Emperor scorpion

Emperor scorpions are the largest of all the known scorpions. Some reach up to about eight inches in length. They live in the jungles of Togo & Ghana in deep burrows that they dig themselves. All of the emperor scorpions in the United States are captive breed because it is illegal to import them from other places.

The emperor scorpion eats a variety of things such as locust, hoppers (baby locust), crickets, millipedes & even small rodents. When scorpions have young they will sometimes kill the prey. They then give it to their young as food to eat. Scorpions are very social animals (with there own kind). 

Emperor scorpions are very popular in the pet trade because they are the most docile scorpions in the world. You will probably never see an emperor scorpion sting even when it eats or catches its prey. Most of the time they use their strong claws to catch and hold there prey.

Anatomy

 * Length of a average emperor scorpion is 4 - 8 inches.
 * Weight of a average emperor scorpion is 0.125 lbs.

Scorpions have several eyes' usually 4-8 but they have really bad vision. The only thing there eyes are good for are distinguishing lightness from darkness. Even though they have bad vision it doesn't really matter all that much anyway because they are nocturnal. So they depend on the other sensor organs to keep them alive. The other organs they use are these little tiny hair all over there body. They help the scorpions sense the environment around them so they can hunt and sense danger.

The emperor scorpion's claws are used for catching prey and grinding it up so it can eat it and for defense. The male Emperor scorpions have smaller more narrow claws were as the female Emperor scorpions have fat claws. there is a saying to tell how venomous a scorpion could be: the bigger the claws the venom will be mild and scorpion with small claws will have deadly venom.

Emperor scorpions only have eight legs, which are used for walking. Instead of teeth they have chelicerae, which grind up food so the scorpion can eat it.

The scorpions have a stinger which is at the top of the tail. When a scorpion stings you; it can inject a poisonous venom. However it could be what is called a dry sting and what that means, is the scorpion stung you but it didn't inject any poisonous venom. The stinger of a scorpion is controlled by muscles and the venom flows through a hollow tube in to whatever the scorpion has punctured with its tail. The scorpion can also control how much venom it inject like if the scorpion doesn't want to wast venom it can do a dry sting, or if it needs to kill a big animal for its prey then it will use a lot of venom. 

Reproduction

 * Life Span of a average Emperor scorpion is 8 years. The emperor scorpion molts 7 or more times before it can reach sexual maturity.

When you are mating Emperor scorpions you need to get them ready before they can mate. You first need to make sure that both Emperor scorpions are well fed or they might eat each other, and they must also be well watered. Then you set up the cage. Make sure the temperature is very high and the humidity must also be high as well. You will also need several flat surfaces for the male to lay his sperm. After the two Emperor scorpions mate you will want to remove the male because if you don't the female will kill him. Also do your best not to bug the female when she is pregnant or she might hurt you because they tend to be very aggressive during there time of pregnancy. Then 4-8 months after the mating the female will give live birth to about 8-30 babies and once they are born they crawl on to mom's back. Now you should remove the babies from the moms back or she will mistake them for food and well eat them. Once the babies get older you can reintroduce them to their old cage and a proud mom and dad. 

Ecology
The emperor scorpion lives in the jungle. They like places were there isn't much light. They are almost never seen in the sun. They live in 75-80% humidity.

If you were ever to get a Emperor Scorpion as a pet here is what you would need:
 * a ten gallon tank (only large enough to hold one Emperor Scorpion.)
 * a heating pad that covers most of the cage.( not all of the cage.)
 * to line the bottom of the cage you should use vermiculite mixed with fine wood chips that you should get wet/moisten and the lining should be deep enough for your Emperor Scorpion to make himself a borrow.
 * you should also have a slate or bark stone in the cage for him to hide under.
 * you could also put in plants (plastic) in the cage because after all he does originally live in the rainforest.
 * the lighting of the cage shouldn't be to bright because the emperor scorpion almost never seen in the sun light. So use a dim light with a dimming light switch.
 * the temperature of the cage should be around 80 degrees fahrenheit, but at night it can drop to 60 degrees fahrenheit.
 * and the humidity should be around 75-80%.

Related References

 * WELCOME TO EMPEROR SCORPIONS by PetsBuy.com
 * Anatomy creepyspiders.com
 * Emperor Scorpion Pandinus imperator by theBIGzoo