Mating or Fighting?

Is there anyway to tell between a fight and mating ritual?

My two trilineatus have been tank mates for over a week now. They seemed to get along good. Sometimes cuddled together in a hide. Tonight they came out and have been locked up for about an hour. They're out in the open (daylight) which I never see, and my male has been dragging her all over the place on top of a piece of wood. They haven't tried to sting each other at all. They had a brief break for a few mins and are back at it.

I read up a bit, and it sounds like there mating. Any way to differentiate a fight from mating? How long does this process go on for?

Edit: 2hours later still doing there dance. There was a rest period of a few mins. in between.

It definitely seems to be an attempt at mating going by your description and pictures.

Common things that occur during courtship include the male using his chelae to hold on to the females chelae, both scorpions may start vibrating/waggling tail etc., male stinging female, male holding on to females metasoma, kissing i.e. locking chelicerae, dancing i.e. male leading female around to find a suitable spot to place spermatophore etc. etc. etc.....

I've never kept H. tillineatus before but are both the scorpions pictured sexually mature? What I am presuming is the male looks a lot bigger than the female. Is this normal in this species?

Mating can last anywhere between a few minutes to several hours. Have you noticed if the male has deposited a spermatophore yet?

I'm pretty sure now there was an attempt @ mating. The male started doing his vibrating and dancing on his legs as well has flicking his tail all around.

I believe the male is fully mature. Has for the female, yes she is quite a bit smaller then him. This is the first time I have owned this species, so not quite sure of the maturity of her relative to the size.

Didn't see any deposit, but it would be more difficult to spot considering the wood they were dancing on. They eventually continued upside down underneath it.

This went on for at least 3 hours, I ended up calling it a night after watching them so long. I haven't checked on them today. So after seeing him vibrating and stuff, I am going to assume all is well.

Weird seeing a smaller female do a mate/fight with a bigger male hehe

By the looks of it, she didn't have a choice. Lol

It is possible that the male can initiate the mating dance with an immature female but if the female is indeed immature she will refuse to take in the spermatophore at the end of the dance. H.trilineatus males reach maturity at 6i and females at 7i so the females will usually be larger than the males when they are mature but of course this is not always the case.

Thanks for the info shadowfoot. Going by that, then the female is def. not mature and probably didn't take. She is a fair bit smaller. I have no idea what instar they are.

On a side note, when breeding is successful, how long are the gravid before she has young?

For H.trilineatus anything from 4-6 months.

Kinda blurry, but am i seeing rounded pebbles in the background? Lol

Ya, I have there watering dish filled with some.