# Help with Parabuthus Transvaalicus???



## SixShot666 (Feb 24, 2010)

Can anyone please give me some tips/advices in regards to the 2nd instar Parabuthus Transvaalicus??? Does this species has a high infant mortality rate?? I searched the web and only received general info's, I would rather much prefer to hear from someone who has owns one.


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## psychofox (Feb 24, 2010)

If you keep them right, you won't experience high mortality among the young. I have practically no deaths with raising this and similar species.

The most important thing to remember is to don't trust those who advice you to keep your desert species bone dry. P. transvaalicus is a species that requires a bit humidity in the early instars, especially when molting. I give all my Parabuthus species a weekly spraying, and the early instars get a rather good spray twice a week or so. People who experience molt problems with this species usually keep them too dry. 

Also be sure to keep the temps high.


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## Widowman10 (Feb 24, 2010)

i acquired mine as a 2i and have had great success! as PF said, high temps, and a slight misting every week (or twice a week) with lots of food is great. mine molted every month for 2 months and has slowed down now that she's bigger. they will grow very fast though if kept this way. voracious eaters too.


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## SixShot666 (Feb 24, 2010)

Thanks a lot Psychofox for the advices. How many instars does it take for them to mature....and how long is that process???


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## SixShot666 (Feb 24, 2010)

Widowman10 said:


> i acquired mine as a 2i and have had great success! as PF said, high temps, and a slight misting every week (or twice a week) with lots of food is great. mine molted every month for 2 months and has slowed down now that she's bigger. they will grow very fast though if kept this way. voracious eaters too.


COOL!!! That's the same instar that I acquired mine. I just received 3 of them...Hopefully they all make it to adulthood.


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## MiGZ (Feb 24, 2010)

hope all goes well for you SixShot666, goodluck with the slings, they are voracious eaters, they eat almost every day and with good conditions, early instars will molt in a month, but when it is on its 5i+ it takes 2 or more months to molt, it will take almost 2 years for a sling to grow until adult, cheers!


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## SixShot666 (Feb 24, 2010)

migzvalenciano said:


> hope all goes well for you SixShot666, goodluck with the slings, they are voracious eaters, they eat almost every day and with good conditions, early instars will molt in a month, but when it is on its 5i+ it takes 2 or more months to molt, it will take almost 2 years for a sling to grow until adult, cheers!


Thanks for the info's Migzvalenciano!!! Yeah, I'm real excited about these little guys. Hopefully all goes well.


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## MiGZ (Feb 24, 2010)

more info, p.trans are hardy scorps, it easy to take care of and it has low mortality rate on keeping this specie base on the claims of other fellow hobbyist i know


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## Widowman10 (Feb 24, 2010)

SixShot666 said:


> Thanks a lot Psychofox for the advices. How many instars does it take for them to mature....and how long is that process???


for most parabuthus (trans specifically), males mature at 6th instar and females mature at 7th instar.


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## gromgrom (Feb 24, 2010)

I'm not a very experienced scorp keeper yet, but how hard is it to breed these guys? And how often do they do their dreaded "spraying"? Thanks


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## reverendsterlin (Feb 24, 2010)

I have yet to have one of mine spray but also I do little to irritate them. Breeding is fairly easy, that said it is the point where you are sexing them that may put you in a position to be stung. A perti dish is a great way to allow you to get pectine counts safely.


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## Galapoheros (Feb 24, 2010)

ditto ditto, they are a fun scorp, pretty easy, usually clean their plate!


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## gromgrom (Feb 24, 2010)

I just love the way they look, and if i can get a breeding pair and some mating going, i can sell them to a local reptile store ;p maybe


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## psychofox (Feb 24, 2010)

Many large Parabuthus species, including P. transvaalicus, often matures in 7-8th instar. Actually, most of my adult P. trans males have matured in 7th instar, and the only adult female I've got at the moment matured in 8th instar. 

Males maturing in 6th instar will mature in about one year (my current 6th instars are less than a year old), while extra molts will naturally require more time. Unless you've got a female that goes to 8th instar, I would think your specimens would mature at around 1-1,5 years, granted that the temperature, humidity and feeding are optimal.


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## Nomadinexile (Feb 24, 2010)

gromgrom said:


> I just love the way they look, and if i can get a breeding pair and some mating going, i can sell them to a local reptile store ;p maybe


Depends on the store grom.   These aren't scorpions you want to be selling to petsmart.   They will kill someone with one of their employees stupidity, if not just kill one of their employees.  Particularly considering the spray defense.  These scorpions are not inherently dangerous to the experienced and well versed keeper, but to your average pet store customer they are.   These can and do kill small children and the elderly in their home countries.  They should stay closer to the hobby than your average specie.   At least on here, if someone sells you one or 10, they will tell you all about it if you don't already know.   Lots of pet stores have 17 year old kids who only care what time they get off...  Even ZooKeepers, which has lots of inverts and experienced staff, doesn't shelve any dangerous species.  They will direct you to local hobbyists instead.   That is the best situation I think.  I would bet you could sell your slings on here just fine.  (Plus, many pet stores, NOT ALL, but the chains and some  others, will just kill the slings.  Or not tell their customers enough, and they would just kill them.   SO, how about you just sell them to me?   

Jk.   Sell them wherever you want.  But I would think long and hard about putting P. trans on shelves.   If it was going to work, it would have to be a place that had an "adult" section, or had them in back where only the employees go, so when someone like me comes in, you can say, well, I don't have them out, but since you are here,...   But you would have to be on it.  And they would have to be on it.   I.D. Like super I.D. ninjas.  The whole works...    Maybe....


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## gromgrom (Feb 24, 2010)

Its a captive born reptile store. they only buy captive bred animals from people. its definitely not petsmart; they keep their animals in good shape for what little business they get.

They already wanna buy P. Imperators off of me when i get these girls to molt, i'm not SURE if they'd want them, but i'm sure the manager might want one for himself


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## Galapoheros (Feb 24, 2010)

psychofox said:


> Many large Parabuthus species, including P. transvaalicus, often matures in 7-8th instar. Actually, most of my adult P. trans males have matured in 7th instar, and the only adult female I've got at the moment matured in 8th instar.
> 
> Males maturing in 6th instar will mature in about one year (my current 6th instars are less than a year old), while extra molts will naturally require more time. Unless you've got a female that goes to 8th instar, I would think your specimens would mature at around 1-1,5 years, granted that the temperature, humidity and feeding are optimal.


I can back that up!, I had a male that matured in 9 months once.  I'm thinking I kept it a little hot though.  Hey psychofox, or anybody else, do you know if transvaalicus have a dormant period in their natural habitat in Africa?  And if so, what causes it, rain, temp change..?


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## Nomadinexile (Feb 24, 2010)

gromgrom said:


> Its a captive born reptile store. they only buy captive bred animals from people. its definitely not petsmart; they keep their animals in good shape for what little business they get.
> 
> They already wanna buy P. Imperators off of me when i get these girls to molt, i'm not SURE if they'd want them, but i'm sure the manager might want one for himself


Yeah, the manager can have them.   

I'm glad they only do captive bred, that's nice.   But do they sell other possibly lethal animals?  I mean, I guess a boa can dangerous too...  But this is different.  The Venom thing, spraying...  I would say if they sell Cobras, and Timber Rattlers, and card like hell for them, then it's cool I guess.  :?  Otherwise, I would just make that a special treat for her, and maybe she'll get you a cool species someday.


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## gromgrom (Feb 24, 2010)

Nomadinexile said:


> Yeah, the manager can have them.
> 
> I'm glad they only do captive bred, that's nice.   But do they sell other possibly lethal animals?  I mean, I guess a boa can dangerous too...  But this is different.  The Venom thing, spraying...  I would say if they sell Cobras, and Timber Rattlers, and card like hell for them, then it's cool I guess.  :?  Otherwise, I would just make that a special treat for her, and maybe she'll get you a cool species someday.


Its a guy 
I talked to him today, he's real interested in one for himself, but he cant sell them, even to "adults" and such due to lawsuits. 
Annnddd hes looking forward to me selling him emp babies. his favorite specie is the H. Arizonesis and he wants them for his store. His problem is he only could find adults while in arizona... and importing them and then keeping them until someone bought them is a chore. 

but yea... i may not breed them, but i'd like a p. Transvaalicus. but really, how defensive are they? and the spraying? i've heard from one user that he really had to make it mad for it to spray, not just "opening the enclosure."


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## SixShot666 (Feb 24, 2010)

gromgrom said:


> Its a guy
> I talked to him today, he's real interested in one for himself, but he cant sell them, even to "adults" and such due to lawsuits.
> Annnddd hes looking forward to me selling him emp babies. his favorite specie is the H. Arizonesis and he wants them for his store. His problem is he only could find adults while in arizona... and importing them and then keeping them until someone bought them is a chore.
> 
> but yea... i may not breed them, but i'd like a p. Transvaalicus. but really, how defensive are they? and the spraying? i've heard from one user that he really had to make it mad for it to spray, not just "opening the enclosure."


They're definitely more defensive than my Babycurus Jacksoni.....As for the spraying there was one member (Galapoheros) here not too long who posted a video of one spraying. But as you can see in the video, Galapoheros had to literary tailed it and touched the telson for it to spray.


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## SixShot666 (Feb 24, 2010)

Widowman10 said:


> for most parabuthus (trans specifically), males mature at 6th instar and females mature at 7th instar.


Interesting.....Thank!!!


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## Nomadinexile (Feb 24, 2010)

SixShot666 said:


> They're definitely more defensive than my Babycurus Jacksoni.....As for the spraying there was one member (Galapoheros) here not too long who posted a video of one spraying. But as you can see in the video, Galapoheros had to literary tailed it and touched the telson for it to spray.


Like most animals, when they first come, they will be more defensive, as they get "used to us", they worry and therefore spray, less....  Often after captivity, it is hard to get them to spray.  Nevertheless, the fact that it is capable, of doing it anytime, should be in your mind every single time you open it's cage.  It can.  It may not.  But it may.  It may be having a bad day, or a leg cramp.    Just don't ever forget...  Or you'll be standing in your shower hoping you didn't just loose your sight permanently.


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## SixShot666 (Feb 24, 2010)

Nomadinexile said:


> Like most animals, when they first come, they will be more defensive, as they get "used to us", they worry and therefore spray, less....  Often after captivity, it is hard to get them to spray.  Nevertheless, the fact that it is capable, of doing it anytime, should be in your mind every single time you open it's cage.  It can.  It may not.  But it may.  It may be having a bad day, or a leg cramp.    Just don't ever forget...  Or you'll be standing in your shower hoping you didn't just loose your sight permanently.


Yeah I'll keep that in mind. Normally I wash my hands throughly if I have to open their KK and put my hands in there. Because they're still so young, chance are that they might spray a very fine mist onto my hand without me knowing it. So it always better to be safe than sorry.


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## jayefbe (Feb 25, 2010)

Uh, I wouldn't be sticking my hands into a level 5 species enclosure, even if they are incredibly small.  I use 10 inch tweezers for everything.


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## MiGZ (Feb 25, 2010)

i never saw my 3 p.trans adults spray venom, i've only seen this specie spray venom on some video posted here in AB, but i was stung once by my mature male p.trans, it was like living in hell, feels like a very hot object piercing through my flesh, but it only lasted a few hours, i guess the p.trans injected only small amount of venom, stupid yet feeling lucky 

hope nothing like this ever happen to all of you


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