# Maternal P. imperators



## Formerphobe (Mar 29, 2013)

I have SO enjoyed keeping these guys communally the past few years!  I've noticed with the multiple clutches (litters?) that the females always make sure the babies have food before they eat, up until a certain size/age.  Some mothers being so particular as to hand each baby a prey item or piece of prey item before they take food themselves.  Today I was able to pinpoint the size/age that babies lose their 'scorpling license'.  I had three females give birth the first week of January.  Until last week, the females were still making sure babies had food before they started stuffing their own faces.  

Today I tossed in a mix of crickets and mealworms.  Usually my scorps are partial to mealworms and superworms.  Today, crickets were the hot commodity.  Babies (~2.0 - 2.5") came popping out of everywhere to grab crickets.  In one tunnel I could see a scuffle going on between a mama and a baby.  Mama had baby in one claw and cricket in the other.  I had visions of cannibalism.  :-(  
Nope!  Mama gently held the baby, pulled the cricket out of its claws, stuffed the cricket in her own mouth and released the baby.  Same baby and another tried to take cricket from mama again.  She gently removed them and deposited the babies away from her.  Wash, rinse, repeat a couple of times.  Finally, the babies toddled off to find their own prey.  

So, I guess somewhere about 12 weeks of age and/or ~2.25 inches, mama scorpions no longer serve their children meals.  LOL
Do other species do this, or is it specific to Pandinus imperator?

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## ShredderEmp (Mar 29, 2013)

That is so cool. I'm glad the mom didn't cannabalize.


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## JZC (Mar 29, 2013)

I'm not really a scorpion guy, but that sounds amazing.


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## MrCrackerpants (Mar 29, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> I have SO enjoyed keeping these guys communally the past few years!  I've noticed with the multiple clutches (litters?) that the females always make sure the babies have food before they eat, up until a certain size/age.  Some mothers being so particular as to hand each baby a prey item or piece of prey item before they take food themselves.  Today I was able to pinpoint the size/age that babies lose their 'scorpling license'.  I had three females give birth the first week of January.  Until last week, the females were still making sure babies had food before they started stuffing their own faces.
> 
> Today I tossed in a mix of crickets and mealworms.  Usually my scorps are partial to mealworms and superworms.  Today, crickets were the hot commodity.  Babies (~2.0 - 2.5") came popping out of everywhere to grab crickets.  In one tunnel I could see a scuffle going on between a mama and a baby.  Mama had baby in one claw and cricket in the other.  I had visions of cannibalism.  :-(
> Nope!  Mama gently held the baby, pulled the cricket out of its claws, stuffed the cricket in her own mouth and released the baby.  Same baby and another tried to take cricket from mama again.  She gently removed them and deposited the babies away from her.  Wash, rinse, repeat a couple of times.  Finally, the babies toddled off to find their own prey.
> ...


Yes, this is a great observation. Thanks for the info. Can you tell us a little about your communal set up. How big? How deep is the sub? What is the sub? How many individuals and number of hides? Humidity and temperature? What is your heat source? \ I think this ^^^^^ information and the response to my questions could help many of use that have large numbers of this species and are trying to optimize our breeding projects. Thanks in advance. : )


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## Formerphobe (Mar 29, 2013)

MrCrackerpants said:


> Yes, this is a great observation. Thanks for the info. Can you tell us a little about your communal set up. How big? How deep is the sub? What is the sub? How many individuals and number of hides? Humidity and temperature? What is your heat source? \ I think this ^^^^^ information and the response to my questions could help many of use that have large numbers of this species and are trying to optimize our breeding projects. Thanks in advance. : )


At one point I had 9 adults in a 40 gallon tank.  I downsized - sold some and had one female separated out for a sale that fell through.  When the last batches of babies were born I had the one female in a five gallon who birthed 21 babies, and two females in a twenty gallon with a yet undetermined number of babies - at least 30, maybe more.  
Substrate ranges from 8 to 10 inches deep in the 20 gallon and is a mixture of coconut coir, peat, vermiculite, and potting soil.
Biggest hide is an exoterra cave that sits on the floor of the tank with dirt piled around and on top of it allowing tunnels into the three entrances.  The scorps have also made auxiliary burrows.
Heat source is a single heat mat mounted on the back of the tank. 
The screen lid is nearly completely covered with plastic wrap to maintain humidity.
A very large, shallow bowl sits on top of the exoterra cave and contributes to humidity.  By the bowl sitting on the cave, the scorps can't burrow under it and have it fall on them.
Live plants and isopods.
Humidity and temp... I couldn't tell you exactly.  High and warm?


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## MrCrackerpants (Mar 29, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> At one point I had 9 adults in a 40 gallon tank.  I downsized - sold some and had one female separated out for a sale that fell through.  When the last batches of babies were born I had the one female in a five gallon who birthed 21 babies, and two females in a twenty gallon with a yet undetermined number of babies - at least 30, maybe more.
> Substrate ranges from 8 to 10 inches deep in the 20 gallon and is a mixture of coconut coir, peat, vermiculite, and potting soil.
> Biggest hide is an exoterra cave that sits on the floor of the tank with dirt piled around and on top of it allowing tunnels into the three entrances.  The scorps have also made auxiliary burrows.
> Heat source is a single heat mat mounted on the back of the tank.
> ...


Thanks so much. This is very helpful. I am pretty close to this set up but, based on your recommendations, I will modify my enclosures. Is the heat mat of the ZooMed type? Do you have it mounted on the bottom of the back (versus the middle or top of the back)? If so, can the scorpions reach it? My concern is that since some of these mats are 120-125 F, I am wondering if the scorpions lay on the hot glass and get burned or die? My guess is that they don't since your having such great success! : ) Thanks again.:biggrin:


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## Formerphobe (Mar 29, 2013)

The heat mat is more toward the bottom of the back wall, centered from end to end.  The scorps could get against the glass next to part of the heat mat if they tried, but I haven't seen any burrows right against the glass.  Not where I can see, anyway.  The babies actually have a little tunnel that opens toward the front of the tank where there is no additional heat.


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## MrCrackerpants (Mar 29, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> The heat mat is more toward the bottom of the back wall, centered from end to end.  The scorps could get against the glass next to part of the heat mat if they tried, but I haven't seen any burrows right against the glass.  Not where I can see, anyway.  The babies actually have a little tunnel that opens toward the front of the tank where there is no additional heat.


Great! Thanks for the extra info and the clarification on the heat mat. My ZooMed heating pad comes where you can stick it on the side but over time the pad will no longer stick. How are you adhering yours to the side of your aquarium? I used duct (i.e., duck) tape last time but it was a mess with the gooey adhesive. I thought about mail packing tape but I was unsure if it is a fire hazard.  :biggrin:

---------- Post added 03-29-2013 at 10:42 PM ----------




Formerphobe said:


> When the last batches of babies were born I had the one female in a five gallon who birthed 21 babies, and two females in a twenty gallon with a yet undetermined number of babies - at least 30, maybe more.


With the 2 females and their babies in the 20 gallon: Were there issues with the Mother's attacking one another or attacking the babies that were not their own? 

Were you just using a flat rock for mating? 

With your original 9: How many males and how many females? 

Thanks :biggrin:

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## Formerphobe (Mar 30, 2013)

> With the 2 females and their babies in the 20 gallon: Were there issues with the Mother's attacking one another or attacking the babies that were not their own?
> 
> Were you just using a flat rock for mating?
> 
> With your original 9: How many males and how many females?


Originally there were three: adult male, adult female and sub-adult female.
Adult female gave birth to 6 and raised them all.  
The females drove the male out of the communal burrow before the babies were born and kept him out for several weeks while the babies were small.
The sub-adult female helped "Bertha" tend the babies.
Babies: 5 females, 1 male.

The nine of them co-habbed in the 40 gallon nicely for well over a year.
I found the young male deceased one day.  Not cannibalized, but removed from the burrow(s).  I don't know if the other male killed him fighting over females, or what happened.  All nine were still together at that time.
This past fall I found the old man dead.  The females would have been gravid.  I don't know if they killed him or if he died of old age.  That was about the time I broke down the big tank and sold off some of the females.

I'm assuming the two females still housed together share mothering duties since I previously witnessed an unrelated female helping care for another's babies.  They are all sharing a communal cave/burrow and I have no idea which scorplings belong to which mama.  It's entirely possible that only one female gave birth, though both looked gravid (or fat...) when I rehoused them. 

I just let nature take its course as far as mating.
I'm a novice at scorp keeping/breeding, but I would recommend only keeping one adult male per group of females.  And, unless you have a huge tank, remove the male once the females are gravid.

The original 'litter' of six were HUGE at birth.  The six of them completely covered her back.  I kept scorpions back in the 80s and remember larger litters of much smaller scorplings.  Maybe because she had so few, they had opportunity to get bigger(?).   We'd also had a snowstorm and power outage for several days a couple of months before she birthed them.  Maybe the drop in temperature caused her to delay birth (?).  These last groups of babies are the smaller size that I remember, but there are also a lot more of them.


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## MrCrackerpants (Mar 30, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> Originally there were three: adult male, adult female and sub-adult female.
> Adult female gave birth to 6 and raised them all.
> The females drove the male out of the communal burrow before the babies were born and kept him out for several weeks while the babies were small.
> The sub-adult female helped "Bertha" tend the babies.
> ...


Thanks again for all the great info. This^^^^^ also helps a lot! : )


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## Formerphobe (Apr 14, 2013)

Ok, I lied.  I thought both females in the communal gave birth in January.  Not so.  Yesterday, after feeding the commune, I discovered one of them with a back full of white babies.  She didn't seem disturbed in the least that her ~12 week old 'nieces and nephews' were milling about her and tussling over mealworms.  The 3 month olds are starting to carve out pint sized burrows for themselves, but for the most part seem to congregate with mom and 'auntie' in the largest cavern.


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## Formerphobe (Apr 20, 2013)

First views of the latest clutch of babies.  In the foreground is one of the ~12 week olds stuffing its face.  The white 'litter' on the substrate is the cast exuviae of the babies first molt.
Sorry the pics aren't any better.  I had to practically crawl down into the tank to get these.  I'm sure that would have made a comical picture that my kids could hold over me. LOL

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## MrCrackerpants (Apr 23, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> First views of the latest clutch of babies.  In the foreground is one of the ~12 week olds stuffing its face.  The white 'litter' on the substrate is the cast exuviae of the babies first molt.
> Sorry the pics aren't any better.  I had to practically crawl down into the tank to get these.  I'm sure that would have made a comical picture that my kids could hold over me. LOL


Cool! That Emp is really eating the meal worms!!


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## Formerphobe (Apr 27, 2013)

MrCrackerpants said:


> Cool! That Emp is really eating the meal worms!!


Yeah, they're little pigs!  LOL  
Last week I witnessed one of the now ~16 week old babies eating food from its mama's mouth.  They were literally 'lip to lip' and she wasn't pushing junior away.  
The latest babies are now off their mama's back and all seem to be happily milling around in the large communal burrow.


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## MrCrackerpants (Apr 28, 2013)

Great! Thanks for the update.


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## Formerphobe (May 5, 2013)

It was feeding time at the pig farm again last night.    The youngest babies are off mom's back and toddling around in groups or as individuals.  Before I opened the tank, both mamas and several of each clutch were out in the open.  (The mamas have been excavating, I guess making room for their growing children.) When the lid came off, all hightailed it for the main burrow, or vanished down auxiliary tunnels.  After I dumped the crickets, many of the juveniles reappeared to chase down crickets or squabble with their siblings.  It was a few minutes before I saw any babies at all.  When the babies reappeared, each was in possession of a cricket part.  I'm assuming the mamas were in the main burrow 'carving the turkey' and serving meals.  The larger juveniles continued to hunt crickets and squabble with each other, but left their younger siblings/cousins alone.  A few of the juvies even shared their catches with some of the babies, though most ran from the babies to avoid sharing.  LOL  Typical children!  The mamas were the last to come out of the burrow.  Both were empty-clawed and looking for meals of their own.


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## ShredderEmp (May 5, 2013)

That's so funny.


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## Cavedweller (May 18, 2013)

This is a great thread! I haven't read much on scorpion parenting behavior. How old were the scorplings when the females let the male back into the burrow?


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## Galapoheros (May 18, 2013)

lol I missed this thread.  Hey could you take a wide angle pic of the 40 gal you have them in?  I've seen some behavior like that too but I didn't pay so close attention.  The most I've seen is the mother killing something and dropping it, then the babies dig in.


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## Formerphobe (May 23, 2013)

Cavedweller said:


> This is a great thread! I haven't read much on scorpion parenting behavior. How old were the scorplings when the females let the male back into the burrow?


With the first clutch (2011), they were all back in the same burrow when the babies were about 3 - 4 months old.  This past fall when I broke down the tank and removed some of the females, it appeared as though the males were burrowed separately.  Since I don't see all of them on a regular basis (just front ends sticking out of burrow openings), I'm not really sure who was who.

---------- Post added 05-23-2013 at 10:59 AM ----------




Galapoheros said:


> lol I missed this thread.  Hey could you take a wide angle pic of the 40 gal you have them in?  I've seen some behavior like that too but I didn't pay so close attention.  The most I've seen is the mother killing something and dropping it, then the babies dig in.


I'll try to get some of those posted.


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## Formerphobe (May 30, 2013)

Galapoheros said:


> lol I missed this thread.  Hey could you take a wide angle pic of the 40 gal you have them in?  I've seen some behavior like that too but I didn't pay so close attention.  The most I've seen is the mother killing something and dropping it, then the babies dig in.


Here's a link from when I transferred them.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?223121-Very-unhappy-P.-imperators-(


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## Formerphobe (Jun 8, 2013)

I just acquired a free 50 gallon tank with stand, cover and multiple heat lamps.  I believe the babies have a new home.    I missed getting a free 100 gallon which would have housed all the scorps and allowed for continued growth.  Oh, well.  The 50 gallon fits in my room and the 40 gallon adult tank can go on the second shelf.


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## Formerphobe (Jun 13, 2013)

In the process of rehousing to a larger communal tank, I've counted 20 babies from the second January brood and 17 from the April brood.  There were 23 in the first January brood.  
I also got in some 'new blood', a couple of males and some unsexed juvies, to add to the gene pool.

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## Formerphobe (Jun 13, 2013)

Haven't replaced the plants yet, have more due to be delivered tomorrow.

---------- Post added 06-13-2013 at 08:37 PM ----------

New emps were thirsty upon arrival.

Two of the mamas - mother and daughter.

Pandinus piles


One April baby molted while in the holding tank.

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## ShredderEmp (Jun 13, 2013)

LOve how you called it a Pandinus pile haha. Is the mother-daughter duo gravid?


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## Formerphobe (Jun 13, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> LOve how you called it a Pandinus pile haha. Is the mother-daughter duo gravid?


Not at the moment.  I just received a male and have put him to work, so we'll see what happens in 6 - 9 months or so.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 13, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> Not at the moment.  I just received a male and have put him to work, so we'll see what happens in 6 - 9 months or so.


Nice. Good luck!

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## Formerphobe (Jun 14, 2013)

Plants arrived!  Now they just need time to grow.  New batch of isopods will be in next week.  All those babies wreaked havoc on the isopod colony!

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## ShredderEmp (Jun 14, 2013)

Love the moss.


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## Formerphobe (Jun 14, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> Love the moss.


Thanks.  Me, too.  I just hope it fares better than the last moss I had which ended up a lovely decaying brown mess.  Gack!


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 14, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> Thanks.  Me, too.  I just hope it fares better than the last moss I had which ended up a lovely decaying brown mess.  Gack!


I could see how torn up those backhoes would make it. What happened to your isopods? Mine just always died off.


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## Formerphobe (Jun 14, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> I could see how torn up those backhoes would make it. What happened to your isopods? Mine just always died off.


Amazingly, the scorpions left the moss alone.  It just didn't thrive.  :-(

I had the same thriving isopod colony for over four years.  Started with about 10, then there were hundreds! I even transplanted them into other humid enclosures (Avic, Ephebopus, Haplo).  I guess all the babies this year found them to be tasty little morsels.  The adults never bothered with them.

I'm getting cultures of T. tomentosa, P. scaber, P. pruinosus.  Going to keep a separate isopod tank so I always have some. They're great little maintenance workers.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 14, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> Amazingly, the scorpions left the moss alone.  It just didn't thrive.  :-(
> 
> I had the same thriving isopod colony for over four years.  Started with about 10, then there were hundreds! I even transplanted them into other humid enclosures (Avic, Ephebopus, Haplo).  I guess all the babies this year found them to be tasty little morsels.  The adults never bothered with them.
> 
> I'm getting cultures of T. tomentosa, P. scaber, P. pruinosus.  Going to keep a separate isopod tank so I always have some. They're great little maintenance workers.


I'm trying to culture them for when I get some again, but I don't know how to tell if the isopods are reproducing.


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## Formerphobe (Jun 14, 2013)

I threw 10 near adults in the original scorpion tank.  Next thing I knew I was seeing lots of all sizes.  I've seen wild 'roly polys' carrying their young on their ventrums, but have never observed that in any of my enclosures.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 14, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> I threw 10 near adults in the original scorpion tank.  Next thing I knew I was seeing lots of all sizes.  I've seen wild 'roly polys' carrying their young on their ventrums, but have never observed that in any of my enclosures.


Ok, then I guess I might have them breeding after all.


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## shebeen (Jun 15, 2013)

Shredder, try adding some decaying leaf litter to your Emperor enclosure to give your isopods something to eat and a place for the immatures to hide.  Usually, they can't really survive on uneaten cricket parts alone.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 15, 2013)

shebeen said:


> Shredder, try adding some decaying leaf litter to your Emperor enclosure to give your isopods something to eat and a place for the immatures to hide.  Usually, they can't really survive on uneaten cricket parts alone.


Well since Shredder died there is nothing in there, but I have been trying to raise them in a deli cup. I fed them raspberries which molded, but now are almost nothing but dirt. There is a pice of egg carton that is in there, but I don't know if they are using it. Lots of them burrowed in. I'll try the leaves once I get another Emperor.


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## shebeen (Jun 16, 2013)

Try tossing a couple pieces of dog or cat food kibble into the deli cup.  It will mold, but that's alright.  The isopods will eat both the mold and the kibble.  I also offer my cultures slivers of carrot, potato and mushrooms.


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## ShredderEmp (Jun 16, 2013)

shebeen said:


> Try tossing a couple pieces of dog or cat food kibble into the deli cup.  It will mold, but that's alright.  The isopods will eat both the mold and the kibble.  I also offer my cultures slivers of carrot, potato and mushrooms.


I got both dogs and cats so which d you think they like better?


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## shebeen (Jun 18, 2013)

I don't think it matters, they're not real picky.


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## Formerphobe (Jul 17, 2013)

I harvested some of the babies from the communal during feeding time today.  This recently molted January baby was one of the ones I was able to catch.  It still has its chocolate 'I'm-not-done-yet' color.

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## ShredderEmp (Jul 17, 2013)

Love it. How many do you think there are in there now? Are any females gravid?


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## Formerphobe (Jul 17, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> Love it. How many do you think there are in there now? Are any females gravid?


Between 3 broods, there were a total of 70 young.  (Convenient that they should produce even numbers.  LOL)  I can't seem to locate my exact counts from when I transferred them to the new tank, but I had traded/sold ~20, so there were about 50 babies left.  I'd gotten 5 new Emperors to add new blood to the colony (1 adult male, 1 immature male, and 3 unsexed).  I put each of the three adult females in with the adult male for about two weeks before returning them to the big colony.  Two of the females went back in with the babies and I put the last female and the adult male in with the other four new juveniles/subadults.
I guess I'll find out next year if the females are gravid.  

I wondered how the babies would fare with the females after having been separated for awhile.  At each re-introduction, multiple babies swarmed out of the burrows to greet the respective females.  It was pretty cool to watch.  In both cases, the females still had their britches in a twist from having been pulled out of their burrows and relocated.  They alternately raised claws and tails to me, and greeted the babies that formed their welcoming committees.  I have no idea if the mothers recognized their offspring (and vice versa) or if they were just greeting previous burrow mates, or just other emperors.

There are two primary burrows in the large tank.  Sometimes there will be one mama per burrow, sometimes both will be in the same burrow.  No rhyme nor reason.  The babies have created several auxiliary burrows.  The best I could tell, until I pulled about 10 out today, there were still about 50 babies in there.

ETA: my memory isn't what it used to be... I got off my butt and looked at my records: there were 60 total babies, I sold/traded 19, and I rehoused 41.


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## ShredderEmp (Jul 17, 2013)

Jeez, that's a lot of babies. That would be a cool thing to witness, own, and see how it evolves. Good job on putting up with that extraordinarily long pregnancy period. Have you ever had a gravid female "absorb" her young?


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## Formerphobe (Jul 17, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> Jeez, that's a lot of babies. That would be a cool thing to witness, own, and see how it evolves. Good job on putting up with that extraordinarily long pregnancy period. Have you ever had a gravid female "absorb" her young?


Well, the very first brood I had this decade, in April 2011, was a small brood of six and they were HUGE compared to what I remembered P. imp babies being from having raised them decades before.  I know she only had six because I watched her give birth.  She had six and raised six.  We had had a couple power outages over the winter and, try as I might, I couldn't keep the temps up to what they were used to.  Now this is just an assumption, but, I suspect the mama may have gotten too chilled and resorbed some of the babies.  The six fittest survived to be born.  It's remotely possible that she carried them longer, too, resulting in bigger babies. I could be totally wrong on both counts.  She may have only ever been meant to have six that first brood and they were just monster babies.  These last few broods have been the size and numbers that I remember.


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## ShredderEmp (Jul 17, 2013)

Ok. So its possible. Thank you.


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## Formerphobe (Jul 17, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> Ok. So its possible. Thank you.


As far as resorption?  Well, it happens in mammals.  I would think the same thing possible with inverts, as well.  Someone else may have more scientific data.  That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it until proven otherwise.


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## ShredderEmp (Jul 17, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> As far as resorption?  Well, it happens in mammals.  I would think the same thing possible with inverts, as well.  Someone else may have more scientific data.  That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it until proven otherwise.


I didn't know it happens in mammals. You learn something every day haha.


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## Formerphobe (Jul 17, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> I didn't know it happens in mammals. You learn something every day haha.


If a fetus expires in early pregnancy, it is frequently resorbed without issue.  Depending on stage of pregnancy, it can cause infection to the detriment and sometimes demise of the female.  Usually the further along the pregnancy, the higher the risk of infection due to the amount of necrotic tissue involved.  Deceased fetuses can also mummify in utero at various stages of development.  A mummified fetus may not cause problems ever, or could become problematic.


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## ShredderEmp (Jul 17, 2013)

o o
 -                  

This is for charachters.


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## Formerphobe (Jul 21, 2013)

One of the April babies caught molting.

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## ShredderEmp (Jul 21, 2013)

Awesome! How big are they now?


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## MrCrackerpants (Jul 21, 2013)

Formerphobe said:


> Plants arrived!  Now they just need time to grow.  New batch of isopods will be in next week.  All those babies wreaked havoc on the isopod colony!


This^^^^ is just amazing. Great job!

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## Formerphobe (Jul 26, 2013)

ShredderEmp said:


> Awesome! How big are they now?


They range in size from ~2 to ~4 inches.  When that molting picture was taken, that individual was ~1.5 inches.

---------- Post added 07-26-2013 at 07:08 AM ----------




MrCrackerpants said:


> This^^^^ is just amazing. Great job!


Thank you.  Now that the substrate has settled more and the scorps have made their own modifications, I need to add more.  Some of the plants are doing well, others didn't make it.  :-(  The moss can't decide what it wants to do.  LOL


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## Formerphobe (Jul 26, 2013)



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## Formerphobe (Jun 7, 2014)

Since I last posted on this thread:  I deliberately paired two mature females with a mature male (cohabbed in a smaller tank one month each July, August 2013).  In the large communal: one mature female (Big Bertha), two subadult males, ~7 juvenile/subadult unsexed, 40ish some babies.  I harvested and sold/traded about 35 scorps, mostly youngsters and males, over the past several months from the big tank, leaving approximately 7ish scorpions in the 50 gallon.

As of yesterday, I have at least two clutches on the ground in the large tank (born ~March and April judging from their sizes).  One clutch definitely from Bertha.  The other from one of the subadults - all of whom must have been more mature than I thought...  And there is yet another good sized female in there that appears to be gravid.  Nearly all of the January 2013 'babies' I harvested had dark telsons at time of sale/trade, so the remaining gravid female may be one of those.

In a separate tank are the two adult females I cohabbed with the male.  Both have babies on their backs.  One I noticed the last week in May, and the other I watched being born on June 3rd. So their gestation lasted almost exactly 10 months.

Big Bertha, the oldest female was acquired as an adult in winter 2009/2010 and is still going strong.  I saw her out of the burrows collecting crickets for her babies when I fed the other day.  She is huge! Easy 7 inches stem to stern, possibly more.

The two females in the 20 gallon are sisters, born April 2011.  Despite having ample space to stake out their own territory, they have elected to share a communal burrow/nursery and raise their babies together under one 'roof'.  This is second clutch for both of them.


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## Formerphobe (Nov 15, 2014)

How many scorplings can fit in one hole?

Feeding time at the pig farm...

One of the mamas

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