| Scientific name: | Pandinus imperator |
| Pop name: | Emperor Scorpion |
| Origin: | Africa |
| Size: | About 20cm |
| Temperature: | Day: 25-29°C Night: 20-25°C |
| Humidity: | 75-85% |
| Can be kept in groups: | Yes |
| Temperament: | Peaceful |
| Activity: | Takes it easy |
| Venomus: | Yes, but it's not lethal to humans. Yet this species have a painful sting. |
| Can be handled: | No. I do not recommend handling of scorpions. |
| Food: | Scorplings can eat pinheads, wood lice and other small articulated animals, while bigger Pandinus imperators can eat crickets, locusts and cockroaches. |
| Breeding: | These scorpions reproduce through sexual mating. This means that you will need both a female and a male. The scorpion mating procedure is probably the best known from the world of arachnids: The courtship dance! The male will approach the female, and grab her claws, and then he will lead her around in the terrarium while he look after a good place to place (often a flat rock) his spermatofor (a little pack with sperm). Then he leads the female over the spermatofor, she accepts it into her genital aperture. Thereafter the pair split peacefully. You will maybe see that the male stings the female. This is totally natural, and it’s no reason to interfere, the male does this to make the female easier to dance with. |
| Terrarium: | Scorplings can be kept in small boxes and jars (just remember to make holes for ventilation), while bigger individuals should be kept in a 30x30x30cm terrarium. If you want to keep a group the terrarium must, of course, be larger; A 30x60x30cm terrarium should be enough for 2-4 individuals. |
| Substrate: | Something that keeps on the humidity. I will recommend unfertilized peat. Since this specie likes to dig, the substrate should be minimum 10cm thick. |
| Other: | This is the scorpion estimated to be the biggest in the world. It’s easy to keep, and suits well for beginners. My first arachnid was actually a Pandinus imperator. |
