Tailess whipscorpions

dtknow

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I saw a few of these at a petstore near me for $30 apiece. Is that a good deal? Seems a bit pricy to me.

Also, what is the survival rate of these recently imported whips? I've been thinking maybe of getting one and if it survives getting one or two more to try to breed them.
 

Mr. Mordax

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Mine was $15 at a local expo. That was in January, and it's molted once since then. No problems that I've noticed.
 

dtknow

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Pretty expensive then. They don't seem very common, first time I've seen them, and I can think of maybe 1 other store in town that might carry them. It is really tempting, but I'd hate to drop $30 and then end up killing it.
 

Mr. Mordax

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Botar has them for $25, so that's not much better.

As for killing them, mine's been fine with a humid environment and some hides and vertical climbs. It molted hanging from the vertical climb (at least, that's where I found the exuvium). Just toss in the occaisional roach or cricket and you're set.

I thought I'd check Dean's too -- he doesn't have them, but he has H. paucidens scorps for $27. As a comparison I got my H. paucidens at the same place as my Amblipygi for the same price of $15.

I don't remember who I got it from, but here is a list of vendors from the upcoming August show.

From the classifieds on here, the most recent listing is from Elytra and Antenna ($22).
 

Mina

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I've had one since December, she is doing well and has moulted for me once. I got her from Jansen's exotics and paid either $20 or $25 for her, I don't remember.
I keep her humidity up, she has vertical corkbark to climb and hide in and a fake plant, she is around 2 inches not stretched out, and she eats 2 medium crickets a week.
I think I read somewhere that they can't drink from a water dish, so I mist her twice a week so she can drink drops if needed, but she does have a bottle cap of water that I keep full.
 

dtknow

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Iheartmantids: I guess you, being at an expo, just happened across a pretty good deal. Factoring in shipping from any of the possible vendors and the price at the store is pretty competitive. Thanks all for the care info too. I am planning on getting started with these only if I can later breed them(of course, that is up to them...but it seems quite a few are having success).
 

beetleman

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i keep them aswell,they are pretty hardy,humidity is important for them,the setup is like everybody elses,awesome critter a must have:)
 

dtknow

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Well, I just realized that I have store credit from this store that will make it only $14 cash to buy one. Now I am really tempted.
 

Mr. Mordax

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Go for it! :D If you'd like to breed them, just remember that the males have freakishly huge pedipalps compared to the females.
 

dtknow

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IHeartmantids: Seen any photos of a male on here? Most of the photos I've found are labeled as females. Someone posted 2 photos showing a male and a female but they no longer show up.

Also, do females commonly come in already mated? If so, I'm thinking my best bet would be to get a female first, and get a male later.
 

beetleman

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IHeartmantids: Seen any photos of a male on here? Most of the photos I've found are labeled as females. Someone posted 2 photos showing a male and a female but they no longer show up.

Also, do females commonly come in already mated? If so, I'm thinking my best bet would be to get a female first, and get a male later.
pretty much, all of the females ive had in the past have had babies,i never bred them,so the females were mated when they came in.
 

Mr. Mordax

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Beetleman: Did they molt anytime leading up to this? Some arthropods can bear young after a molt, but I don't know if these guys are on the list.

Dtknow: this guy looks like a male. The sketches on this search looked like males too.

I don't know why I had such a problem finding good male pictures -- I thought I remember seeing them somewhere. :?
 

dtknow

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beetleman

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Beetleman: Did they molt anytime leading up to this? Some arthropods can bear young after a molt, but I don't know if these guys are on the list.

Dtknow: this guy looks like a male. The sketches on this search looked like males too.

I don't know why I had such a problem finding good male pictures -- I thought I remember seeing them somewhere. :?
they never molted up to it, but after the babies dispersed,it would be about acouple of weeks(feeding her alot) then she would molt,this happends with centipedes also,very interesting.
 

beetleman

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IHeartmantids/beetleman:

Looks like I will just pick whichever one has the smallest pedipalps...LOL Honestly I remember seeing a picture comparison and it was very distinctive.

I'm guessing the one she has in her hand is a male.
http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/Faculty_Staff/Rayor/

If these are not immatures...they all appear to be female...except maybe the far right one?
http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/Faculty_Staff/Rayor/images/Dd6mo_001.jpg
yeah, the males are super long compared to the females.
 

Mr. Mordax

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I'd say the one on her hand is a male; as for the immatures, not so sure. I hear the immatures are much more difficult to distinguish and it's only apparent in the adults.

Beetleman; thanks, that answers my question. I suppose if my female has young later on, then we'll know centipedes aren't the only invert that can do that after molting. :)
 

dtknow

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Well, the whips I was planning on purchasing were already snapped up, so I went down to petstore that I had never visited. They told me on the phone they had a few. When I got there, it looked like and obvious male, and this one...

Could it be a young male?


 

Mr. Mordax

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Hard to say . . . it looks about the same proportions as mine, and I'm assuming I have a female:


(That's her on the left, and her molt on the right.)

By the way, I don't know how well cork bark will fare -- it molds really easily with me, and these guys like it humid.

Good luck with them! :D
 

dtknow

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I have corkbark in a really humid paludarium with no signs of mold. How humid is humi? Just enough that the soil is very damp? Wet? Enough that if the tank is sealed if feels slightly steamy? At the shop they were kept pretty dry. She is in a critter keeper. So if you mean real humid it'd be pretty tough in a critter keeper. She has already eaten a little cricket. How often do you feed these guys? Also, does this species really live in caves?

The one way to answer your question would be to buy a male...LOL.
 

Mr. Mordax

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How do you not get moldy corkbark? Did I just get the bad shipment? :(

I don't know how humid they absolutely need at a minimum, but mine has condensation on the walls. If you soak the substrate once in a while a KK should be ok.

I feed mine sporadically at best, and she seems to be doing OK. In fact, I think I need to head to the local cricket place soon . . . (breed, roaches, breed! ;))

And some do indeed live in caves, as seen on The Jeff Corwin Experience, and some show on the History Channel. :D
 
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