Raising Pandinus & Heterometrus babies

Brian S

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Since this question has been popping up on various forums lately I decided a thread like this is in order for future reference.This isnt the only way to do this nor neccisarily the best but it does work well. Luckily, these are about the easiest scorplings to raise so long as you do the basics correctly.......


When the female gives birth the young will remain on her back until they molt into 2nd instar. At this point there is really nothing to do but wait. There is really no need to feed the Mother at this point as they will often refuse food. It will take about a week or 2 (depending on temps etc) for the 1st instar to molt. As long as the substrate is moist everything will be fine.



After the young molt and leave the Mother you can separate them into delicups like this. You can keep the young together as they arent the cannibalistic type as many Buthids are. These delicups seem to work better as they restrict ventilation which keeps them humid. I use moist peat moss with a bottle cap for water.
Note that many keepers I know will leave the young with Mom through 2nd instar and even 3rd instar. While I dont do this myself it is strictly a matter of personal preference.



After the young are gone, Mom will have a renewed interest in feeding again so be sure to give her plenty of food in order to replenish herself.



When the young out grow their deli cup it is time to move them into a bigger container. A plastic shoe box works great for this. Just drill or melt some air holes and you are in business. This works better than a kritter keeper as it also keeps the moisture inside keeping them from getting too dry


Here is an inside shot. Like the deli cup only with a hide


Here are some Heterometrus I have raised since they left their Mom




I hope you all find this thread of some use :)
 

makati

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nice one Brian, very informative. good pictures too.
 

Brian S

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Thanks, I just hope you can make some sort of sense out of all that
 

JungleGuts

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great guide, im sure many will find help in it. good job

-dan
 

RottweilExpress

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Good guide! A couple of Q's though...If the mum doesn't hunt, how are the small ones fed then? And when they are seperated, do you just smash some crickets and let them scavenge?
 

G. Carnell

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the 1st instars have enough reserves to last them until they moult, thats why when they moult they go from small and fat, to larger and very thin

they cant feed at this stage, and trying to feed them can stress the mother, leading to all sorts of problems.. (cannibalism, rejection etc)

the babies should feed on smashed up crix, its probably best to do this for at least the 2-3rd instar stage, or you could get casualties from crickets attacking post moult scorps!

wicked thread Brian ;)
 

r8frazer

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Wow great thread.. I hope i get to put this into practice!!!!
 

Brian S

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I have fed my 2nd instars small live crickets with no problems. If you can get yours to eat the smashed crickets thats good of course ;)
 

fusion121

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I find that all species will scavenge on pre-killed crickets. I think its the best way to do it since it stops any danger to the scorplings, plus it means you don't have buy 2 sizes of crickets.
 

Thiscordia

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Thanks 4 the thread. I find it myself very interesting and helpful cus i'm trying to raise 2 Emp scorpionlings. They are just 5 days old. I just post a thread with the pics.
 

Brian S

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Thiscordia said:
Thanks 4 the thread. I find it myself very interesting and helpful cus i'm trying to raise 2 Emp scorpionlings. They are just 5 days old. I just post a thread with the pics.
You are 1 of the reasons I did this LOL:D
 

Scorpfanatic

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cool~~~ hahaha i did something liek this for H.spinifer but i lostthe link to the thread hahhahaha ....
 

Alakdan

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Excellent guide Brian!

Great timing! My H. spinifer just gave birth last night. I haven't counted the scorplings yet. I didn't want to disturb the mom, but I will post pictures soon.

This thread should be a sticky.
 

Synergy

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Wow wish I would of found this post before I posted 2 different topics on raising them lol... this needs to go into faq!
 

The_Monk

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Can I ask a question, my emperor scorplings are about 10-14 days old and have molted. The older ones are going a slightly tanned colour and are leaving mum all the time so have moved them to seperate accomodation. My question is what size crickets to feed them? I have killed one which is quite large and put it in, should i chop it smaller pieces or leave it as it is?
 

Ryan C.

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You could feed them the "Small" sized crickets, but they would most likely take the large ones too.
 

The_Monk

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Cool, i've put a large one in, its the smallest I could find. Do I need to mash it up small or leave the scorps to do their own thing?
 

Ryan C.

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You can prekill it if you want but I've had a 1" scorp take down large crickets no problem.
 

The_Monk

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Thanks for the advice! I've prekilled it, didnt want it to have a munch on the little guys! Will leave it and see what they do!
 
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