Pandinus imperator

[MizM]

Emporer scorpion, approximately 4". My husband and I were getting her out of her enclosure and I accidentally dropped her. He stuck his arm out to catch her and received a sting on the back of his right forearm. When I took her from him, I received a sting on the back or my right hand.

My sting resulted in a 1/4" red mark with a stinging sensation of 7 on a scale of 1-10. My symptoms dissapeared within 1 hour.

My husband got a black 1/4" raised nodule within one hour. His stinging pain was a 10 on the 1-10 scale. The nodule gradually dissapeared, but layers of skin peeled off of the sting site for several weeks, as if the poison was emerging. The lump lasted 3-4 weeks, with moderate soreness.

Neither of us sought out medical attention, as doctors in our area know absolutely NOTHING about this sort of thing.

Note: I have no bee sting allergies, HE does. After this experience, I tend to belive the experts when they say a bite or sting from MOST scorpions/tarantulas is much like that of a bee or wasp sting.

[Telson]

My coworker (when I worked at one of the local pet stores a couple years back) got nailed by an emperor he said, but IMO it is very possible that it was a redclaw and not an emperor, because the reptile dept mngr was keeping both in the same container from time to time. I was probably the "specialist" in regard to arachnids at the time and I couldn't tell a red claw from an emporer if the two were side by side! They all looked alike to me with the exception that upon CLOSE inspection there was a slight redishness to the pincers on the redclaws that was not noticed on the emperors.

Anyhow... He said it stung and burned quite a bit, and the swelling wound up going all the way to his elbow after a few hours, but the sting was on his finger. He said he felt "woozie" and left work early that day, and added to the reported results on his return the next day that his tongue had gone numb as well, which was the wierdest part of the whole experience. I never asked about lingering effects but he never mentioned any either so I assume if there were any they were extremely minor.

[deepspace]

My female emperor got me on the top of my hand and it felt a bit like a wasp sting with similar symptoms it was about a 6 on the scale and I had some light swelling and residual soreness for a couple days. However, my cat had a much worse experience. I had left the top off the enclosure while I was rinsing the dust off of it and returned a minute later to find her gone. I looked around the area trying to figure out what happened when I heard my cat scream from the downstairs bathroom. The scorpion was unharmed after her trip downstairs but the cat's lips were very swollen, as if impersonating Angelina Jolie. The cat was taken to the vet, where it was deterimined she would be ok, but the swelling lasted for at least a week.

[Silver.x]

I got stung in the thumb, it hurt for 10 mins and I was good for the day.

[ORION_DV8]

well stupid me last night during christmas prep i went to go and look at my little baby emps and having recently had an escape decide to check the tank to see that all were there and accounted for in goes my hand and up comes the telson almost meeting in a sort of pain inducing hand shake :) i got tagged on the thumb, the pain was sharp but as quick as it arrived it was gone not 30 seconds did the pain last, afterglow though tingling sensation in the affected area, no systemic effects observed, after about an hour the tingling was gon andtoday i cant even see where it happened, oh well for the fist im glad it was an emp i should hate to be stung by my Rhopalurus sp.
ORION

[Sheldy]

On the posion pain scale of 1 to 4 (4 being a black widow), an Imperial Sting is only 1, Suposedly. The pain really depends on where it is and who the person is.
A guy I know put one on his face when he was drunk and pissed it off. His official statement was "it hurt quite alot more than a bee sting"

< the reports forums are for reports, not conversation, keep that to the informational forums - CM >

[Nixy]

Time for me to make one.... I should have posted it earlier.. It happened about a week ago. But I've been busy.

I was cleaning out our 4" imperator's enclosier, I accidently bumped her hide and knocked it off kilter a bit. While righting it. I was stupid enough to allow a thumb to slide under the front lip. She must not have been happy with this move and nailed me on the tip of my thumb. My thumb swelled, then my hand. I had some bleeding and a good bit of clearish fluid came out of the puncture as well. I am assuming this was venom. She got me pretty deep, because when I pull my thumb back, I dragged her a few inches before the stinger pulled free from me.

On a scale of one to ten, I would say it was a seven, much like a bree sting. I got that sick zapping thumping sensation. Then swelling. Then throat tightening and some wooziness. But it didn't progress further then that. After a few hours, the swelling started to leave and I noticed a bruised blackish lump. I gave that a poke and drained out what looked like a mixture of old lood and puss. And then treated it with an antiboitic cream to care for any secondary infection.
The wooziness lasted a good hour after that. Mostly when I bent over or made any other quick move. But it disipated as well. I was nausus for about an hour more, but only slightly. Itching set in and lasted a few days.

I AM, severly alergic to wasp stings. A wasp sting usualy results in Anaphylaxis and calls for epinephrin within minuts after the sting and hospitalization until I am stable again.

Bee stings usualy result in massive swelling and nausia, some dizziness and A great deal of itching lasting a few days.

I am sharing That personal information because I believe I would not have had as severe a reaction as I did, if I wasn't as alergic as I am to wasps and bees.

On a scale of one to ten. 1 being nothing and ten being a bout with a real wasp... it was about a five. Not pleasant, but not nightmarish.

[Stagger-Lee]

-ive been stung over 300 times by Pandinus imperator up to 4", never an adult :eek: . my effects from the stings did seem to get slightly worse as i racked up these #s.
-most stings occured because i usually got too relaxed with working with adults and forget the young can be frightned easily.
-initial pain usually lasts 3-7 min and i would rate it anywhere from 4-7 on a scale of 1-10 (bumble bee being 5). as the initial pain faded it was replaced with a duller throbbing pain with sencetivity at the sting location, swelling of the finger occures anywhere within the next hour and a deep looking bruising started appearing around the 130th sting -on me-. the swelling lasts anywhere from 5 days to 3 weeks and the bruise turns into a gosh awful itchy bump/callous twards the end of the swelling then peels slowly off (IMO this is the worse part of the experiance {D ).
SIDE NOTE:
U.mordax mordax effects me in the same way but in a lesser area probely due to the size difference.

[TheRedDragon]

I was stung by my baby Emporer last month. I had taken him out to change him, and I had reflexively closed my hand around him because he almost fell. I then felt a sharp sting in the palm of my hand.

I was feeling alright afterwards, with nothing but a swollen red palm, and the pain had dulled to a low throb. So, I went straight to bed. But, when I woke the next day, I found that I could not talk, because my tounge was swollen and my throat hurt like crazy.

I figured that this was most likely an allergic reaction and I was finding out the hard way. After I had taken some anti-histamines and pain killers, I was feeling a bit better. It took about 48 hours for the swelling to go down completely.

[whoami?]

Given my experience with emperor scorpions, I've become a little careless with them. It's gotten to the point where I just haphazardly grab them whenever they need a cleaning. Because, you know, it's not like they're going to sting me.

Well, I finally did get stung by a big old 6+ incher. Same old routine. Grabbed it when it was time for a cleaning, grabbed it to put it back in its cage. This time though, I was just lowering it back into its cage when I felt this fiery prick in the palm of my hand.

So i was like, "ouch", and I dropped the scorpion, then grabbed my hand and muttered obscenities for a few minutes.

Hurt fairly badly. Not really excruciating, I think what affected me most was the surprise that my gentle emperor scorpion actually stung me. But it was a pretty strong, intense pain. It was really only intense for about three minutes, then the pain quickly subsided. I looked at my hand, and there was a circular white "blister" about a quarter inch in diameter. After the initial pain subsided, the site of the sting still felt a little sore, but that's about it.

I went to sleep a little while later. When i woke up, the "blister" was gone, and I couldn't SEE that I had been stung. The pain had also completely disappeared, except for two things: it still hurt a little bit whenever I grabbed something (pressing against the site of the sting), and a very mild aching feeling had extended about an inch to my middle finger. Moving my middle finger made my joints feel sort of sore.

About 18 hours later, and there is no pain even when I press against the stung site. And the aching in my middle finger is gone. However, the site of the sting does itch just a little bit.

All in all, not really a pleasant experience, but nothing too bad. I once got stung by a wasp, and I think this scorpion's sting is about the same as far as severity. A bit longer in duration, it seems, but it was only the first 3 to five minutes that were really painful.

[Kid Dragon]

I got the telson of an emperor scorpion in my hand, but I can't call it a sting, because although I felt it go in, it didn't hurt and it never hurt later. On a scale of 1-10 it was a zero. Can they stick their telson into you without injecting venom? I think so. Either that or their venom is so mild, some people have ZERO reaction.

[Goanna]

I got hit by a young emperor, right on the pinkie. It felt like I hit my finger with a hammer for a few minutes, then after that the pain was gone. I have never been bit or stung by any other insect or arachnid, so I dont really have much to compare it to. That is why I used the hammer analogy, lol.

[Bayushi]

Used to work at a pet store in seattle and a couple of us (guys in the creepy crawly department) got a little careless with the Emps.... especially with cleaning the tanks out. I was taking care of the adult tank and my buddy was taking care of the youngsters. I apparently miscounted when i was taking them out of the tank and didn't notice as i started removing some of the hiding spots. i got tagged on my right wrist by a large female with babies and let out a yelp. Being alergic to honey bee stings i was kinda worried. the initial pain was like a 9 on a scale of 1 - 10 but quickly faded to a numbness thru my wirst and hand. My entire wrist immediately swelled up to twice it's size and a fairly nice bruise was forming. I wrapped it in an ice pack and finished cleaning the tank using only my left hand. My buddy had finished with the "kiddy" tank and was replacing the scorpions when he got stung by one around 3 inches in length. He went into anaphlactic shock from the sting and had to be rushed to the hospital. he was hospitalized for a week and kept under watch the entire time.

My only lasting effect from the sting is a lump on my wrist , kinda like a callous, sadly my buddy suffered alot worse. not including muscle atrophy in his hand and lower arm but the complete loss of use to his hand.

[Goanna]

Used to work at a pet store in seattle and a couple of us (guys in the creepy crawly department) got a little careless with the Emps.... especially with cleaning the tanks out. I was taking care of the adult tank and my buddy was taking care of the youngsters. I apparently miscounted when i was taking them out of the tank and didn't notice as i started removing some of the hiding spots. i got tagged on my right wrist by a large female with babies and let out a yelp. Being alergic to honey bee stings i was kinda worried. the initial pain was like a 9 on a scale of 1 - 10 but quickly faded to a numbness thru my wirst and hand. My entire wrist immediately swelled up to twice it's size and a fairly nice bruise was forming. I wrapped it in an ice pack and finished cleaning the tank using only my left hand. My buddy had finished with the "kiddy" tank and was replacing the scorpions when he got stung by one around 3 inches in length. He went into anaphlactic shock from the sting and had to be rushed to the hospital. he was hospitalized for a week and kept under watch the entire time.

My only lasting effect from the sting is a lump on my wrist , kinda like a callous, sadly my buddy suffered alot worse. not including muscle atrophy in his hand and lower arm but the complete loss of use to his hand.
I was always thought to be allergic to bee stings when I was younger. I always carried an epipen around with me, until I was maybe 16. So, when I got stung by an emperor I was pretty woried that I would have a reaction, but as said, all I experianced was pain, and that subsided fairly quickly. I guess I am lucky. When I was stung, I was working in a pet store as well. I always made sure I had benadryl there just in case I ever got a reaction, but lukily, I didnt need it.

I am sad to hear what happened to your friend.

[Bayushi]

well it had to happen with all the people who live in the house here. Flatmate got stung by "pooky". He wanted to see her move and apparently she felt the need to show him why you shouldn't get her upset. He has swelling and a redness to his finger. Said on a scale of 1 - 10 it was a 13 but he has never been stung by anything before so I'd have to say he's over exagerating

[whoami?]

It's a bit late, but I have one last thing to add to my sting report. About 24 hours (I'm guessing) after I typed my initial sting report, my hand swelled up a bit, and started itching. It didn't itch like hell, but it itched enough to be a little bit uncomfortable. To the best of my recollection, that lasted about 48 hours.

Still, i suppose that I can still say that the worst part of it was the 3-5 minutes after being stung. The effects lasted for several days, but the first 3-5 minutes were still the only times when I felt particularly bad.

[KLiK]

i was in a pet store and asked to see one of the emperor scorpions. i reached in and took out a 3" one and i guess i didnt grab it correctly because the employee told me i got stung. since i didnt feel anything, i thought he was joking. a little less then a minute later my hand felt like it was on fire and continued to feel this was for and hour, then it died out. when i was younger i was stung by 2 bees and needed to be rushed to the hospital on both occassions. on a scale of 1 to 10 i give it a 10

[pitbulllady]

I got stung by a large gravid female Emp at a reptile show yesterday. She got me between my index finger and middle finger on the palm side of my hand as the dealer grabbed her to remove her from my hand(I don't know if he was worried I was gonna steal her or what, but he was the one who placed her there). I've been pinched by this species every time I've ever handled one, and their pinch is worse than their sting.

After an initial burning pain that lasted about 10 seconds, I experienced a slight puffy, reddened area around the sting, with a white raised spot right where the telson went in. Overally, it was more itchy and tingly than painful, more like a mosquito bite than a bee sting, with the worst effects lasting about 15 minutes. It's been a long time since I've been stung by a bee(and we have 75 honey bee hives on our property), but I've been stung by paper wasps, yellow jackets, fire ants and those big black "oak ants", as well as a Saddleback caterpillar, and it was nowhere near as bad as a wasp or fire ant, and could not even come close to the Saddleback, which is right up there with a Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish on the pain scale, like a 12 on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worst! After half-an-hour, I could not even tell where I'd been stung by the scorpion.

pitbulllady

[recluse]

Well I have two 3" imperator's that I don't handle much at all. Last night I was feeding the two which I just placed together to save on space. I lifted up the hide which they were both under and I got tagged. Twice in the past the same scorp has penetrated my skin with it's telson but never injected venom. It has also done the same thing to my 5 year old daughter. When it stung me last night it injected venom. It stung/burned for maybe ten seconds then got a little numb and that was it. IMO it hurts much worse to be stung by an ant or a bee.

[king7]

got stung by my 1" emperor scorpion the other day.i was filling the water dish and it must have p****d it off a little...lol

it hurt for a few minutes but nothing major.maybe if it was bigger i would of felt it more. :rolleyes:

[PA7R1CK]

I was stung by my 4.5" female. I was cleaning her cage removing a dead cricket and I brushed against a plastic leaf which must have startled her and she stung my thumb. There was a little bit of redness, which didnt last very long at all and it was a little bit sore the next day. I did not recieve any medical attention.

[nine livez]

i have been stung on 3 different occasions by my female 5.5-6 inch, she's a tank. hurts for about 30sec then nothing. the only thing that shows is a red dot and a litle swelling around the dot. i still love her.......

[dangerprone69]

Got tagged by one of my scorplings a few weeks back.

I was doing a tank cleaning and I thought I had gotten all of them out. I was fishing around the substrate and found one still in the tank. He must've gotten me when I grabbed him, I didn't even realize that I got tagged until a few minutes later when I developed a small, barely itchy red mark on my hand.

Pain: none
swelling: none
discomfort: none

[Kaos]

While separating 32 1" P. imperators from their mom on of them got me in the middle finger on my right hand. I was actually surprised at how much it hurt, think this little bugger gave me all it had. It felt like if you burn you self on a sigarette at the sting site for a couple of minutes and then came a numb feeling that spread into the entire lower arm. After about 12-15 minutes it was ok, just a little numbness in the finger when touching the stingsite.

[Tleilaxu]

I got stung by my adult female and nothing happened at all. I also got stung by a male and all that happened was minor soreness. That lasted for an hour.

[bugs4life]

I was stung by my emp a couple of weeks ago...redness, swelling, stinging, some itching...worse than a bee sting, but still not all that bad. Pain was gone in probably 15 mins or so, itched for a bit longer, then the swelling finally went down after about 30 mins.

[~Abyss~]

I got a permanent bump on my thumb from an emp sting it didnt hurt at all but the little bump stayed and its been like 5 years.

[SouthernStyle]

I'd have to say that by any means I dont ENJOY getting stung but it does happen every once in a while. I was movin' a couple of my adult emps to a larger enclosure last night and made the mistake...I moved the rock slabs that they LOVE to hide under and without missing a beat, one of my larger females tagged me on the underside of my right hand ring finger. NOW everyone says that they burn a bit, Can't say I felt that...I did have a bit of itching, but after about 15 minutes, it completely went away and that's about it...Either she didnt get that much venom in the sting, or she didnt inject any, not too sure...But Like I said, it happens to all of us at one point!

[PrettyHate]

I obviously picked this girl up wrong, and as a result was nailed a couple times. I guess I should have just put her down- but there wasnt anywhere to put her, and I didnt want her running away or getting hurt.

Pain- like getting pricked with a needle
Swelling- very minimal, gone within a couple hours
Discomfort- slight warmth and tingle

The pinch she gave me to really tell me to <edit> off was worse than the sting :D

[Falyn]

Ok ive been stung by Bay's no passed on emp "Pookie".. He used to quite often get stuck upside down between the glass and his fav rock and as a ty for me getting him out he would sting me every time.. never really hurt much just itched a bit afterwords..

[P. Novak]

I've been stung by this species quite a few times, but I never felt it was worth writing about or acknowledging because it's so minor(to me). Since I got stung this morning while unpacking I thought, "why not?" In the past I've been stung by P.imperator scorpions that varied in sizes from 2" to 8". All being the same reaction; a minor burn at the sting site and that's pretty much it. It swells up for about 5 minutes then slowly goes away. The effects never lasting more then 2 hours. Today, I unpacked a scorpling of this species(5cm, 2") and as soon is it came out of it's shipping container it began waving it's tail till it hit something. That something was my right ring finger. The scorpion kept the stinger in for a good 7 seconds, and immediately I felt a sharp burning sensation, then a small blister formed and that was all. This happened about an hour ago, and now there is no burning or blister. It's like I was never stung. :)

[Drachenjager]

yep i got stuck today. barely felt a thing just a little pull when it came out lol didnt even itch lol

[brandongalea]

Yesterday evening I was getting my pandinus imperator out of the cage and he stung me in the thumb, at first the sting stuck in place, i couldn't get it off, but after a while it got off. It burned for like 10 minutes but then i was ok

[AvdM]

Its a few years ago now that I got stung by an adult P. imperator. I was taking measurements of the chelae, when the person assisting me, who had been getting bored after the 20th scorpion to restrain, looked away for a second. I had lost some concentration too, and somehow the aculeus ended up in my right hand. The scorpion did not sting me, but either the person assisting me thrust the aculeus into my hand, or I did it myself. I dont remember exactly where on my hand I was stung.

* The size of the scorpion.
Adult
* How the sting occured.
see above.
* What type of physical damage was caused.
small puncture of skin.
* What symptoms you experienced.
Immediate feeling as if someone ran a sharp pencil up my arm (fast!), followed within minutes by a very tired feeling in the entire arm, especially around the armpit.
* How long the symptoms lasted.
Tired feeling in arm lasted about 20 hours.
* What medical attention you received if any.
None.
* Any lingering effects from the sting.
None.
* A picture of the sting if one is available
None.

[Malcara]

A few years ago I had an Emperor with a Temperment close to that of a killer Bee. Freak of natur I guess, because he would come after you if you put your hand in the terrarium. One day I was cleaning out the cage and he came out of his hide, of course I wasnt paying attention. He nailed my real good right on the big vein on the top of my left hand. I've been stung before nothing serious but this one being into a big vein sent shockwaves of pain up my arm. Bad luck I guess. Furthermore his aggressiveness did make me wonder if he was a different species I had him checked and sexed sure enough Male Pandinus Imperator. Go figure.

[The Emperor]

About a week ago, I was cleaning my 3rd instar P. imperators cage, There is about fifteen of them. One of them ran onto my hand and up my arm. He was on my elbow when I tried to get him off. And thats when he stung me. Very little pain. Left a small red lump, Which was gone the next day.

[calum]

been stung a few times by this spp. mostly at young instars, which was just a dull throbbing pain, like a headache but in my hand.



I got stung by an adult female, that was alot more painful. like a yellowjacket sting but a bit worse.

[bhamgreg]

got mad at me for moving him when i went to clean his water bowl. hes a 4inch long specimen and nailed my thumb. felt like a needle prick followed by minor pain and tingling. no pic the sting didn't swell up or become otherwise visually noticeable unless you looked REAL close.

[dairy]

Size: 3rd Instar - roughly 1 1/2 inches

Occurred: using right index finger to "shoo" the scorpling so the water dish could be replaced.

Physical damage: not visible to the naked eye, mild redness with no apparent swelling.

Symptoms: A sharp pain similar to a splinter with mild itching

Duration: Pain dissipated in roughly 5 seconds, itching lasted 5 minutes.

Medical attention: None

Picture: N/A

First ever sting! There goes my "Never been stung." line :wall:

[arachi american]

so like everyone else posting in here pretty much, ive been stung by imperators easily hunreds of times. always on the hands or arm...sometimes when i worked at a pet store we'd sting each other just for fun. always just a prick, then maybe an itch and nothing else.


ive always kept androctonus and parabuthus and other random spicies, but i was watching someone's emperor and it had scorplings, the one i kept i just kept warm and fed and wild, never messed with him really other than handing him crickets from the time he was too small to evn sting me.

so tonight i went to feed him but noticed he was acting unresponsive. being an emporer, i kinda prodded toward him to see if he was alright and the bastard jumped up and grabbed my finger like it was food (he takes dead pinks once in a while). normally i could give a crap but since his last mold he's been able to draw blood with a pinch, so i yanked back, bringing him with me.

he landed on the floor right next to my food where i was sitting and instantly took refuge in my pant leg.i tried to get him out carefully, but he was n the denim and jsut had to push up with his telson to get me. being the angry bastard he is, i got the full brunt of 5 stings on the back side of my leg, right through the soft skin and ino the muscle.

not gonna lie, it hurt like hell. and ive taken a few supposedly spicy stings. nothing quite compares. i honestly dont think this 3 year old scorpion had ever used its venom for real. he'd tapped me plenty of times on the hands, but this is different. maybe i just got a lot of venom, because i think i may have got the worst imperator sting, or series of stings, in a while. its been 8 hours now and my leg still burs like hell, my fingers and toes are still tingly, and my eyes are still dilated. no more hallucinations when i close my eyes.

feel comfortable going to sleep now but things were really weird for a while.

i took a picture right after and it had to be color enhanced to really see what was going on:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/effinphotos/emperorshithead.jpg

5 hours later i didnt need color enhancement:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/effinphotos/emperorshithead5hrs.jpg

the only way i could describe it to a friend who cant relate to venom in any way was..."it's like ecstacy's evil twin" cuz there was a weird psychedelic effect for me on top of feeling fuzzy and tingly all over...just also happened to feel like what a brand feels like, except the heat is still there. i'd say it's downgraded from a good 8 on the pain scale to about a 4 or 5 now, but my legs swollen and its hard to straighten or walk on.



who'da thunkin?:?

mike

it's been 18 hours now. i've slept, eaten, and taken plenty of benadryl. i feel pretty much like i have a hangover, but my leg is still very tender and more swollen than last night.

lips are tingly still, and teeth a bit numb. the skin on my calf is itchy but the muscle underneath is really sore. can't straighten my leg or walk normally.


i really wanna take some vicoden or something but ive read there can be weird interactions with the venom....probly bull but i'd rather not put it to the test. i took a pic a few minutes ago but i feel like laying down...ill post it later.:o

[arachi american]

ok so yesterday i just hobbled around all sore and pissed off...lips still tingly and fingers kinda numb.

today i woke up feeling fine, but my leg swelled up quite a bit. 2" at the calf and 1" at the ankle.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/effinphotos/emperorshithead48hrs1.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/effinphotos/emperorshithead48hrs2.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/effinphotos/emperorshithead48hrs3.jpg


this particular spot hurt the most at first. seems to be turing into something poppable. havent decided quite what to do. its only swollen below my knee... except my big toe for some odd reason.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/effinphotos/emperorshithead48hrscloseup.jpg

[arachi american]

so i've felt fine since my last post 5 or 6 days ago. all my swelling has gone down, and there's no pain at the sting spots other than slight irritation. 3 of them were obviously hit deeper or got a bigger dosage because there's 3 spots that look like this ~4mm across....kinda gross but i tried capturing how they've scabbed over but sunk in at the same time.

ps-it aint easy to take a picture of the back of your leg with an SLR camera with no lcd screen :D

looks like a volcanic caldera :D
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b201/effinphotos/emperorshithead9days.jpg

to the guy above me....dont let this detract from interacting with your scorpion. this was a "perfect storm" worst-case-scenario type situation. he's very defensive, esp for an emperor, i've been hand-feeding him since he was a scorpling, and he ended up in a tight place being (as far as he knew) attacked by a giant predator. he stayed on my hand while i sat there and inspected the stings right after.

i'm starting to think i may be the only person in the world to have ever managed to get hit like this. at east in captivity...and while i was awake haha. i dunno, i found the whole thing amusing as hell. i mainly made the report and took pictures because it was so different than everything ive ever read or experienced with this species. i had a good mind to just sleep it off but now i'm glad i documented it.

no REAL scientific data there but it's a significant incident i think...{D

[Galapoheros]

WOW! I'm a little surprised but not as much since I had a bad sting too. They are usually mild. I had one get it's claw stuck in a hole. I grabbed the claw, tried to push it back through, it didn't like that. It was able to reach through the same hole it's claw was stuck in and got me really good on my finger. It hurt and it hurt bad. The uncomfortable tingly feeling lasted about 4 days with that finger, I didn't want to touch anything with that finger. I've been nailed by Babycurus Jacksoni and I would rank the pain about the same(for me anyway). C. vittatus is usually mild but sometimes they can be very painful too. So after being stung really good by an emp, to me the effects feel the same as C. vittatus and B. jacksoni.