# do you think she is pregnant?



## 4thGEN (Sep 18, 2007)

we just bought this hadogenes paucidens from out local pet store. we compared her to some pics we found on the net and our scorp looks a little thick. tell us what you think. thanks.


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## Michiel (Sep 18, 2007)

a little? She is huge! Cannot see the embryos through the pleural membrane though. What is the sponge doing in the enclosure? You know that these animals need an arid environment I hope, not humid....


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## 4thGEN (Sep 18, 2007)

i didnt know they needed an arid environment. do i just need to put a dish in there with water?


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## tyrel (Sep 18, 2007)

4thGEN said:


> i didnt know they needed an arid environment. do i just need to put a dish in there with water?


I did that for a while, but I needed a fair bit of ventilation. After I moved them to a glass lidded aquarium, the humidity got too high. Then I only offered water once or twice a month.

I've read that they can survive months in a completely dry terrarium, so you dont have too worry about offering water very often.


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## 4thGEN (Sep 18, 2007)

do you think she needs something to hide under if she is pregnant?


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## tyrel (Sep 18, 2007)

4thGEN said:


> do you think she needs something to hide under if she is pregnant?


I have no idea if she is pregnant or not, but a dark place is always a good idea.


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## pandinus (Sep 18, 2007)

it has been my experience that h paucidens does much better on dry peat or coco fiber than they do on sand. unlike their cousin H. troglodytes, i keep these guys in an arid/savannah environment, not a desert one, as the ones i tried like that did not make it. Take this with a grain of salt, as this is only my personal experience, not stone hard fact. in any case, i would ditch the sponge, get a shallow water dish, and definitely ditch the pea gravel, as i dont think that is appropriate for any scorpion.


John


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## tyrel (Sep 18, 2007)

pandinus said:


> it has been my experience that h paucidens does much better on dry peat or coco fiber than they do on sand. unlike their cousin H. troglodytes, i keep these guys in an arid/savannah environment, not a desert one, as the ones i tried like that did not make it. Take this with a grain of salt, as this is only my personal experience, not stone hard fact. in any case, i would ditch the sponge, get a shallow water dish, and definitely ditch the pea gravel, as i dont think that is appropriate for any scorpion.
> 
> 
> John


I think I know what you mean. I've put mine on sand and crushed walnut, (only for a few minutes each) an noticed that the were instantly up to their ankles in substrate. With their massive weight and tiny feet, they aren't really built for sand. I personally keep mine on fine gravel (2mm grain size). I can see how pea gravel might crunch feet, but the finer stuff seems to give a good foot-hold.


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## 4thGEN (Sep 18, 2007)

hey thanks for all the info! keep it coming


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## P. Novak (Sep 18, 2007)

Something tells me that shes gonna molt and is not actually gravid.


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## Australis (Sep 18, 2007)

Was gonna say tat too...she looks like shes gonna molt instead of popping.
She looks kinda young too so i guess, u wont see her pop in a year or so...if u have a male for her  

Their gestation period may put you off though


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## 4thGEN (Sep 19, 2007)

what could i do for her to help her molt?


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## Vfox (Sep 19, 2007)

Mine seems to do just fine on a dry peat substrate with a small water dish. The top is mesh, but still gets a little humid (probably because of the substrate), but it never seems to bother him. He is pretty active, and is regularly sitting on his rock, or on the peat near the other hide. His temp and humidity are 70-85º and 60-65% humidity. I think I'm going to get an IR lamp for him though, I want to get the humidity down a bit more. One thing I've noticed is, he rarely eats, maybe a cricket or two every other week, but I've been told that's normal for these guys. Does that hold true? I've only had him for a month or so, but haven't had any issues with him, seems pretty hardy for an "intermediate" species.


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## Australis (Sep 19, 2007)

frankly...i have yet to own a paucidens myself  
I only have an Opisthacanthus asper which is in the same family though...but they grow up much faster. They are nearing maturity soon.

i just keep them dry most of the time, and drip water on their mouths occasionally. When they get blimpy, i'll give them a quick shower...tats all


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## 4thGEN (Sep 19, 2007)

ok guys, ill just leave her alone for a few days and try to find her a bigger place to live like a 10 gallon tank. keep the comments rolling!


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## Australis (Sep 19, 2007)

For Hadogenes, u'll need more than a few days...everything this species do goes on sloooooow motion....besides the eating part


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## 4thGEN (Sep 21, 2007)

ok i went and bought a 10 gallon tank, and some store bought peat moss made by schultz. is that good enough? i also got her somewhere to hide until i get her some rocks to hide in between. here are a few pics.













also, what kind of lighting could i put on top of the tank when it gets dark? could i just use a blacklight or would that mess her up?


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## Xaranx (Sep 21, 2007)

That's a fatty all right, should be molting soon.  No blacklights, they are okay to have on every once in a while, but when used for extended amounts of time, will cause the scorpion to stop glowing and stress em out.  Use a red bulb.  I use a red bulb 24/7, they supposedly can't see it.  They don't need a daylight lamp as they are nocturnal creatures, ambient light will do fine.


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## 4thGEN (Sep 21, 2007)

how can you tell she is about to molt? thanks for the info.


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## Xaranx (Sep 21, 2007)

Well, you can see the pattern for the new tergites (back/top armor plates) through the membrane on the top.


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## 4thGEN (Sep 21, 2007)

ok this is wierd, she came out of her hiding spot and was walking aournd fine. then she stopped and is in this kind of wierd position and has this drop of water around her mouth. dont know where it came from.







her water dish isnt anywhere near her, so i hope that this drop on her face is a sign of moulting.


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## Vfox (Sep 21, 2007)

She may have been drinking water to try and swell her body to make the old skin break open. And don't worry about her drowning like that, they breath through "holes" in their underside.


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## 4thGEN (Sep 21, 2007)

why would she be excreting that liquid from her mouth though? she is sitting on the coco shell for a while now and there is a spot where it is soaked the size of about 2 quarters....


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## Vfox (Sep 21, 2007)

4thGEN said:


> why would she be excreting that liquid from her mouth though? she is sitting on the coco shell for a while now and there is a spot where it is soaked the size of about 2 quarters....


Maybe it's the opposite of what I said then, maybe she is expelling water to shrink herself down so she can wriggle herself out of the old skin. I can't say for sure though, I've never had one of these molt before, mines an adult.


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## 4thGEN (Sep 22, 2007)

i have had her for almost a week now and she hasnt ate a thing.


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## Xaranx (Sep 22, 2007)

Yeah that's what they do when they are getting ready to molt.  They don't eat.  Leave her alone for a week or so, keep the temps and humidity up and let her do her thing.  After the molt is completed you need to leave her alone for another 5-7 days, their exoskeleton is very soft after a molt and they are very vulnerable.


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## harleyhunter (Sep 28, 2007)

Well whats the update?

-Sam


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## 4thGEN (Oct 1, 2007)

she comes out at night and walks around for hours.... 

but just walks over crickets like they werent even there...maybe she is just getting used to her new place...hopefully


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## 4thGEN (Oct 10, 2007)

update...


she stays in her hide, the coconut shell. still havent found some flat rocks for her. i got a tank heater and stuck it on the side of her tank and now the temps stay above 80. my fiance said she saw her walking around near the warm spot of the heater.

i bought some calci-sand to mix up with the peat moss she is in. ive heard mixed reviews about that sand. but i dont think it should be a problem mixed in with the peat moss. 

any advice would be great!


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## Mr. Mordax (Oct 11, 2007)

My girl's on mixed sand and dry coco fiber.  I couldn't get flat rocks immediately so I bought some "faux slate" drink coasters and she hides under / between those just fine.  I've had her since January and she hasn't gotten _nearly_ that fat . . . yet.  Maybe that will give you an idea of how slow things go with them.

Mine also doesn't have a water dish.  I gave her one for a few days before reading on here to keep them bone-dry and that they didn't even need a water dish.


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## 4thGEN (Oct 11, 2007)

IHeartMantids said:


> My girl's on mixed sand and dry coco fiber.  I couldn't get flat rocks immediately so I bought some "faux slate" drink coasters and she hides under / between those just fine.  I've had her since January and she hasn't gotten _nearly_ that fat . . . yet.  Maybe that will give you an idea of how slow things go with them.
> 
> Mine also doesn't have a water dish.  I gave her one for a few days before reading on here to keep them bone-dry and that they didn't even need a water dish.




how much sand and dry coco fiber did you use?  the sand and peat mix that i have looks like its ALOT easier to walk on compared to just straight peat. the straight peat looks like it bothers them when they walk around and it sticks to them. when i get to clean their cages, i will go with the coco fiber.


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## Mr. Mordax (Oct 11, 2007)

It's about 50/50, and it's packed down nice and flat.  _H. paucidens_ aren't so much burrowers as they are crevic-hiders.


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## 4thGEN (Jan 13, 2008)

update:

she has maybe eating half of a cricket, and i still havent seen her drink water. this girl is tough!


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## Dom (Jan 13, 2008)

It looks like it's coming onto molt time (although I have been wrong before). A couple of mine looked like that for a year before they finally molted:wall: .I usually keep mine pretty dry but they will drink a fair amount of water when they want to molt, especially at this time of year when the humidity levels may be low. 
After seeing a few dozen of these I'm finding that the vast majority of imports are juveniles or sub-adults.
The very few adults I've seen have had males with a 2 1/4" body length and females with a 3" body length (nose to base of tail). If yours has a body length of 2 1/4" it's probably a female with one more molt in it.
I've had 3 of these molt for me and it can be a very slow process.


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## 4thGEN (Jan 13, 2008)

either way she still is neat to me. i like how she can jam her big body in tight spots in between rocks.


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## J.huff23 (Jan 13, 2008)

keep us updated


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## 4thGEN (Jan 13, 2008)

will do. cyris69 got me a male to go with her, not sure when i will introduce them though. he looks amazing!


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## 4thGEN (Jan 27, 2008)

i got her some slate rocks off of ebay. 29lbs of rocks for $23 shipped. anyway here is her tank now with the rocks...dont mind the gauge in there, i was just seeing how hot and humid it would get in there.



















for a second there i thought she was caught between some rocks. she is just a little hearty around her bottom end and squeezed herself i between and made her butt real flat...


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## Mr. Mordax (Jan 27, 2008)

Looks like a great setup!!    I can really see how these guys do the "squished-scorp" impersonation.


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## quiz (Jan 27, 2008)

i hope it's gravid.  How long/big is she now?


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## 4thGEN (Jan 28, 2008)

id say her body is a good 2 1/4 inches to 2 1/2 inches.


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## 4thGEN (Jan 29, 2008)

well it took her 133 days to start eating a real meal...check it out.


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## 4thGEN (Jan 30, 2008)

i love this picture! oh btw, it took her all day to finish that adult dubia.


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## Cyris69 (Jan 30, 2008)

Wow, look at that pic. I'll make some sort of death/goregrind metal song called Roach Disembowelment


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## 4thGEN (Jun 1, 2008)

first time ive ever seen her actually drink water...

i misted her tank with like 2 sprays and she came out and started to drink the water off of the rocks, so i put a bottle cap in with water and she drank up.


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## bjaeger (Jun 1, 2008)

Awesome! Must be exciting to see her drink for the first time 

I haven't seen my Emp drink yet.


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