Picked up an A.australis male today!Pictures,and pairing question...

[neubii18]

So I sexed the other one I got about a week ago to be female,so I needed a male.I went to the local LPS and traded in some Leopard Geckos for store credit($150!),and picked this stud up for $28.The pectines on this guy are HUGE,so it has to be male(you can see them in the 2ed picture behind the second legs).It also has the notches,and has a huge tail to body ratio.I was really excited!I set this one up in a 10 Gallon,with 2 flat cement chunks for now.I'm looking to do a natural setup soon though.Just thought I'd share.

Also,how would I go about pairing these 2 lovers up?I just introduce the male into the females cage,right?There is another flat cement piece in her cage,so that should suffice for a place for his spermatophore,correct?Then they should just do their thing and then I'll remove the male?Any elaboration on this is greatly appreciated!

Now for the pictures!

The setup:

Thanks for looking!

 

[xAbbadonx]

Make sure both scorpions are very well fed before introducing them. Give the male some time to settle down and stabalize before moving him again. When you do introduce them make sure there is more than one peice of stone/cement/bark in the tank (if space allows) so the male won't have to play tug-o-war for too long before finding a suitable place to place the spermatophore. They may not show immediate interest in each other (more likely the female may not show immediate interest in breeding) so you might have to wait and watch for awile, in quiet darkness of course. One thing I had some success with while I was keeping scorpions was having a tank specifically designed for breeding (the theory was if both scorpions were in neutral territory the female would be less territorial). If you do decide to try this route place the female in, keep the room dark and quiet, then after a few hours introduce the male. Good luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWuWIflBYbI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrX_RdnP3Hs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9hRdT4Ji30

 

[BigJ999]

Wow I gotta A.australis looks like a tough customer

 

[neubii18]

Wow I gotta A.australis look like a tough customer

They are VERY interesting scorpions!This one is super active.He is constantly moving sand around in his cage.He keeps blocking and clearing the entrance to his burrow under a flat rock.It's pretty funny.He has also eaten a cricket this morning.Pretty cool to watch!

 

[NevularScorpion]

Dude that thing looks like hector morph but I'm not 100% on that

I usually seperate my scorps after I pair them so that the male will get excited again when I introduce them again. If your female is not responsive she may be pregnant already that is what usually happens in my case. You can flashlight the female if she has embryo forming in her body after 2-3 months of pairing them.

 

[redrumpslump]

I swear Anthony if you bought a gravid A.avic and an Australis that were gravid I'm gonna kick your butt

Matt

 

[Michiel]

@nevularscorpion
That is not a hector morph... The chela aren't as dark as they suppose to be. They just look dark, because of the lighting (shadows) in the picture......

 

[neubii18]

I swear Anthony if you bought a gravid A.avic and an Australis that were gravid I'm gonna kick your butt

Matt

Well,if she is already gravid,that's less time for you to get a couple of your own!And you know you'll be getting a freebee or 2 Matt!That would be awesome if she was already gravid though!

@nevularscorpion: I was kinda wondering the same thing,but I think Michiel is right.I like this specimen though,as he doesn't have barely any of the black on the segment of the metasoma, closest to the telson.

 

[psychofox]

It seems like you have gotten most of the information you need above, but I just want to chime in with a thought.

I do not have any empirical evidence for this claim, but common sense would imply that if the female is stressed immediately before or after a mating, the chance of a successful fertilization might decrease. For this reason, I always (when I don't take pictures) introduce the male to the female's enclosure, and then leave them alone over the night. I certainly do understand the logic of moving both of the scorpions to a new enclosure, but I just feel that it might be a bit risky.

Also be sure to mate the female several times to increase the chance of a succesful mating.

 

[BigJ999]

So how powerful is the venom of this species??

 

[xAbbadonx]

psychofox brings up a valid point and I would definately try placing the male in the female enclosure first. The 'breeding tank' method is really just a precaution for sp that are hard to come by and you want to be able to separate the pair ASAP if necessary.

BigJ999: the LD50 of A. australis is about (my memory is a little fuzzy and I'm too lazy to look it up) 0.35, definately something you want to handle only with a pair of 12" forceps haha. Last time I checked, and it's been awile, it was considered to be the scorpion that has caused the most human fatalities, although, due to the number of unreported stings, some people speculate that South American sp, most likely belonging to the genus Tityus are likely to cause more human fatalities due to a higher number of encounters.

 

[BigJ999]

I'll just tale that answer as it can kill you yesh thats some powerful venom that's one hot hot hot hot scorpion.

 

[neubii18]

I need to get some better pictures of this guy.These ones are sloppy.

 

[Nomadinexile]

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