Yet another batch of babies..

[conipto]

Well, a third C. exilicauda mother popped today, and I have a bit of a dilemma. She's eating the first instar scorplings, it seems.. and losing them off of her back all over the place.. she seems to have no interest in motherhood. The other two were overly defensive baby-guarding fiends, but this one seems as likely to finish off the batch before I wake up. My question is, can they survive and molt out off of her back at this stage? The ones that are stranded seem to be having difficulty even walking (no surprise) and I'm wondering if it's possible to remove them from the mother or what I should do in this situation. It pains me to just let her eat them, even when I have some 20 odd babies already running around and apparently healthy.

ALso, can you see babies through the skin of the mothers? I swear I can see near-formed scorpions through the undersides of some of them, where in comparison (males?) others are almost opaque and lacking alot of the thickness the others have.

Bill

 

[conipto]

Make that a fourth.

Bill

 

[skinheaddave]

Bill,

Your best bet is to either try putting the babies back on the mother or transfering them to another mother's back. Yes, mothers will raise adoptive offspring! If that fails, try raising them in small deli cups on damp paper towel.

And yes, you can see offspring through the pleural membrane -- you aren't going crazy, or at least if you are it is unrelated to this observation. Furthermore, the differences you are seeing is likely sexual dimorphism and you are probably right about the others being male -- though a subadult or emaciated female might also escape notice.

Cheers,
Dave