Babies!

[skinheaddave]

Yeah, this is how it's supposed to be. We've spotted a minimum of five with only a cursory inspection of the enclosure. There are LOTS of hiding spots for even the adults, though, and many more small enough for the babies. I've held off on cleaning out some of the leftover crickets from the last feeding (last night) so that the babies can scavange, and have put a crushed cricket in an area of the bark where two have been hanging out. The one Tamara caught has been placed in a small vial with a cricket leg. I'll let you know how things progress.

Cheers,
Dave

P.S. Haven't done any research on why the last batch didn't develop after seperation from mom yet. I have my first midterm on Friday, so I've been busy with that.

 

[Kugellager]

I would suggest that if you catch any of the adults sampling the juvies that you remove them ASAP...but I suppose that is only a redundant suggestion as I'm sure you though of that already.

John
];')

 

[skinheaddave]

I'm going to try to remove them regardless. Easier said than done, however, as we have a very complex setup with 21 medically significant adults in it. This makes the delicate task of catching the young'uns very difficult. They have lots of places to hide and I have to be very wary of where I'm sticking my hands.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by skinheaddave
Easier said than done, however, as we have a very complex setup with 21 medically significant adults in it. This makes the delicate task of catching the young'uns very difficult. They have lots of places to hide and I have to be very wary of where I'm sticking my hands.

Cheers,
Dave

What was the appeal of this particular aspect of the hobby again? ;P

 

[Kugellager]

Code,

Its like when you were a kid and went down that steep hill on your rollerskates....The first time was pretty scarry but after you do it a few times its not so bad. You just need to me mindful....like when you are useing a power saw or firearm...you always need to respect the potential danger and not get careless.

The C.exilcauda that Dave keeps have not killed anyone in the US since about 1964.

John
];')

 

[skinheaddave]

Nadkicker,

Yep, John got it right. The appeal is getting these facinating creatures to breed and raising the young to adulthood. It just so happens that these are the most venomous scorpions in the US. Not that they would kill me or anything, but I'd really rather not get stung.

This particular setup has been really quite useful for me. The sheer number of individuals means that there is usualy (but not always) someone out in the open. I have seen matings, lots of prey capture, and now the raising of the young. I've probably seen more interesting aspects of scorpion behaviour than through all my other scorpions combined (my H.spinifer are also communal, but with only three individuals max and a cluttered environment, I don't see as much).

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

I am now more confident than ever for the survival of the young'uns I haven't been able to capture. I managed to snag two and probably could haves snagged another but was mentaly fatigued from a midterm and didn't want to risk a slip-up.

Anyhow, I was cleaning around behind the tank and bumped it. One of the young'uns ran into a crevice with an adult who didn't look overly well fed or anything. The young'un sat on the adult's back and the adult seemed to actualy be trying to move away. Then the baby went and sat right in front of the adult as if to say "eat me if you want." The adult just sat there. The baby then wandered off.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Wade]

I've been nailed by C. gracilis when trying to do exactly what Dave is doing. Yeeouch!

I now raise them all together, babies and adults. They seem to do fine, although I assume someone gets munched every now and then.

Wade

 

[skinheaddave]

Wade,

I will assume the presence of only once exlamation mark means that the C.gracilis was from the more northern part of its range?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[zoobugs]

Don't worry, Dave. If you've that many exilicaudas in a tank, you'll be getting more babies again.
Best...
Jim

 

[skinheaddave]

I would certainly hope so. I've already witnessed a couple matings and there are a few more females wandering around who look like they're due.

I was flipping through the first Polis book last night and it does mention in there that with only one known exception, the first instar MUST be on their mother's back to survive. It mentioned two facts that might give us some clues:

1: As we all know, babies get their moisture from mom during first instar. It is possible that this very specific level of moisture in an otherwise dry environment is important. Perhaps the more humid environments resulted in too much water being taken in?

2: The bond between mother and child is maintained by a sort of chemical signature. What if there are pysiological concequences of these signatures? It isn't hard to imagine that a young'un picks up certain cues, which trigger internal signal molecules which are necessary in the ....?

Anyhow, those are my thoughts for the moment. If anyone has others or comments on mine, I'd love to hear them.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Wade]

Yeah, they were the Florida ones...

First time it happened, it felt like my finger had been slammed in a car door and lasted several hours.

Next time, the pain was much less and subsided in 30 minutes or so. Go figure!

Wade

 

[skinheaddave]

Desensitization? Less venom injected? The first experience rendered you immune to what we mortals know of as "pain?"

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

Update on the babies:

I've still only captured two. I have seen up to five simultaneously within the enclosure. I do worry about them sometimes, though. They have a tendancy to follow edges, which ends up with them being trampled by the older scorpions. At one point I watched two young'uns walk along about 1/2 the front of the tank underneath and adult. They were trampled the whole way, and yet they seemed to chose to hide under the older one. Did they just have no real concept of where to go? Were they seeking protection under the adult? Some interesting stuff to think about.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[atavuss]

Originally posted by Kugellager
Sounds good that they are clustering together. Maybe they will make it. I know one of the main reasons they stay on the mothers back is to keep the humidity up a bit. Maybe they will achieve the same effect if the remain clustered together and you ae mindful of the humidity in the container.

John
]:^7

I don't get the association with humidity being higher on the mother's back, can someone enlighten me please?
Ed

 

[skinheaddave]

Ed,

First instar scorpions take up their nutrients from stored yolk and their water via their mother's cuticle. The humidity on her back is somewhat higher than the surrounding environment.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

Interesting observation.

I caught a clance at one of my C.exilicauda walking around with a baby on its back. It is very obviously one of the 2nd+ instar young from the last litter. It has been on her back for about half an hour now as she has been walking around. Very odd. As I typed that, the baby crawled off her back and the adult took off.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

Well, there are still young'uns in my communal enclosure. As far as I can tell, they haven't started with their next moults yet. The two I have seperated out certainly haven't.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Gillian]

Originally posted by skinheaddave
Well, it is offical. 0% survivability. It looks like most didn't make their first moult, despite being well overdue.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave,
I'm so sorry.... Here's hoping you have better luck..

Peace,
Gillian

 

[Henry Kane]

Bummer Dave. Well, at least you did gain some good knowlege and experience from the experiment.

Atrax