Tailles whip scorpions- WC vs. CB

[Nir Avraham]

There is something weird I noticed about their growth rate... WC babies are growing much faster then the CB that I keep. It took about 4-5 year for my CB babies to reach adult size, and about 2-3 for the WC to reach adult size. And I've seen that not only in my collection.
I'm talking about damon variegatus. I've managed to successfully breed them about 5 times in the past 2 years... I have WC pair...
Did anybody else noticed the difference in the growth rate? What can cause that?

 

[pannaking22]

That's interesting, I wonder if it has something to do with the variable diet they'd have in the wild? Sometimes they could catch a massive meal that would be good enough to get them to molt, but in captivity they tend to get smaller prey items (a generalization, I know). @wizentrop @schmiggle any thoughts on this?

 

[wizentrop]

Based on how many specimens? In my experience, which is based on a few hundreds individual specimens, there is no difference in growth rates between WC and CB juveniles. There is however, a difference when you start comparing different species, or members of different families. Always take into account that diet-wise animals fair much better in the wild, they have more chances to catch a variety of prey items which are missing in captivity. But then in captivity there are less enemies/pathogens that can negatively affect their health and longevity. It's a complex web of interactions, and cannot be simplified by just saying WC grow faster..

 

[sschind]

I don't have any experience with WC other than adults but one interesting note I have seen with some of my CB babies is that the ones I kept communally grew faster than the ones I kept individually. They did not molt any more often but the size increase between molts was greater. With one batch I pulled out a dozen and kept them communally in a large tub. I kept them this way for two molts and when I separated them I noticed the ones kept individually who had also gone through 2 molts were about 1/4 smaller. I attributed this to the fact that I made sure to keep plenty of food in with them so they did not cannibalize each other.

I have a female ready to pop any day now maybe I'll try to see if I can replicate the experience.