breeding emperor scorpions

[iamthegame06]

so i just got 3 scorpions at a swap meet 3 weeks ago, i got 2 females and a male..the guy had all his scorpions on a 20gal tank, one of the females i got was the biggest scorpion in his tank, he believes that that female is gravid, he told me he breeds his reptiles but he gets his inverts from "a guy" so he couldnt be 100% sure lol so anyway, i keep my scorpions on a 20gal tank with 5-6" of substrate..here's the problem though, i rarely see my scorpions now..they made their own burrows and they're just hiding all the time..i know that scorpions have a long gestation, but im worried that if that female scorpion is in fact gravid, that i might not see her give birth, i read that mother scorpions become really aggresive, and i dont want her killing the other scorpions..should i transfer her now to a different tank? or should i wait till i see her with the baby scorpions on her back? should i put less substrate and just put a bunch of hides so i can check up on them easier? what are your techniques/tips on breeding emperor scorpions? i've read a bunch of articles about breeding emperor scorpions, but they were all very vague lol..and none of them answered my questions lol any tips from some of the pro scorpion keepers here would be very much appreciated!

 

[Perocore]

I'm no expert, but I do love emps so I'll tell you what I know.

First of all, as a rule of thumb: Hidden Scorpion = Happy Scorpion. They aren't flashy, attention seeking creatures like dogs or the rather annoying cat trying to sleep on my laptop right now. They hide while you're awake, and come out to play when the lights go out. You have to remember these are nocturnal creatures that also burrow.

Yes, when a female has babies she will be very protective of them until they're no longer riding around with her. The best thing to do, if possible, is to move her into a separate tank if you think she's gravid (she'll look ridiculously fat, with the "grey" skin like bits showing between the top plates- either fat or gravid, it can be hard to know). However, emps have a very long gestation period- 9 to 14 months, I believe (though 10 months is average). However, I know of several people who have been very successful just leaving the mother in with her buddies. I know one of the users here found that the female was cool with other females, but chased the male off.

No, do not take substrate away. Emperor scorpions are burrowing creatures, they because it's what they're told to do for survival, and it's how they live. Would you want to live in a smaller house? Probably not, and neither would your scorpions.

From what I've heard, the easiest method of breeding scorpions is to keep one male in with one or more females. They'll breed, really no need to worry about that. What you'll need to worry about is the babies, they need it to be warmer and more humid than the adults if you want them to thrive. Even then many won't make it, they're very delicate creatures as babies. However, I assume if you do it properly then you should end up with some surviving babies.

Like most pregnant creatures, momma scorp is going to be very munchy, so you'll want to feed her plenty. I've also heard that causing stress when she has her babies will make her more likely to eat them. So try to keep things relaxed when she has them.

Well, that's about all I can tell you, hope it can answer some questions. I'm certain others are much more informed than I, so do search around a bit!

 

[yames]

I had a set up with 3 emps 2 female 1 male just like this. You can follow my story here as it's a lot of pictures and posts to try copping over.
http://allscorpionarchives.forumotion.com/t197-my-pandinus-imperator-popped

 

[iamthegame06]

"she'll look ridiculously fat, with the "grey" skin like bits showing between the top plates" -thats exactly how she looks like right now! lol i think i should just move her to a different tank, just to be safe..lol thanks Perocore!

wow yames! we almost have the same story, lets see if mine actually ends up being gravid lol thanks for this! really informative!

question though, i read somewhere that it's not a good idea to just have 2 emperor scorpion in one tank? shouldn't you always have like 3 or more scorpions? if i move my possibly gravid female to a different tank, should i get another to accompany the other 2? or would the 2 scorpions be fine?

 

[ShredderEmp]

They should be fine.

 

[iamthegame06]

awesome!! thanks guys!!

 

[yames]

I have had my male and what I thought wasn't gravid female together for the last few months without any incident. Emps are very friendly to each other. You will be fine.

 

[KDiiX]

"she'll look ridiculously fat, with the "grey" skin like bits showing between the top plates" -thats exactly how she looks like right now! lol i think i should just move her to a different tank, just to be safe..lol thanks Perocore!

Actually this description fit perfect to a upcoming mold so are you really sure that she is adult already. Sounds like the one you bought the scorpions from wasn't into scorpions that much. How the telson of her is colored? Is it pretty dark reddish or more pretty light or white?

 

[Formerphobe]

I have had my male and what I thought wasn't gravid female together for the last few months without any incident. Emps are very friendly to each other. You will be fine.

In my communal tank (ongoing for ~4 years), the females drive adult males away shortly before the babies are born, though they co-hab nicely prior. Last year I found my young adult male dead and removed from the common burrow (no cannibalization). Possibly killed by the older male. A few months later I found the older adult male dead and removed from the common burrow (no cannibalization). I don't know if he died of old age or if the gravid females killed him. In previous years, he would use an auxiliary burrow during the females late gestation and until the babies were a couple of months old. Emps are friendly with each other to a point.

 

[Perocore]

Actually this description fit perfect to a upcoming mold so are you really sure that she is adult already. Sounds like the one you bought the scorpions from wasn't into scorpions that much. How the telson of her is colored? Is it pretty dark reddish or more pretty light or white?

An upcoming mold? Sounds unhealthy, might want to clean the tank out...haha, I kid. Anyways, as KDiiX said, juveniles will also "bloat up" before a moult, and of course she could always simply be fat. If she's gravid you'll eventually be able to see the unborn babies inside of her, they're bright white...you can try looking up pictures of gravid females.

 

[iamthegame06]

here are some pics i took yesterday..i know im not supposed to bother her, but i had to rehouse her, just in case she is in fact gravid lol what do you guys think? gravid or not?