Asian Forest Scorpion was gravid when i bought her. is going through the process of having babies. iv never dealt with a gravid scorpion before

[BunbunWithaGungun]

so, i bought her roughly a month ago. she was healthy and active, gave me absolutely no sign at all. the day i brought her home she even ate. now, i found out tonight as i was going to change her water and sponge. and when i leaned down to see where she was in her cage. ( shes made 2 burrows for herself as well as having her hide) i noticed a little white spot on her.. i thought maybe she was molting as i couldn't get a good look at her ( i didn't know her exact age. i was told she was still somewhat young) . but then she moved and i noticed that it was on her back. immediately i panicked a bit. and lifted her hide just enough to see her and so far i see two babies.

iv handled baby tarantulas before, but she is my first scorpion and this is my first time dealing with baby scorps all within a month of getting her. shes in a fairly small cage at the moment, iv removed the food i put in yesterday and im leaveing her alone.

from what i understand, after the babies first molt i should remove them. and they need more hydration? im double checking and getting as much information as i can to help me with this. i dont want to mess it up.

 

[Dry Desert]

so, i bought her roughly a month ago. she was healthy and active, gave me absolutely no sign at all. the day i brought her home she even ate. now, i found out tonight as i was going to change her water and sponge. and when i leaned down to see where she was in her cage. ( shes made 2 burrows for herself as well as having her hide) i noticed a little white spot on her.. i thought maybe she was molting as i couldn't get a good look at her ( i didn't know her exact age. i was told she was still somewhat young) . but then she moved and i noticed that it was on her back. immediately i panicked a bit. and lifted her hide just enough to see her and so far i see two babies.

iv handled baby tarantulas before, but she is my first scorpion and this is my first time dealing with baby scorps all within a month of getting her. shes in a fairly small cage at the moment, iv removed the food i put in yesterday and im leaveing her alone.

from what i understand, after the babies first molt i should remove them. and they need more hydration? im double checking and getting as much information as i can to help me with this. i dont want to mess it up.

As you've stated, leave well alone, at all times, only top up water after a couple of days. There are two trains of thought on this. Research says leaving the babies with their mother is better for the young. Others say as soon as the young are off the mother's back and moving around, separate them. I personally would leave them with mum. Your species of scorpion is one of the more tolerant towards having young around. If the mum does eat any of the young don't be upset, the mother knows they won't survive, sometimes she just snacks on a few. The mother will eat them all if you keep checking or fiddling with them. Regards feeding, offer a Crushed feeder when the young are out moving around, don't feed live at this time as the mother will see it as a threat and eat the young. Whether you leave the young with mum or separate is your choice, mind you, if they are in a small container at the moment probably best to separate when young are moving around.

 

[BunbunWithaGungun]

i have a container to move them into if i need. its a fairly small cage because i never expected her to have babies and if im able to leave them with their mother, does that mean they dont require any special treatment? higher humidity or is what shes comfortable at good enough for them. im mostly worried about molts. i dont want them to be disfigured or have difficult molts.

 

[Matts inverts]

If you do separate them, go to the grocery store or reptile store and get 10 ounce deli cups and add coco choir with sphag to each baby cup and separate them. Still feed prekilled until a bit bigger. Also, did you say the water dish has a sponge? These are proven to have bad bacteria. If your worried about big scorpion, add pebbles to the dish. Also, where did you get the scorpion?

 

[BunbunWithaGungun]

If you do separate them, go to the grocery store or reptile store and get 10 ounce deli cups and add coco choir with sphag to each baby cup and separate them. Still feed prekilled until a bit bigger. Also, did you say the water dish has a sponge? These are proven to have bad bacteria. If your worried about big scorpion, add pebbles to the dish. Also, where did you get the scorpion?

i got her from my local pet store. iv bought spiders, tarantulas and reptiles from them in the past and had no issues. even now, i don't consiture this a issue it was just unexpected. as for the sponges, i a ton of them, ( iv had hermit crabs) and i switch them out every 3 days. and disinfect them ( rinse of near boiling water, sea salt solution, rinse again then microwave for 2 minutes before letting to sit and dry compleatly.) iv done this for awhile and have had no isses with bacteria, fungus, mold or anything. but ill see if i can find some of those irrigation balls, the clay ones? those should work right? and should the babies be separated from each other or is putting them in a similarly sized enclose to their mother all together good? its a little bit bigger then a 5 gallon wide tank.

 

[Dry Desert]

i got her from my local pet store. iv bought spiders, tarantulas and reptiles from them in the past and had no issues. even now, i don't consiture this a issue it was just unexpected. as for the sponges, i a ton of them, ( iv had hermit crabs) and i switch them out every 3 days. and disinfect them ( rinse of near boiling water, sea salt solution, rinse again then microwave for 2 minutes before letting to sit and dry compleatly.) iv done this for awhile and have had no isses with bacteria, fungus, mold or anything. but ill see if i can find some of those irrigation balls, the clay ones? those should work right? and should the babies be separated from each other or is putting them in a similarly sized enclose to their mother all together good? its a little bit bigger then a 5 gallon wide tank.

If you are going to separate them from the mother house them individually. Lessons the chance of cannibalism and easier to monitor feeding, or upcoming moults.

 

[BunbunWithaGungun]

If you are going to separate them from the mother house them individually. Lessons the chance of cannibalism and easier to monitor feeding, or upcoming moults.

will do, i can get smaller enclosures pretty easily. thank for the help!

 

[Matts inverts]

I think it’s a 10 or 12 ounce deli cup for a baby scorpion of that size. I think 25 packs are 15 dollars from the store. I try not to buy WC animals but they just have babies some times. I think clay ones or washed pebbles are good

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

This genus does quite well when you leave the babies with the mother for a while, so there's no need to rush to separate them. Once you do, you can house individually or in small sibling groups, depending on the size of the enclosures. When reared together with sufficient space and food, Heterometrus don't tend to cannibalize their siblings.

 

[Edan bandoot]

get rid of that sponge, they're like petri dishes. If you're worried about drownings fill it with rocks or something.

 

[The Snark]

Just an FYI from the entomologists here. Cannibalism varies from mother to mother. examples being, observed - same species, mom entirely ignored offspring for over two months. Another case she ate all of them within days. Doesn't seem to be any reason for the drastic variations. I think they said these were H Silenus.

 

[Scarab38]

Really needed this post! Had my AFS for about a year now, and I went to mist her enclosure only to notice she had burrowed underneath her hide (warm) and had white protrusions on her back. Immediately started to panic! Long story short, I’m also going to be a scorpion grandparent, and would like to properly care for the scorplings until I figure out what I’m going to do with them. (My first scorpion btw.)

 

[Dry Desert]

Really needed this post! Had my AFS for about a year now, and I went to mist her enclosure only to notice she had burrowed underneath her hide (warm) and had white protrusions on her back. Immediately started to panic! Long story short, I’m also going to be a scorpion grandparent, and would like to properly care for the scorplings until I figure out what I’m going to do with them. (My first scorpion btw.)

Maybe your first scorpion, but now, definitely won't be the only one !!