Mum acting strange after taking babies away

[Gilbz]

I can understand why.....who wouldn't act strange after having 6 babies taken away. But is she looking for them or just digging a nice hole to have a much needed rest?!

My Emp had 11 scorplings 3 weeks ago and finally they have all reached their first instar. Well 6 have, I think the others have been eaten. Hence the reason why I took them away from mum.

I saw one in the tank wiggling around and realised it was missing it's tail, so I took them all out and left mum in the tank.
Now she is scooping all the substrate and walking backwards. Exactly what she was doing the night before she gave birth.

Is she ok? Is she looking for them??

Right, now I have 6 to look after. Off to search the forums for answers how to look after them.
If anyone has any quick links I would appreciate them!!
Afterall I'm a full time mum/dad now

 

[Thiscordia]

Well i really don't know what's going on with the mom but here's a link of how to take cae of the kids hope this can help you.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=69385&highlight=wait+for+the+2nd+molt

 

[Deolok]

They are incredibly easy to care for! Since they are 1st instar they shouldn't be put together just yet, wait until about 3 or 4th instar before you put them into a communial tank. Give them each a tupperware container about 7 1/2 " x 5" x 3" deep, this should be adequate room for them.

Feed them often usually growing scorps will eat at least every day of the week, I am not sure if they'll eat more then that, though if they do you shouldn't IMO. And make sure to keep them fed around the time you go to sleep.

Keep them on most peat moss or coco-fiber substrate that is medium-slighty/medium dampness (not extremly damp)...

If your interested in Hotboxes or anything else related to faster growth you might want to wait for BrianS to post on here. But thats all I can think of.

Oh and the reason to keep them seperate is because some will grow faster then others and will sometimes see size as a sign of oppertunity and weakness.

Good Luck with the emps.

P.S. She ate 6 babies? My goodness, did you starve her after she gave birth?

 

[Ryan C.]

Actually you can keep P. imperator babies together all through their lives. No need to seperate them.

 

[Deolok]

I only suggested seperation because, what if one grows faster then the other two, I know its like a 1/1ooo chance but its still their and if he/she grows (and Im going on what I can remember) more then a inch longer then the other it will become possibly more aggressive towards the other two.

 

[Thiscordia]

I have been keeping mine together and they are 4 weeks old now... There's some size diferences but its not much.

 

[Gilbz]

Thanks for the replies!

Well I have them all together at the moment. My wife is out getting some little houses for them.

I did feed mum well and she fed the babies alright. But one night my wife was watching one of the scorplings crawling over mums back and then she reached up and ate it!

Oh by the way I now hove 7 lol!

Just found one clinching to a log

One thing that is heart wrenching is I have just fed mum and now she is sat in the middle of the cage with the food in her mouth flicking it with her claw, as if to say 'dinners ready'

Will she get over this?

My other scorp died a couple months ago just after she gave birth to one single scorpling. So I don't want her dieing through anxiety or stress

 

[Thiscordia]

Don't worry she wont die. Do you have any more emps? If you do put hr back with the other ones if not i would recoment to get another one a male would be the best for some reason i think it's less stressful for communal scorpions when they are not alone.

 

[Deolok]

That is pretty sad and no I dont think she will die, she will just resume her usual routine eventually. Once the kids are grown up though, you can return them to the terrarium with mom. But remember size is a factor!

Heres a case of it ->

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=73442

 

[Gilbz]

Ok!

Right the reason she is on her own because she's a right nasty piece of work!!

Some may have already read about her (Dora).

When we bought her she was in a tank with another female and a male. All good sizes.

Now we caught Dora grabbing the male by the claws and chomping her way straight though leaving just the claws 12hrs later:wall:

So we split the females incase Dora was hungry!

8 months later
Fatty (the other female, are we allowed to use names on here!?) had a baby whilst we were on holiday hence probably why she died with the baby because we weren't around.
So it left Dora.
1 month later Dora had babies

So I don't think I will ever get her a companion in case she eats him. Sad I know but even sadder when you see them chomping another scorp

 

[Thiscordia]

WOW !
I guess she's a natural loner then.lol

 

[Gilbz]

Righty

Dora is still 'smoking' that cricket waiting for babies to come and eat

Here's how we have set them up.
They are all in one tub with a small cap for water. I haven't put to much water in there just in case they're not swimmers

Humidity is 85 and temp is 85.

Oh and the tub is in a tank which has a plastic lid with no air holes, shall I punch some in??

 

[Ryan C.]

Put some ventilation holes and change the substrate to peat or coco fiber.

 

[Gilbz]

Will do.

Thank you

 

[Thiscordia]

Yeah I agree with RyanC the substrate you have now its too dry the babies need ome soft and humid substrate coco fiber is the best one I'll take pics of my babies and post m tomorrow.
Hey Ryan you live in Pomona that's cool my gf lives there.

 

[Deolok]

Wheres ponoma? Oh and the babies, what instar are they on and what length? Oh and deffinently put holes for ventilation, the lid will also help retain humidity as I am having problems with that on my emps tank (no lid) But I have also herd that humidity isn't really as important as temperature is.

 

[Ryan C.]

You mean Pomona. and its 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

 

[Deolok]

Oh thought it was Ponoma that we have here in Illinois.

 

[Thiscordia]

Nope Pomona AKA P-Town its here in Cali.

 

[Brian S]

Keep in mind you probably have Wild caught scorps so there is really no telling how old they are