Breeding your emperor scorpions.
Invertebrates are so called because they have no spines to speak of. You may think that such spineless creatures are pushovers, but that’s where you’ll be wrong. Among these spineless creatures are insects, spiders, and scorpions. The latter two make great pets when cared for properly and handled carefully.
Emperor scorpions are the most popular breed of scorpions kept as pets. Their venom is mild and their care and feeding is relatively easy. For those who have surpassed the challenge of keeping their emperor scorpions alive and relatively well-fed, the next challenge would be to breed from them. Below are a few tips on breeding your emperor scorpion.
Telling them apart.
The first thing you need to do after you’ve decided to breed your emperor scorpions is to tell whether the one you have is a male or a female. Females, in general, are larger than males. This is a good indicator, but just to make sure, take a good look at the scorpion’s pectines. Pectines are the scale-like protective armor found across the abdomen of scorpions. The pectines of male emperor scorpions are bigger and resemble a fringe on their abdomen. A female’s pectines on the other hand, look short in contrast to a male’s. You can surf the net for pictures of a male and a female emperor scorpion if you’re not entirely sure how to classify your scorpion.
Setting up the mood.
Like most creatures, emperor scorpions breed readily when they feel comfortable in their surroundings. They’re burrowers, so you may need to have a deeper substrate. Three to five inches of loam or clay would be perfect for your scorpions. You will also need to get a bigger tank for mating your scorpions. A ten gallon tank is okay for a single emperor scorpion, but two will get crowded and stressed in it. A twenty to thirty gallon fish tank is best for a pair of breeding scorpions. During their courtship process, they will need a wide, flat open space. A strategically placed flat rock or driftwood in their tank should do the trick. Don’t forget to feed them a variety of food. Sticking to one food source could lead to a deficiency in one or more nutrients. Varying the type of food you give your emperor scorpions will ensure that they get a well-balanced diet and give them an even bigger incentive to mate. Full scorpions are more likely to seek mates than starved ones. The humidity in the cage should also be at its highest, at least sixty to eighty percent. Frequent misting is a must.
Sit back and watch.
Keep the male in the tank or about a week or more. Remove it when you notice the female getting bigger with young. Leaving the male in the tank could cause undue stress in the female and make her eat all of her young. The gestation period of an emperor scorpion is around seven to ten months, although it could last for up to a year in some cases. A female emperor scorpion will give birth to approximately eight to thirty tiny scorpions. It’s best if you leave the tiny young things to the care of their mother. She may eat a few, but this is normal. In the long run, you’ll get a higher survival rate if you let her take care of them than if you remove them and put them in another tank. Try not to stress her out by limiting your handling and providing plenty of food for her and her young. You should be able to separate the young emperor scorpions from their mother with no ill effects just after their first molt.
The Mummy Returns For The Last Time. Tomb of The Dragon Emperor
I really enjoyed the first two mummy films, however this one lacked everything you need to equal them. There was just something missing. Like they were just making the film for money and they are lucky they had the success of the first two films otherwise their would have been a certified flop.
It is nearly 10 years later since the last mummy and the time difference is easy to tell. Brendan Frasher is back but looks seriously bored and tries to put on his charm from before, but it looks so forced and faked. Then Rachel Weisz has gone(who I wasn’t a fan of at first, but had become increasingly fond of) to be replaced by Maria Bello. Aso gone in the egption mummy’s and the excellent Arnold Vosloo playing the mummy. Even John Hannah’s comical role from the first two movies has been reduced and the apperances he does make its just boring to put it plain and simple. I actually fell asleep watching this movie and I never fall asleep watching movies, although it was at 2am I was watching this, which may be half the reason why I fell asleep during it. A new addition is Luke Ford who plays the son, this seems very strange as he looks far too old to play the son and it just does not work at all. It is very similar to the new India Jones in that sense with the father and son, although India Jones pulled it off better and was a better movie overall, however not as great as the first three classics.
In terms of the plot there is now a chinese setting with Jet Li playing a shape shifting mummy(I know it sounds ridiculous and it is), who is hell bent on taking over the world. There is a much anticipated fight between Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, which is not half bad, but hardly makes up for the other areas this movie is lacking.
One good thing that this movie maintained was the excellent graphics and CGI, although there were some ridiculous moments, but overall it is a watchable movie if it wasn’t for the sub standard plot,dialogue and acting. The funny thing is the Scorpion King was not in the same leage as the first two movies, however after the release of this mummy the Scorpion King comes out looking like the dark knight. This franchise should now be buried in the tomb of the mummy and never be wakened again.
