Introducing Sasori

[Persnickety Parson's]

And he's already an A**hole

Opportunities to get emperor scorpions don't come often, and babies are just adorable.

He's definitely a member of the genus pandinus but his temperament so so bad I have doubts if it's P. imperator, which in most cases is the puppy dog of the scorpion world.

And let's get to the pics.

Pectines

These are fine and comb like, indicating a male, females tend to be more rough looking. And not as symmetrical.

He's still a baby, roughly near the size of an adult dubia.

In his enclosure, you can get a better sense of scale, since he's next to a Gatorade cap for his water dish. He will get something to hide under tomorrow, I have to find something small enough to fit in the enclosure.

And we are already battling

Quite the attitude on this dude. Once I find out his species I may decide to breed him in a few years when he finally grows up. That said if he's a p imperator and still has that foul temperament I may hold off, as that isn't a desirable trait to pass on.

The sting is very mild at best. One of the best beginner scorpions, and one of the best in general.

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

Well went to change his water as it got tipped during the night, I got this as thanks...

This dude is a little whipper snapper

 

[jamest0o0]

Looks pretty fierce!

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

Looks pretty fierce!

He tries lol I just hope he calms down, either way it looks like he approaching a molt, a dangerous time for him, I've removed all his crickets to be safe.

You can actually see the new exoskeleton^ forming underneath the old one.

And due to the fact I accidentally flooded the lowest part of his substrate, he's a little peeved right now.


And a fun fact for everyone in general, these are one of the few social scorpions that are found in groups in the wild, and the mother's depending on the circumstances will exhibit long term parental care of their babies for up to a year, sometimes longer, and babies have an increased survival rate when this species is kept in small family groups.

 

[jamest0o0]

So you need another 1!

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

Well in a plot twist worthy of something, my scorpion may not be p imperator after all, but rather Pandipalpus viatoris a species that showed up in very limited numbers a few years ago....

The lack of granulation seems to be the indicator. What a twist of fate that some chain store had a rare in the hobby species.

Making this frustrating is I took @jamest0o0 advice and got another one... (You can clearly see the difference)

Obviously they can't breed nor cohabitate lol.

I found someone on arachnoboards that keeps the aforementioned species, so a potential breeding project maybe in the works to help keep a healthy gene pool for Pandipalpus viatoris in the hobby...

At the very least I can take pride in my guess that the first scorpion I got wasnt p. imperator was correct.

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

Well so much for being in premolt, he's still hungry.

They stop eating a few weeks/months before a molt.

 

[jamest0o0]

I want to set up a desert bio for one of the arid species scorpions, very cool animals.

 

[Persnickety Parson's]

Well I lost the second scorpion due to reasons I can't pin down, it either was too cold, or maybe something else brought it down. The scorpion in the opening post continues to thrive.

That said, I ordered two new p imperator to replace the one i lost, shipping was a flat rate so may as well use it.(None of my local stores had any, so I had to go online, which is sketchy with this species) Glad to say that both the new arrivals were in fact P imperator

I've completely redone the set ups, I've decided to use smaller enclosures to limit the possibility of unforseen issues, such as losing crickets.

They do have little leaves and bark pieces in which they can hide under, along with enough substrate to burrow.

And finally to manage temps and humidity better I'm keeping the three smaller enclosures in a larger setup.

Temps are currently at the sweet spot of 85, in keeping a sharp eye on temps to make sure the bulb isn't too hot, the last thing I need is cooked scorps after my recent loss. Not to mention, all the eggs are in one basket.

One of the new arrivals started eating after a few minutes. So I think im on the right path.

Quite a horrifying way to go, since p imperator generally prefers to eat it's food alive rather than use its venom to subdue it.