Tailless whip scorpion babies

[pannaking22]

Congrats on the molts!

 

[Jbsnakes87]

Recent pics

 

[Jbsnakes87]

 

[BobBarley]

Congrats man!

 

[wizentrop]

I noticed they are molting on the ground in the photos.
Did they finish molting unharmed? I am asking because whip spiders usually prefer a vertical surface or a negative slope for molting. Actually, almost any arthropod I can think of (with a few exceptions, like beetles and roaches) uses gravity to assist in pulling out of the old exoskeleton during molting.

 

[Jbsnakes87]

They are molting on the ground, most of them. Im not sure why, they do have vertical and horizontal raised climbing structure that they can get on and underneath.

 

[InvertsandOi]

This is extremely interesting! "It is not possible to gestate eggs without the mother. According to Frye (1992), in the whipscorpions with a similarly formed and connected broodsac, the eggs are nourished with "false scorpion milk" as the broodsac is linked to the mother's blood cavity (haemocoel). Eggs are never exposed to air and gestation is functionally similar to live bearing. Although there is no harm in trying to save a cast off broodsac, no success is likely or has ever been reported. Even if possible, 1st instars would need to be introduced to the mother's back, which may not work...Likewise, if the mother dies the eggs cannot be saved." -Breeding The World's Largest Living Arachnid by Orin McMonigle 2013. What you're accomplishing may very well be the first of it's kind. Please keep us posted!

 

[BobBarley]

This is extremely interesting! "It is not possible to gestate eggs without the mother. According to Frye (1992), in the whipscorpions with a similarly formed and connected broodsac, the eggs are nourished with "false scorpion milk" as the broodsac is linked to the mother's blood cavity (haemocoel). Eggs are never exposed to air and gestation is functionally similar to live bearing. Although there is no harm in trying to save a cast off broodsac, no success is likely or has ever been reported. Even if possible, 1st instars would need to be introduced to the mother's back, which may not work...Likewise, if the mother dies the eggs cannot be saved." -Breeding The World's Largest Living Arachnid by Orin McMonigle 2013. What you're accomplishing may very well be the first of it's kind. Please keep us posted!

Maybe we can get Orin in on this. @Elytra and Antenna

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Wow! This is just CRAZY!! The stress to the mothers (that caused the dropping of the sacs) occurred very near when the babies were going to hatch. This is a very rare situation. Thank you for documenting it. The molting on the ground is wild! I wonder if they would be doing this if you had cork bark slabs in their enclosures? I am assuming the mold is on the cardboard tubes. Can you remove them and invest in cork bark slabs? Maybe place some Jungle Micropod Sow Bug in there to reduce the mold if you can't invest in the cork bark slabs? This would also be a potential food source. Eventually (not at this low instar), you will want to separate them as there is always the possibility of cannibalism. Good luck! Please keep us posted.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

This is extremely interesting! "It is not possible to gestate eggs without the mother. According to Frye (1992), in the whipscorpions with a similarly formed and connected broodsac, the eggs are nourished with "false scorpion milk" as the broodsac is linked to the mother's blood cavity (haemocoel). Eggs are never exposed to air and gestation is functionally similar to live bearing. Although there is no harm in trying to save a cast off broodsac, no success is likely or has ever been reported. Even if possible, 1st instars would need to be introduced to the mother's back, which may not work...Likewise, if the mother dies the eggs cannot be saved." -Breeding The World's Largest Living Arachnid by Orin McMonigle 2013. What you're accomplishing may very well be the first of it's kind. Please keep us posted!

These eggs and later postembryos were on the mothers for about 4 months before they hatched. I am surprised many of them are surviving to molt without the mother (remember half of each batch died straight-away and many of the rest are missing legs or whips), but this is not a case of eggs gestating without the mother. It may be very strange they are molting on the ground but that depends on the texture of the molting surfaces you are providing. They usually lose one or both whips if they molt on the ground.

 

[Jbsnakes87]

The babies will feed on prekilled crickets 4x their size. This one grabbed it from the tongs. They are incredibly strong.

 

[Jbsnakes87]

 

[schmiggle]

Wow! Mine freezes whenever I'm around. Your whipspiders are very bold. I'm also surprised you got them to take prekilled prey so easily (I suppose that's what the tongs are for?) The one thing I will note is that overfeeding is a possibility, and can lead to premature molting, so I suppose don't feed them prey that big too often.

 

[InvertsandOi]

The babies will feed on prekilled crickets 4x their size. This one grabbed it from the tongs. They are incredibly strong.

What species are those?

 

[Crone Returns]

This is so cool.

 

[Jbsnakes87]

Wow! Mine freezes whenever I'm around. Your whipspiders are very bold. I'm also surprised you got them to take prekilled prey so easily (I suppose that's what the tongs are for?) The one thing I will note is that overfeeding is a possibility, and can lead to premature molting, so I suppose don't feed them prey that big too often.

I have i believe 14 cohabbing together right now. I usually put 5-6 prekilled crickets or roaches in with them once a week to 10 days, in spots i can easily see so i can pick out carcasses and prevent mold. I fed them previously with fruit flies, cricket legs, and very small lateralis.

 

[Jbsnakes87]

What species are those?

Damon diadema

 

[InvertsandOi]

Damon diadema

That's really interesting! I can't imagine my D. diadema being willing to do that. I'm gonna give it a try though.

 

[BobBarley]

Any update?