Species: Pandinus imperator | Difficulty: 2/5 — Easy | Hardiness: 4/5 — Hardy

Critter Cabana & Gresham Pet Supply — Keeping Your Pet Healthy & Thriving

At a Glance

Why We Love Them: The Emperor Scorpion is the ultimate beginner scorpion. Despite their massive, intimidating size and terrifying appearance in movies, they are gentle giants. As adults, their massive, crushing claws are so strong that they rarely even bother using their stinger to hunt or defend themselves. Plus, like all scorpions, they glow a brilliant neon blue under a blacklight (UV light)!

Safety Information

Venom/Defense: Their venom is medically insignificant. Their primary defense is actually a physical pinch from their massive pedipalps (claws), which is quite strong and can draw blood.

First Aid: If pinched or stung, wash the area with soap and water. If you experience severe swelling, difficulty breathing, or dizziness, seek medical attention immediately, as this indicates a rare allergic reaction.

Handling Precautions: If you choose to handle them, let them walk onto a flat hand. Do not grab them from above, and never pick them up by the tail (telson), as this can injure their spine. Keep them low to the ground so they don't fall.

Housing & Enclosure

Enclosure Type & Size

• Type: Terrestrial / Fossorial (Burrowing).
• Minimum: A standard 10-gallon glass aquarium (or 12x12x12 Exo Terra).
• Ventilation: Standard screen top is fine. If you live in a very dry climate, you may need to cover part of the screen lid with acrylic to trap humidity.

Substrate (CRITICAL)

• Recommended: Coconut fiber (Eco Earth), peat moss, or organic topsoil.
• Depth: You MUST provide 4 to 6+ inches of substrate. Emperor Scorpions are obligate burrowers and will spend hours excavating elaborate tunnel systems.
• Avoid: ReptiBark, wood chips, or sand. These do not hold burrows or humidity properly.

Décor & Enrichment

• Hides: Provide large pieces of curved cork bark or half-log hides. They will use these as the starting point (roof) to dig their burrows underneath.
• Water Dish: Provide a large, shallow water dish. Scorpions can drown, so ensure the dish is shallow or place a few pebbles inside it so they can easily climb out.

Temperature

• Heating: If your house is cold, attach a small heat pad to the SIDE of the glass tank above the substrate line. Never place a heat pad underneath the tank—scorpions burrow downward to escape heat, and an under-tank heater will cook them alive.

Humidity

• Target Range: 70–80% (Tropical).
• How to Maintain: The substrate should be kept consistently damp, feeling like a wrung-out sponge. It should not be a swamp or have standing water at the bottom of the tank.
• The "Overflow" Technique: Instead of misting the surface constantly, simply overfill the water dish once a week so the water spills out and soaks into the bottom layers of the substrate.

Diet & Nutrition

Primary Diet

• Live crickets, dubia roaches, or mealworms. They use their massive claws to crush and tear the prey apart.

Feeding Schedule

Pre-Molt Fasting

• If your scorpion refuses food for weeks and hides in its burrow, it is likely in pre-molt. Stop offering food immediately.

Molting

Molting is the process of shedding the exoskeleton to grow. It is the most vulnerable and critical period in a scorpion's life.

During the Molt

• DO NOT disturb, handle, or feed the scorpion.
• Ensure humidity is high (80%), as dry air will cause the scorpion to get stuck in its old skin and die.
• Remove any live crickets from the enclosure immediately. A live cricket will eat a molting scorpion alive.

Post-Molt Care

• The new scorpion will emerge looking completely white/translucent. It takes at least 7–10 days for the new exoskeleton to harden and turn black again. Do not feed them during this hardening period, or they will break their claws.

Health & Husbandry

Common Health Issues

1. Dehydration — Symptoms: Lethargy, shrunken appearance. / Cause: Enclosure kept too dry. / Treatment: Ensure the substrate is damp and the water dish is full.
2. Mycosis (Fungal Infection) — Symptoms: Black or brown rotting patches on the exoskeleton. / Cause: Keeping the enclosure too wet or swampy with poor ventilation. / Prevention: Let the top layer of substrate dry out slightly between waterings, while keeping the bottom layers damp.

Compatibility

• Cohabitation (Communal Living): Unlike most invertebrates (which are strictly cannibalistic), Emperor Scorpions are one of the few species that can be kept in small groups (e.g., 3 females).
• The Catch: This is generally not recommended for beginners. To succeed, you must provide a massive enclosure (20+ gallons), multiple hides, and keep them incredibly well-fed. If they get hungry or stressed, they will cannibalize each other.

What We Stock & Use in Our Stores

These are products we carry and recommend for this species. Ask any associate for help finding them in-store.

Care sheet compiled by Critter Cabana & Gresham Pet Supply. For questions, ask any livestock specialist in-store.

Last updated: 2026-08-04

How We Keep Them at Critter Cabana & Gresham Pet Supply

• Oregon Winter Furnace Air vs. Molting Humidity: When Pacific Northwest furnaces kick on from October through April, indoor room humidity drops fast and dries out small enclosures from the top down. Rather than misting the spider or invert directly (which stresses terrestrial species and invites stagnant mold), we keep Emperor Scorpion at 70-80% (Tropical) by using a deep moisture-retaining substrate bed (ReptiSoil + Coco Fiber + Sphagnum Moss), overflowing the water dish slightly into one corner, and maintaining cross-ventilation.
• Safe Room Heating in the Willamette Valley: If your house drops below 65°F on winter nights, never stick a heat pad on the bottom of a burrowing invertebrate tank—they dig down to escape heat and will cook themselves. Use a low-wattage side-mounted heat mat on a digital thermostat or warm the room ambiently to species-appropriate warm zone.
• Stocked at Newberg & Gresham: At Critter Cabana (Newberg) and Gresham Pet Supply, we stock acrylic and glass invertebrate enclosures, cork bark flats and tubes, bioactive substrates, flightless fruit flies (D. melanogaster and D. hydei), pinhead to adult crickets, dubia roaches, and live Temperate White Springtail and Isopod cultures.

Common Questions (FAQ)

How do I keep my Emperor Scorpion warm and humid enough during an Oregon winter?

Target species-appropriate warm zone and 70-80% (Tropical). When Oregon winter furnaces dry out the air, use a deep 3–5 inch substrate mix of Zoo Med ReptiSoil and coco fiber, keep a shallow water dish filled, and dampen one corner of the substrate rather than misting the animal directly. Never put a heat mat underneath a burrowing invertebrate enclosure.

What size enclosure does a Emperor Scorpion need?

An adult Emperor Scorpion thrives in 10-gallon tank with secure ventilation. For terrestrial tarantulas and scorpions, floor space and deep substrate matter most (keep open fall height low so heavy-bodied species cannot rupture their abdomen); for arboreal species, prioritize vertical cork bark tubes and cross-ventilation.

Can I put isopods in a Emperor Scorpion bioactive enclosure?

Around molting tarantulas and scorpions, skip protein-hungry large isopods and stick to Temperate White Springtails (or gentle Dwarf White isopods in humid detritivore setups) so a soft, newly molted animal is never nibbled.

Where can I find Emperor Scorpion, cork bark, and feeder insects in Oregon?

We stock live invertebrates, tarantulas, jumping spiders, cork bark flats and tubes, bioactive substrates, and gut-loaded feeder insects at our two exotic animal stores: Critter Cabana in Newberg (514 E First St, 503-537-2887) and Gresham Pet Supply (2185 NW Burnside Rd, 503-665-7606).