Housing
Common emperor scorpions should be kept on a substrate of damp potting soil with large flat stones on the surface. The substrate should be three to six inches deep to allow for extensive burrowing. This habitat is great for planting various plants with low light requirements like ferns. Live plants help keep the humidity high and add an additional aesthetic value to the whole set up. Humidity must be kept high (this is very important). Without proper humidity, the young will likely fail to molt properly and die, or at least suffer a disabling injury. The temperature range should be 70-90ºF with an occasional increase to 100ºF. Reports from other collectors suggest that an increase to 100ºF for a week or so during the daytime may stimulate the female to give birth. My specimens always seem to give birth during the first heat wave of spring or summer. This species can usually be kept in groups if the terrarium is large enough. For just one specimen, a ten gallon terrarium should do. For larger numbers, increase the size of the terrarium so they don't feel so crowded and it will reduce the likelihood of fighting. If you get a rather aggressive individual that doesn't play well with others, separate it from the group. It may kill some of the others. I keep other species of Pandinus and Heterometrus with my common emperors with no serious fights to date. I'm keeping them with my Pandinus viatoris (Pocock 1890), Heterometrus cyaneus (Koch 1836) and Heterometrus spinifer (Hemprich & Ehrenberg 1828). They eventually acclimate to each other and even share burrows. If other species are housed with common emperor scorpions, they must be roughly the same size and require the same habitat. There is no guarantee your specimens won't fight if you mix species, so do so at your own risk. Don't mix them with desert species for obvious reasons. Smaller scorpions of different species are likely to be eaten.