Flat rock babies, help!

When I got home today I was suprised to see that my flat rock scorpion gave birth to 6 babies. I did not suspect that she was gravid and she did ont look gravid. To top it all I got her a bigger tank just a week ago. I noticed that she was ont eating but I know that that is not a problem. I have only ever handled her once and that was when I got the bigger tank. What I want to know now is what do I do? How do I take care of mother and babies. I do not want to do anything that will cause harm to them. Please help I am new in keeping scorpions.

your in for a loooong wait lol! they take ages between molts. you probably have about a month before they leave mum. so just keep her well fed and the babies will be fine. as soon as they leave her they need to be seperated to their own containers because they are cannibalistic. then, depending on their size, feed them small crickets and make sure they are all eaten or remove them.

Thanks I gave her 2 crickets to eat. It seems like her appetite is back to normal now. I will keep her well fed. The babies are rather big. Would say about 7mm. Do I keep the humidity and temp the same as normal?

i would think so, maybe a bit higher when they are near molting, im not sure...

ive got a flat rock scorpling (about 3rd instar) they are extremly slow growers, ive had them in the past before aswell and i think there probably the slowest growing scorp ive ever owned, but flat rocks are my fav scorp. like what scorpio said, keep mother feed n seperatee them when ready and ya should be fine

So what you saying is, I do not have to feed the babies while they are still with their mum.

no mum will feed the babies they will ffeed themselves once they come down though id imagine

I too have a baby flat rock (H. paucidens) and yea they take an age to grow. It recently molted for the first time in my care and i'v had it for over 6 months! Hopefully I get to see an adult flat rock within my life time

yeah the mum feeds them. so she will need more food than normal beause she is feeding them too.

Thank you all. What would I do without you guys. I will keep you up to date. I will try and take some good photos and post them.

Congrats Caeser... This is a pic of a freshly molted scorpling that was born in March 2010...

Apparently 9 months (in my case) between 2i and 3i. I've found that brood size in captive specimens to vary depending on the climate they are kept in... Some who have kept them in cold countries have had broods up to 30... Mine was similar to yours around 6-8. It can be difficult to see them through each molt as it takes so long... In between that time period... anything can happen.

Cheers and best regards

https://i.servimg.com/u/f74/16/04/67/16/dsc07912.jpg

I tied to get a nice pic without stressing her. Do not want to hassle to much.

I'd like to step in and correct a few comments:

Some scorpion moms will feed their scorplings, yes, but NOT at first instar. First-instar scorpions do not feed at all; they're born with enough fat reserves to last until their first molt.

Second, the general rule is to not feed moms that are carrying. They produce a natural appetite suppressant that is an evolutionary preventative measure against cannibalism. If she ate the crickets, fine, but the added stress is more likely to induce cannibalism.

Once the young eventually molt, they may still stick around mom while they harden up. You can separate them at the point they start wandering away from mom, and you'll know they're safe to offer prey to once they fluoresce fully under UV.

Mortality is typically very high among captive juveniles in this species, so don't beat yourself up if you suffer losses. I started with 11 2I and only two or three made it to 3I, and none made it past that. I had better results with the young that I offered a bit of moisture to (just a couple of drops of water added to their sand, and I was keeping them in two-ounce deli cups).

Best of luck with the brood!

Mr. Mordax wrote:

I'd like to step in and correct a few comments:

Some scorpion moms will feed their scorplings, yes, but NOT at first instar. First-instar scorpions do not feed at all; they're born with enough fat reserves to last until their first molt.

now, i was going to say that originally, but i thought the months that flat rocks spend on the mothers back, and their tiny size, would mean they would need to get food from elsewhere.

Its been 7 days and I see that my babies started molting today. They look very different. They are not so chubby anymore.

seriously!?!? already? that would explain the fat reserve issue. well they will still be 2i for a while...
try to get them once they are definitely off the mother, before they hide in some tiny gap or start eating each other.

good luck with them, and post some pictures.

Thanks I will post some pics. 2 of the babies are already of mums back and is in hiding. I do not want to look around for them as there are still 3 babies on her back. Do you think they will be okay for now?

Ive never gotten to go through the reproduction process with any of my scorpions. I think its really exciting. I hope some of your babies survive!

Well so far so good. It is so exiting you will not know. Being part of this forum is the best thing ever. There is no other forum that even comes close. Thank you all for the advise and help.

They'll be ok for a while, but it's better to find them and separate them sooner than later.

Yesterday I found that two of my babies died. They were not eating. One of the remaining 4 is also not eating and I suspect that it is only a matter of time before it will also die. The other 3 is doing very well and is eating well.

That's unfortunate, good luck with the others. They're known to be hard to raise. I've had mine nearly a year now and it's only moulted once