Breeding tailless whip scorpions

Graeboe

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Oct 28, 2014
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Ok hopefully I'm not blind and didn't see any threads covering this but I have a m/f pair of tailless whip scorpions and was curious about breeding them. Temp, humidity, etc. Also this is the first pair I've owned that weren't already full grown so the other question would be what size should they be when they are capable of mating. And of course any other tips and experiances you guys have had would be great.
 

Ripa

Arachnobaron
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Jan 17, 2015
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What species of tailless whip scorpion did you buy? Some measure as little as 4 inch legspan, others can get 15-20 inch legspan. Additionally, they're not true scorpions, so this should have technically gone under the True Spiders & Other Arachnids thread :p
 

Graeboe

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As far as I can tell they are damon diadema. Their bodies are about an 1", 1 1/2". I've had one before that unfortunately ended up having a bad molt but he was larger than these two.
 

zonbonzovi

Creeping beneath you
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Sexing Damon diadema is simple after several molts. Male pedipalps at the "elbow" extend beyond the femur of the 2nd pair of legs. Female's palps do not. That body size is average for adults. If they are paired keep an eye out for the spermatophore. Humidity, esp. after eggs develop, is vitally important to keep them from drying out.
 

fuzzyavics72

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Tailless whips in general are easy to sex. I guess I've always had bigger specimens. I got into the arachnid hobby because off tailless whips. And I just lost my sac because it was too dry. I didn't expect her to make one so soon.
 

Ripa

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They sound a bit too small to breed at the moment. What I like about these guys compared to many other arachnids is that they can live communally (granted the space is large enough) so you don't have to worry about separating them during mating in lieu of one killing and eating the other.

---------- Post added 02-28-2015 at 10:14 AM ----------

I'm pretty sure they have the classic longer and shorter pedipalps.
Yea, females have the less-extravagant pedipalps.
 

Graeboe

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Here's their setup. No individual pics yet, they were hiding inside the logs right now image.jpg
 

fuzzyavics72

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Not bad, but I would use cork and multiple pieces to give them multiple hiding places. Female's will eat their males after they've molted. It's happened twice to me while keeping breeding pairs together.

Also note while gravid tailless whips become super defensive and have heard of gravid female's killing other gravid females. From what I was told tailless whips are the best mothers in arachnids.
 

tarcan

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Tailless whips in general are easy to sex. I guess I've always had bigger specimens. I got into the arachnid hobby because off tailless whips. And I just lost my sac because it was too dry. I didn't expect her to make one so soon.
I would not really agree with that statement, how many different species have you worked with? Damon and other Phrynichidae, yes, very easy, but a lot of Phrynidae are not that easy, with very little sexual dimorphism.

D. diadema females can produce eggs being smaller than 1" in body length.

Amblypigi will be sexually mature at a much smaller size than most people think. Here is a picture of two Paraphrynus aztecus females. The one carrying eggs is not the one you would think!!

 

Ripa

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I would not really agree with that statement, how many different species have you worked with? Damon and other Phrynichidae, yes, very easy, but a lot of Phrynidae are not that easy, with very little sexual dimorphism.

D. diadema females can produce eggs being smaller than 1" in body length.

Amblypigi will be sexually mature at a much smaller size than most people think. Here is a picture of two Paraphrynus aztecus females. The one carrying eggs is not the one you would think!!

But are the young they produce likely to be healthy or the eggs fertile at that size?
 

fuzzyavics72

Arachnobaron
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Whoops you're correct a great majority you can. Unfortunately, I've had mostly damons and all the pictures I've seen the tailless are sexually dimorphic. I recently got back into tailless whips, so i'm a bit rusty. And we don't get many sp. of tailless in the states. It's sad when you guys (Canada has more species)
 
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tarcan

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well, keep in mind that I only started working seriously with amblypygi almost 2 years ago, so I do not have that much experience.

for that example, I do not know yet as the eggs have not hatched yet. I had Paraphrynus cubensis produce, a tiny female gave me 12 babies, all were very healthy and the 6 that I kept from that clutch are all doing fine. They were all normal size for babies of that species. A full grow female has given me over 40 babies in comparison.

As far as not many species available in the US, the species are there to import, just no one is interested in doing it I guess. Most importers do it for resale and there is really not a whole lot of demand for these animals. I do it for my own personal pleasure, so I do not care if no one wants any! So far I have bred a few species and people still just want my D. diadema babies, not the others!

Keep in mind that since that part of the hobby is not so advanced, not many people are interested in smaller species. And since the "common" D. diadema gets really big by amblypygi standards, people would not go for small Phrynidae for example. It is like people who start in keeping tarantulas, they all wants a big species, they never ask for a dwarf to start with! Too bad though, as there are some really nice and interesting species.

Martin
 

Biollantefan54

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I would want the small species....well...any species. It seems the only ones for sale here are D. diadema, P. marginemaculatas, and the occasional H. batesii.
 

Gekkotan

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I would like to know that too. I have some Heterophrynus sp here. I am still not able to say what are the sexes. They are kept in groups, I bet they need at least 2 more molts to get their adult size, and lots of spermatophores everywhere.
 
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