Heterophrynus batesii (Giant Peruvian Tailless Whip Scorpion)

[schmiggle]

I have kept the females together and not had any issues. I have had a hard time keeping more than one male in an enclosure. After a while (even with babies) there seems to be a time when there are a good number of females left and only one male. I have never seen a male kill a male but I am assuming this is what happens. I do not have any pictures of the enclosure right now. Sorry about that...

According to this source, Heterophrynus batesii are a social species, so males probably wouldn't kill each other, either.

http://www.researchgate.net/publica...ypygi_Phrynidae)_in_Eastern_Amazonian_Ecuador

 

[Gekkotan]

MrCrackerpants, I collected them myself near the Bolivian-Brazil border. Here are pictures of what I think its a male and the two pregnant females collected.


JohnD, I hope these pictures may help, but they are quite big. I am pretty sure they are Heterophrynus.

 

[JohnDapiaoen]

JohnD, I hope these pictures may help, but they are quite big. I am pretty sure they are Heterophrynus.

...stumped.

I remembered post #11 of this thread http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?99682-info-Acanthophrynus-coronatus and thought it looked strikingly similar to your amblypygids. But seeing the adults smashed that idea lol.



-JohnD.

 

[Ambly]

wow, those are great looking - both to the OP and Gekkotan. They look a whole lot different than young H. batesii.

I am shocked you keep all those Heterophrynus together! That is awesome. What is your setup like?

 

[Gekkotan]

Well, as they are still youngs, I keep them in delicups, with vermiculite in the bottom and cardboards. They are in groups of 3-6. I keep the delicups inside my incubator, with no light and no ventilation as I know they do occur inside caves too. I had a few deaths. Some due to a travel I did and some canibalized others who had molted and before, when I tryied to keep them in cups with some holes and it get too dry. I heard about batesii can be kept together until adulthood. Then, females can be kept together, but males will start to fight. In my experiment, this is true until now and until food is plenty avaliable.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

I keep my Heterophrynus batesii in big plastic totes with a few inches of moist coir and cork bark slabs. I also have jungle micropods and giant springtails with them. I mist twice a week and have minimal ventilation. I feed them red runners.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

UPDATE: I now have three females with egg sacs and none have hatched yet.

 

[pannaking22]

Gotta love the waiting game lol

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Gotta love the waiting game lol

lol...ya. I started with 10 juveniles and another one died this week. I now have 7 remaining and decides to split the group into 2 big enclosures with 3 in one and 4 in the other.

 

[pannaking22]

lol...ya. I started with 10 juveniles and another one died this week. I now have 7 remaining and decides to split the group into 2 big enclosures with 3 in one and 4 in the other.

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that! Probably a good idea to split them up then just in case.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that! Probably a good idea to split them up then just in case.

Thanks! I lost another one yesterday. I am not sure what is going on. Now I have two enclosures with 3 each but still have a few females with sacs and a few about to pop.

On a related note, I have been doing ongoing "experiments" with Damon diadema (Tanzanian Tailless Whip Scorpion). I raised one sac all together and one sac with every individual isolated and the number that made it to adulthood were the same. Both sac groups were small at 14 and 15. I had 4 make it to adulthood in both groups. Not a lot made it to adulthood. Maybe I am doing something wrong but their care (as I understand it) is pretty simple. I have even gotten tons of babies over the years. Weird...What is also interesting is 6 years ago I bought a group of 5 sub adult Damon diadema (Tanzanian Tailless Whip Scorpion). I had 4 make it adulthood and only one was a male. The 3 females all had multiple sacs and I sold most of the babies. The females have since died but the male is STILL alive. His name is "Vlad the Impaler".

 

[fuzzyavics72]

Weird.... all of my amblypgid maje it to adulthood and very seldomly do I lose any of them. They're super hardy. Maybe bad gentics... if you're successful with producing offspring please let me know.

 

[wizentrop]

I must say so myself, 4 surviving out of 14 is a very high mortality rate. They should not die so easily unless something is wrong. The main problems I see with juveniles are some form of fatal mycosis and refusal to feed.
Damon are a bit less forgiving in my opinion and as juveniles tend to die more often than, let's say, Euphrynichus or any member of Phrynidae.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

I must say so myself, 4 surviving out of 14 is a very high mortality rate. They should not die so easily unless something is wrong. The main problems I see with juveniles are some form of fatal mycosis and refusal to feed.
Damon are a bit less forgiving in my opinion and as juveniles tend to die more often than, let's say, Euphrynichus or any member of Phrynidae.

Yes, I agree. It is a high mortality rate. A few died of mycosis.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

I thought you said you had six above, not four. I've lost some in molts and a few to crickets and cannibalism but never mycosis and they are in glass boxes with no holes.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

I thought you said you had six above, not four. I've lost some in molts and a few to crickets and cannibalism but never mycosis and they are in glass boxes with no holes.

I was referring to four Damon diadema. All of my female Heterophrynus batesii (Giant Peruvian Tailless Whip Scorpion) either eat or dropped their sacs.

Of the 10 I bought from you, I have 5 females and 1 male left. Any suggestions?

 

[Ambly]

I'm no expert, but I get the impression the words "social" or "communal" are thrown around a bit loosely regarding amblypygi as a whole from the lit I've read and folks I've talked to. I've read many if not most species are solitary and show aggression towards one another. Each species is different.

H. batesii has been told to aggregate in the wild by some reliable lit, occupying large tree buttresses in small groups. Perhaps the density is just to high and they are unable to properly respect each others space/territory? Either way, sad to hear. Though it had no mate, my female made and later ate a broodsac. I hope your losses come to an end - they are beautiful. Let us know how it goes.

 

[pannaking22]

Bummer, sorry to hear that

 

[MrCrackerpants]

I'm no expert, but I get the impression the words "social" or "communal" are thrown around a bit loosely regarding amblypygi as a whole from the lit I've read and folks I've talked to. I've read many if not most species are solitary and show aggression towards one another. Each species is different.

H. batesii has been told to aggregate in the wild by some reliable lit, occupying large tree buttresses in small groups. Perhaps the density is just to high and they are unable to properly respect each others space/territory? Either way, sad to hear. Though it had no mate, my female made and later ate a broodsac. I hope your losses come to an end - they are beautiful. Let us know how it goes.

All good points...

---------- Post added 02-25-2015 at 02:23 PM ----------

Bummer, sorry to hear that

Thanks! I am confident I will get a good sac from this group in the future. I am going to add an enclosure or two to the group so they have a little more room. I am thankful that I still have a male and some females. They are really cool but I am surprised how small they are. I thought they would be much thicker (like my Damon) and bigger by now. I know they will thicken up and get bigger as they age.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Finally!