I'm officially a grandma!

drapion

Arachnobaron
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Congratz on your first scorpion brood. I think its one of the best parts about keeping scorps. Not you get treat them with love and watch them grow into adults

They should molt to 2nd instar at around day 8 and leave the mothers back 4 to 5 days later.
 
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miss moxie

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I decided to try and feed momma scorp (who I've now named Gaia) a cricket since she hasn't eaten at all for me and I'm not sure when she ate last. I offered it to her on a tong and she grabbed it immediately and went to town rather than killing it and dropping it to defend herself so I'm assuming it was the right call.

As you can see, she still has her babies hangin' onto her and they've darkened up a little bit.


 

Scorpionluva

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Im glad you did feed her especially if she hasnt ate for you. She will need the extra nourishment. Some females will fast prior to birthing and eat before the babies leave her and others will gorge themselves clear til they birth and refuse food by flicking it away with their tail.
You choose the best method of feeding too by using tongs so that darn cricket didnt bounce around everywhere and make mama mad ! Good girl.....
I mean good girls ;)
 

miss moxie

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Im glad you did feed her especially if she hasnt ate for you. She will need the extra nourishment. Some females will fast prior to birthing and eat before the babies leave her and others will gorge themselves clear til they birth and refuse food by flicking it away with their tail.
You choose the best method of feeding too by using tongs so that darn cricket didnt bounce around everywhere and make mama mad ! Good girl.....
I mean good girls ;)
Haha, yeah I was worried about her. Pregnancy is a crazy thing for -any- creature. If I pushed out 20-ish babies, I'd definitely need a cheeseburger or six. I might offer her another on tongs tomorrow since the first one went over so well with her. I looked in later and all that was left was one little cricket leg on the substrate.

I also got my communal and both B. jacksoni scorplings to eat, though the crickets were a bit big for the scorplings I just disabled them and they took them readily. It's been a while since I've bought small crickets so I underestimated the size in my head.



Got a great picture of my chocolate form B. jacksoni with a chunk of cricket hanging from it's mouth too!
 

Scorpionluva

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Are you keeping your B jacksoni communally now ?
1 of The best things about B jacksoni is watching them run around with their food draped over their head like a hat or a cape. A lot of species do it but I swear every B jax I ever had did it every single time. It's a howl to watch
 

miss moxie

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Are you keeping your B jacksoni communally now ?
1 of The best things about B jacksoni is watching them run around with their food draped over their head like a hat or a cape. A lot of species do it but I swear every B jax I ever had did it every single time. It's a howl to watch
Nope, I keep them separate since they're uncommon. Not willing to risk losing them! Haha I did notice that with the chocolate form. The normal form stayed in the corner with their meal.
 

Scorpionluva

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Nope, I keep them separate since they're uncommon. Not willing to risk losing them! Haha I did notice that with the chocolate form. The normal form stayed in the corner with their meal.
Good they are communal as adults but as juvies they will cannibalize after a fresh molt. Even as adults - i saw a 7i female eat another female that molted to 8i which i had no clue at the time they could reach 8i. Had to learn the hard way. She woulda been a monster too !
 

miss moxie

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Good they are communal as adults but as juvies they will cannibalize after a fresh molt. Even as adults - i saw a 7i female eat another female that molted to 8i which i had no clue at the time they could reach 8i. Had to learn the hard way. She woulda been a monster too !
That sucks! I did read about B. jacksoni being cannibalistic as youngsters, and know to separate my C. gracilis scorplings so they don't cannibalize. Are any scorpion communal as babies/juvies? Because everything I've read has been "separate until adulthood" though I saw that oldtimer (can't remember the user name now) had those P. imperator babies living together. The user who had the maybe-albino imperator.
 

Scorpionluva

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That sucks! I did read about B. jacksoni being cannibalistic as youngsters, and know to separate my C. gracilis scorplings so they don't cannibalize. Are any scorpion communal as babies/juvies? Because everything I've read has been "separate until adulthood" though I saw that oldtimer (can't remember the user name now) had those P. imperator babies living together. The user who had the maybe-albino imperator.
Im sure some can be kept together as babies. I know tityus stigmurus can be kept together with every size from 2i - adult with minimal to no deaths.
 

pannaking22

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Im sure some can be kept together as babies. I know tityus stigmurus can be kept together with every size from 2i - adult with minimal to no deaths.
With the caveat of give them lots and lots of food. I had two subadults living together and I guess one got hungry so she ate the other...then promptly molted so I guess that pushed her over the edge. I was pretty mad but then I got a decent sized brood so it all worked out. I'm sure @gromgrom has fun with his super-colony of stigmurus.
 

Scorpionluva

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With the caveat of give them lots and lots of food. I had two subadults living together and I guess one got hungry so she ate the other...then promptly molted so I guess that pushed her over the edge. I was pretty mad but then I got a decent sized brood so it all worked out. I'm sure @gromgrom has fun with his super-colony of stigmurus.
I only ever had 1 juvie T stig eat another and it was odd since most of mine were from @gromgrom but i got a few elsewhere and 1 of the others i got ate 1 from his stock. Tons of roaches running around but it decided a sibling/family member looked more appetizing
 

darkness975

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@miss moxie Stick some pebbles in the dish if it is such a massive dish that it will drown them. I somehow doubt the water dish you're using is that large, though.

I keep my 4i Pandinus imperators together and thus far no issues. I do try to keep them well fed, though. The shaking and vibrations they do when they are feeding to warn their tank mates that they themselves are not a cricket are interesting behaviors to observe.
 

miss moxie

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@miss moxie Stick some pebbles in the dish if it is such a massive dish that it will drown them. I somehow doubt the water dish you're using is that large, though.

I keep my 4i Pandinus imperators together and thus far no issues. I do try to keep them well fed, though. The shaking and vibrations they do when they are feeding to warn their tank mates that they themselves are not a cricket are interesting behaviors to observe.
The water dish in with momma scorp is just a water bottle cap so not worried about her drowning in that and I check on them several times a day to see if the babies are still there and climbing off yet. They've gotten a lot darker, I almost thought they were all eaten or something but nope, they're just blending in better now. Probably getting close to molting. I've already got some 4 oz. condiment cups to separate them into.
 

Scorpionluva

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Any updates available on your grandkids yet ? They should be molted to 2i by now and I didn't see an update
:troll: Sorry in advance if an update was made elsewhere and I somehow missed it
 

miss moxie

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Any updates available on your grandkids yet ? They should be molted to 2i by now and I didn't see an update
:troll: Sorry in advance if an update was made elsewhere and I somehow missed it
Ah, they look a LOT more like baby scorpions right now, but they're all still hanging onto her back and I don't see any old exuviae unless maybe they eat it or it disappears for some reason I'm unaware of. I did feed her once more and she took it readily and ate it completely. After that I've left her alone save to look in on her and them with a light a couple times throughout the day.

I suffered one random loss, not sure why. I looked in one morning and there was one single scorpling, face down against the substrate, right beneath where momma was hiding. So it seemed as if it just fell off her back, already dead.

Other than that, everything is good. She had another, big poop so I'm pretty sure she's got no internal metasoma damage, just superficial. Not sure if I used that term correctly, my scorpion anatomy knowledge is still a work in progress. I'd take a picture but my dog is laying on me, so...later.

Here is a pic from Monday, though, when I noticed the little dead one.

 

Scorpionluva

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She/they may need some additional heat to molt so possibly get her into a warmer area. That's good she pooped again :) and that it is possibly superficial damage
Once they do molt there will be no question about it as they will look like perfect mini versions of mama
Sorry to hear you lost another lil baby though :( it could be the heat issue as I said earlier. Babies and mama usually require extra heat and moisture for the whole process of birth and until they are ready to be on their own.
 

miss moxie

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What's that yellowish thing on the left?
The dead scorpling that had fallen off, that's it's belly. It landed like head first, stomach up. Honestly as if it had just fallen off the mama scorp. I took that picture when I found it, and left it for a couple days because I always worry about the possibility of throwing away something alive so I make sure my inverts are really dead beforehand.
 

gromgrom

Arachnoprince
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Very cool! Try raising the heat/moisture to help them molt.

I tend to get smaller broods/more stressed out mothers when they give birth in captivity. Usually I separate gravid looking females a few weeks before I think they will give birth. But sometimes you miss some smaller mothers who give you that surprise brood ;)
 
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