Mary Allen
African emperor scorpions are known to carry their offspring on their backs for the first twenty days after birth.
Characteristics
What does an African Emperor Scorpion look like?
African emperor scorpions are among the largest scorpions in the world: they grow to 15 centimeters, sometimes even up to 20 or 25 centimeters long. Females are slightly smaller. Males weigh up to 30 grams, and pregnant females up to 50 grams. The black body of the emperor scorpion shimmers blue-green and they have two powerful claws with which they hold their prey.
The order of the scorpions belongs neither to the insects nor to the crabs, but to the arachnids. They are among the oldest animals in this group – they have lived on earth for around 350 million years. Their body is flat and protected by a solid shell, the front body has a dorsal plate, and the rear body is made up of several sections – the so-called segments.
The last five segments form the tail, at the end of which is the slightly reddish venomous sting. The limbs of scorpions have developed differently over the millennia: The first pair of limbs has been transformed into scissors. The remaining four pairs of extremities are the legs. On the underside of the abdomen, there are two structures that look like combs – these are the scorpions’ organs of touch.
Where do African emperor scorpions live?
The home of the African emperor scorpion is tropical West Africa. African emperor scorpions live on the ground in tropical forests, on steppes, and on pastures. Some of them also settle in termite burrows, since the climate there is evenly warm all year round.
Which African emperor scorpion species are there?
There are around 1400 different species of scorpions in the world. They live mainly in the warm areas of all continents. The Asian scorpion Heterometrus spiniferis looks confusingly similar to the African emperor scorpion. However, this will be a maximum of twelve centimeters long.
How old does an African emperor scorpion get?
African emperor scorpions can live up to 15 years.
Behavior
How do African emperor scorpions live?
As dangerous as they may look, African emperor scorpions are considered relatively peaceful. They are not particularly aggressive and rarely sting. Much more often they use their large claws for defense.
However, they are not harmless: their venom is no worse than that of a hornet, but sensitive or allergic people can even die from a sting. In healthy people, on the other hand, a string only hurts for a short time. Nevertheless, you should not take the animals in your hands: they are not cuddly animals and certainly not pets for children.
In their homeland, emperor scorpions live in burrows up to 30 cm deep, which they dig themselves. They perceive their prey through numerous sensory hairs and grab it with their scissors at lightning speed. They usually kill their prey with their claws.
The poison sting is rarely used, or they only sting but do not inject poison. And that has a reason: If an emperor scorpion has used up its venom during a sting, it takes about two weeks for the venom supply to be replenished.
How do scorpions breed?
Scorpio females are caring mothers. They give birth to their young lives several weeks after mating. Each female gives birth to about 100 tiny, whitish scorpion babies and carries her offspring on her back for the first 20 days.
Care
What does an African emperor scorpion eat?
The African emperor scorpion mainly eats insects. In nature, it feeds mainly on centipedes. In the terrarium, it is best fed with crickets, grasshoppers, and cockroaches, but also with very young mice. If there isn’t enough food, they won’t even stop at their conspecifics. Then they become cannibals! In the terrarium, it is therefore important to feed the animals sufficiently, only then can you keep several in one container. But they can also be very frugal: if food is scarce, well-fed animals can go for months without food.
Keeping of African emperor scorpions
Because they are relatively peaceful, many emperor scorpions are kept in terrariums, usually in groups of three to five individuals. An emperor scorpion needs a terrarium of about 60 x 30 x 30 centimeters, several animals a correspondingly larger one.
The bottom is covered with an eight-centimeter thick layer of slightly damp earth and sand so that the animals can also bury themselves. Cork bark and branches serve as hiding places and for climbing. The temperature must be around 26°C during the day and around 20°C at night. The humidity should be 85 to 95% at night and 65 to 80% during the day. A special heating lamp in one corner ensures that the scorpions have a place in the sun.
Because the sting of the animals can be dangerous for sensitive people, they may only be kept in well-protected terrariums and absolutely belong in the care of an experienced, adult keeper. If the animals have to be moved, they are never grabbed by hand, but by the stinger with long tweezers. So there is no risk of the keeper being stung or the scorpion injured.
Care plan
The emperor scorpions only need to be fed every five days.