Whip Scorpion Pics...

[Beardo]

Here are a couple pics of the Whip Scorpion (Damion variegata) I picked up today....

 

[Brian S]

Very nice David. I also keep them. Neat bugs for sure.

 

[Goliath]

Looks like a very nice female David! Congrats.
Mike

 

[Beardo]

Thanks! Yes, it is a female...but how did you know? Are they sexually dimorphic? Botar told me it was a female, but I didn't think to ask how to tell.

 

[Goliath]

David they are sexually dimorphic. The males usually have much larger palps than the females. This is not always the case, but for the most part it is a good indicator. Here is a male underneath, female underneath and a male and female.
Mike

 

[Wikkids_Wench]

Goliath, those pics are so useful! Hope you don't mind if I keep a copy of them (I'm intending to keep whip scorpions at some point so these pics could definitely come in handy)?

 

[Goliath]

Wikkids_Wench,
Thank you and I don't mind at all. I am glad that they are of use.
Mike

 

[Randolph XX()]

hey Goliath, how often do they molt as adults?
i've heard they molt even after they matured like ts
cuz i have an 2" body female lost a whip, just wondering how long will it take for regeneration

 

[Nikos]

I have one who misses half a whip and only a minor part was regenerated after its recent molt.
So with this pace it needs ages to completely regenerate a missing part.

 

[Goliath]

Randolph XX(),
As adults they will molt maybe once a year. A lost whip will regenerate in about 3 molts, a 2" body it will take some time for here to get it back to full size.
Mike

 

[tkn0spdr]

My wife got me one for Father's Day. I was very cool. Unfortunatly it was a mature female that ate 1 cricked when I first got it and then refused all other food offerings.
Then it laid an eggsack that dried up in a few days and died a few days after that.
I'm hoing to pick up another one at the Daytona show, I really liked it.

 

[xBurntBytheSunx]

thats really fantastic! are they difficult to keep?

 

[Michael Jacobi]

For the record, and because I am an annoying obsessive-compulsive anal-retentive perfectionist, this thread should have been called "tailless whipscorpions". Whipscorpions are uropygids, the best known of which is the Vinegaroon. Tailless whipscorpions are amblypygids (or amblypigids), and are also commonly called cave spiders or tailless whipspiders (since they are more closely related to spiders than scorpions).

I have a caresheet that may be downloaded here (PDF file, Acrobat Reader required).

Cheers, Michael

 

[Randolph XX()]

Randolph XX(),
As adults they will molt maybe once a year. A lost whip will regenerate in about 3 molts, a 2" body it will take some time for here to get it back to full size.
Mike

hey Mike
mine molted today and regernerate a sagement(two was lost like the two in dorsal view photo above), and still got one more to go
i measureed the body length of the exuvia today which is much smaller than i think, it's only 1"! so i guess she is about 1 1/2" now

well, i found they don't really eat that much

in the other old threads, somebody(Alex S.?) said they only molt 7 times in total and can breed while at 6th?

 

[Goliath]

Randolph XX(),
Glad to here she molted and regenerated one of the segments. Mine eat pretty good, but do not like to take small prey. I always give my adults nothing smaller than full size crickets. As for the molts I am not sure, I thought there was more than 7 molts. Alex S. would be able to answer that question better than me.
Mike

 

[Sadistik]

Edit: after reading the caresheet above my questions are answerd so I removed them :8o

 

[BMSGWORS]

Are you sure?

For the record, and because I am an annoying obsessive-compulsive anal-retentive perfectionist, this thread should have been called "tailless whipscorpions". Whipscorpions are uropygids, the best known of which is the Vinegaroon. Tailless whipscorpions are amblypygids (or amblypigids), and are also commonly called cave spiders or tailless whipspiders (since they are more closely related to spiders than scorpions).

Cheers, Michael

Most if not all of the literature (scientific publications) I have read refer to Amblypygi as Whips Spiders, not whip scorpions or as you state tailless whipscorpions. For example the book and publications of Peter Weygoldt, publications by R. J. Ladle, M. S. Harvey and A. V. Peretti.

So shouldn’t the thread have been called Whip Spiders?

Excellent pics by the way, I am waiting from mine to grow up. Some species are reported to fluoresce under UV light has anyone tried this?

Cheers Graham