Bought a scorpion, it had babies, now what?

[Nae]

On May 6th I bought a scorpion, the lady I bought it from told me it could live in this deli cup it's entire life and be fine as long as I kept the substrate moist and fed it crickets every other week. She told me it's an Asian Forest Scorpion. I know I don't want to keep it in this deli cup, that doesn't seem like correct information, and honestly to me, seems cruel. I looked into it and I think I have the basic idea of what it needs, so I went out and got supplies the next day to more properly care for it until I had a chance to do more research and talk to someone who knows more than I do. BUT, plot twist, when I got home from supply shopping, I found that my new scorpion had this little white baby on it's back. I read that you shouldn't move her while she's having babies, so at the moment she's still in the deli cup. There is one baby on the substrate at the moment, and two on her back. How should I deal with the one on the ground? should I leave it, try to put it on her back, take it out? I don't want it to die, I want them all to be ok. What should I do? I have never had a scorpion before, have no experience with anything like this at all. I know I should have done more research on this, but I never expected babies, I was under the impression that it was a male. I just want them all to be ok and cared for properly.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Permanently keep a mature female AFS in a deli-cup? That's some pretty bad misinformation right there. Somebody should be along to offer tips on how you should deal with the babies, I keep some, but apart from raising one of them from a baby that was already prepared to be separated from its mother, I have no experience with rearing them from "scratch".

 

[Nae]

I told the lady I had never kept a scorpion and asked for some advice, and when she told me it could live in that deli cup, I was taken aback. I had originally gotten the scorpion and was getting it food and a basic setup as a surprise to give to by brother as a gift because he loves all things "creepy crawly" and has had them before, so I felt he could care for it. But now that there are babies, I don't want to move her around a lot to take her over to his house. I just want them all to be happy and healthy before any transporting happens.
And as for the one on the substrate, its smaller than the other 2, I had to take it out because she was stepping on it when she moved around. I was afraid she'd kill it, if it even has a change at all. I just don't know.

 

[Scorpionluva]

some do just fall off if mama is being a little rowdy and some times it can be a weaker specimen also
I've seen alot of mama's actually scoop babies up with her claw that have fell off and they were just fine but usually if it falls off and doesn't make it's own way back on or with mama's help... it could be a weak baby
If you try to keep it housed alone you'll want a very small deli cup with almost no ventilation , very humid with a moist paper towel and a temp of low 80's if possible to try and keep it alive and able to molt to 2nd instar
If it makes to 2nd instar - it has a good chance to survive

 

[Jonathan159]

Most scorplings will sit on the mothers back for anywhere between 1 and 2 weeks. There' no sure way to ensure all will survive but precautions can be taken:
Firstly keep the humidity around 80% and temperature around 80f also. Keep mum well fed as scorpions are cannibalistic and she will certainly eat her own offspring. Regularly check the scorplings and look for the ones that have molted (at birth is a first instar, after the first molt is then a second instar and so forth). Typically once a scorpion has made it successfully into its second instar it will leave the safety of mums back and fend for itself so at this point you should separate the 2nd instar scorpling and place it into its own enclosure to protect against mum eating it. Feed the scorplings regularly with pinheads while maintaining the humidity and temperature and hope for the best!

 

[Dave Jay]

Good advice but I think it should be pointed out that first instar scorpions don't eat, it's only after they have moulted and left their mother that they need food.
Some experts recommend not feeding the mother if she has been well fed previous to giving birth to minimise the chance of uneaten prey harming the babies, crippled or dead food could be offered if you feel the mother may be hungry although in a deli cup you'd know immediately if live prey was taken or not I guess.
In extreme conditions a gravid scorpion will often reabsorb the embryos so you would think that it hasn't been starved or neglected in the long term.
I really don't hold much hope for the baby that was abandoned really, usually animals seem to know instinctively when one of their offspring is not worth raising, we then fight a losing battle to save them and feel like we have contributed to their death somehow and upset ourselves.
You don't have a lot of space for the young to spread out and hide from mum when they leave her back, about all you could offer would be sphagnum moss I think. If you don't have sphagnum moss atm it would be worth buying some as it is helpful when raising babies, imo it's the only 'decor' that's needed in their housing.
I'll point out that I don't have experience with this particular species, but from experience with other species I think it's unlikely that a mother scorpion will eat her babies if they are still on her back unless under very extreme conditions and she decides 'abort' and regain the nutrients. In the case where they leave her back while still first instar she will almost certainly eat them, but they will only leave her if she is not providing what they need because of dehydration usually.
It's hard to know whether you should rehouse her now, you have to weigh up whether the stress of being moved will be more than the stress of being in the deli cup. Being that she did actually feel comfortable enough to give birth perhaps she's not too stressed being in the tub. If there is a way to place the deli cup inside of a larger enclosure and let her decide whether to escape or not that might be the way to go. Perhaps a picture or two of her situation might help people advise you on what to do.
If the babies don't survive please understand that it is not your fault, the situation is far from ideal through no fault of your own.

 

[Jonathan159]

Good advice but I think it should be pointed out that first instar scorpions don't eat, it's only after they have moulted and left their mother that they need food.
Some experts recommend not feeding the mother if she has been well fed previous to giving birth to minimise the chance of uneaten prey harming the babies, crippled or dead food could be offered if you feel the mother may be hungry although in a deli cup you'd know immediately if live prey was taken or not I guess.
In extreme conditions a gravid scorpion will often reabsorb the embryos so you would think that it hasn't been starved or neglected in the long term.
I really don't hold much hope for the baby that was abandoned really, usually animals seem to know instinctively when one of their offspring is not worth raising, we then fight a losing battle to save them and feel like we have contributed to their death somehow and upset ourselves.
You don't have a lot of space for the young to spread out and hide from mum when they leave her back, about all you could offer would be sphagnum moss I think. If you don't have sphagnum moss atm it would be worth buying some as it is helpful when raising babies, imo it's the only 'decor' that's needed in their housing.
I'll point out that I don't have experience with this particular species, but from experience with other species I think it's unlikely that a mother scorpion will eat her babies if they are still on her back unless under very extreme conditions and she decides 'abort' and regain the nutrients. In the case where they leave her back while still first instar she will almost certainly eat them, but they will only leave her if she is not providing what they need because of dehydration usually.
It's hard to know whether you should rehouse her now, you have to weigh up whether the stress of being moved will be more than the stress of being in the deli cup. Being that she did actually feel comfortable enough to give birth perhaps she's not too stressed being in the tub. If there is a way to place the deli cup inside of a larger enclosure and let her decide whether to escape or not that might be the way to go. Perhaps a picture or two of her situation might help people advise you on what to do.
If the babies don't survive please understand that it is not your fault, the situation is far from ideal through no fault of your own.

More great advice from @Dave Jay here. I 100% agree

 

[darkness975]

I told the lady I had never kept a scorpion and asked for some advice, and when she told me it could live in that deli cup, I was taken aback. I had originally gotten the scorpion and was getting it food and a basic setup as a surprise to give to by brother as a gift because he loves all things "creepy crawly" and has had them before, so I felt he could care for it. But now that there are babies, I don't want to move her around a lot to take her over to his house. I just want them all to be happy and healthy before any transporting happens.
And as for the one on the substrate, its smaller than the other 2, I had to take it out because she was stepping on it when she moved around. I was afraid she'd kill it, if it even has a change at all. I just don't know.

That person has no right to be giving anyone information about anything, let alone scorpion care.

If you wanted to, you could prepare a proper enclosure for her and then gently place the deli cup in the substrate of the enclosure in such a way that she can walk off on her own. That way you don't have to touch her or upset her and risk harm to the offspring.

 

[Nae]

I am just now getting a chance to sit down and reply, but I checked on them this morning and the one that fell off has passed, and the two that were on her back are now upside down on the substrate. One is moving it's legs a bit, so I'm not sure if there's a chance for it to survive or not at this point. I will try to load up a couple photos from my phone as well.

 

[Nae]

Photos.

 

[Jonathan159]

Oh wow! Is that the container the shop said you could keep the scorpion in?! It' doesn't sound good for the scorplings to be perfectly up front about. Scorpions do not flip over onto their backs to molt as T's do so to see scorpions on their backs is a bad sign. Don't get your hopes up and don' get down about it. Survival rates for scorplings are quite low, even professional breeders have trouble. All the best. Hope the little things prove me wrong.

 

[Dave Jay]

Photos.

Double Oh Wow!!!
Scorpions can do quite well in tubs, but that is just crazy! It's way too small, I'm not surprised at all that you're losing the babies, don't blame yourself at all.
Even if you'd had a good set up she birthed very soon after getting her so it still would have been iffy.
It's can be hard to tell if a scorpion is gravid so I can't really fault the shop on that but that tub is way too small.
First instars moult on their mothers back in my experience, and often leave shed skins attached to the mother, no doubt that the others are doomed unfortunately.
One bright side is that when breeding scorpions the safest females to use are those that you know aren't already gravid, so in fact you have something highly sought after to breeders, there's a much bigger chance of her accepting a male.

 

[Nae]

I had to go out of town and didn't get a chance to do an update here. None of the babies made it. I know there wasn't much I could have done to help them, but I'm thankful to know that now the mom has a nice place to live now. I went ahead and gave her to my brother, he put her in a 10 gal with a couple inches of EcoEarth substrate, which is what I read was best, she has a couple hiding places. He loves her, he thinks she's the best thing since sliced bread. I need to get him to send some updated pictures since he got her all set up while I was out of town.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Wow the container was the size of the scorpion, I had an emporer scorpion for a year or two a male. It didn’t have many years left as I got it full grown. Pet stores near me no longer sell them can’t afford to order online right now.
10 gallon is fine for it . My scorpion burrowed a lot miss it , R.I.P. the rose hair tarantula I received with with it is still going strong.