A 20 gal. would be fine, and it gives you more room to play around with hides and if you want to do anything else. I would definitely hook up the misting system, just keep an eye to see how it keeps the humidity and make sure that it doesn't overly mist.

I don't use a misting system but it would probably be beneficial. They should be set up pretty much identical to a dart frog enclosure. Except with very deep substrate to burrow in. My ecoearth is about 4-5 inches deep with a layer of hydroballs on the very bottom so I can pour plenty of water in.

I also added a colony of tropical springtails so I never need to change the bedding. If you add springtails to keep a little ecosystem going, you need to use spring water or distilled in the tank. Faucet water or filtered drinking water can kill them off.

Just don't try to plant any tropical vivarium plants until well after your scorpion has dug it's burrow or it will dig up the plants lol!

Just tossing in some dried leaves is a great way to keep the mulching properties of the ecoearth and springtails healthy and going strong. I just pick out feeder bug shells that the scorpion leaves behind. I leave them in for awhile though, to give the springtails a chance to do their job.

Since my female has gotten bigger she has also gotten restless. She roams the tank a lot at night and climbs around. She also stands arched. Holding her belly high off the ground with her tail stretched out. Like she's uncomfortable. It's been interesting to see her behavior change over the last few months.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

I don't use a misting system but it would probably be beneficial. They should be set up pretty much identical to a dart frog enclosure. Except with very deep substrate to burrow in. My ecoearth is about 4-5 inches deep with a layer of hydroballs on the very bottom so I can pour plenty of water in.

I also added a colony of tropical springtails so I never need to change the bedding. If you add springtails to keep a little ecosystem going, you need to use spring water or distilled in the tank. Faucet water or filtered drinking water can kill them off.

Just don't try to plant any tropical vivarium plants until well after your scorpion has dug it's burrow or it will dig up the plants lol!

Just tossing in some dried leaves is a great way to keep the mulching properties of the ecoearth and springtails healthy and going strong. I just pick out feeder bug shells that the scorpion leaves behind. I leave them in for awhile though, to give the springtails a chance to do their job.

Since my female has gotten bigger she has also gotten restless. She roams the tank a lot at night and climbs around. She also stands arched. Holding her belly high off the ground with her tail stretched out. Like she's uncomfortable. It's been interesting to see her behavior change over the last few months.

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What are springtails? I've never used any of that.

They are tiny little bugs that live in the soil. Teeny little bugs that keep a natural ecosystem healthy. You'll often see them in your potted plants when you water.

I got mine from joshs frogs. There are 2 types and you want the tropical ones. As long as they are put into a tropical moist substrate, they live and reproduce, and keep everything clean.

Many dart frog people colonize their vivs with them because the froglets will eat them and they keep you from needing to change out substrate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

They are tiny little bugs that live in the soil. Teeny little bugs that keep a natural ecosystem healthy. You'll often see them in your potted plants when you water.

I got mine from joshs frogs. There are 2 types and you want the tropical ones. As long as they are put into a tropical moist substrate, they live and reproduce, and keep everything clean.

Many dart frog people colonize their vivs with them because the froglets will eat them and they keep you from needing to change out substrate.

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So what happens when they die, or overrun a tank?

Mine have been going strong for almost a year now. I don't think they would overpopulate. I don't know too much about them but frog people don't have problems with that. I can only really see them when I pour water in to keep the bottom layer of hydroballs in water. Then they come to the surface and tiny moving specks can be seen. I'm sure they probably just die naturally as such insects have short lifespans anyway. Then the living springtails clean up the dead ones.