H. caboverdensis babies

Happiness at home again... my H. caboverdensis female finally popped last night

Pics from yesterday, 10-15 hours before popping:

This morning:

Nice capture bud!

Especially #1

Seems like some were undeveloped embryos but it won't be long before she start popping again

Thanks bro.
#1 with or without brood? Apparently I messed up the numbering a bit.

With brood were taken in 90% darkness with camera's own flash, so not too bad.

Congrats mate! Looks like still a decent brood size in spite of the undeveloped ones.

Broods are like buses, you wait ages for one and then they all come along at once

Thanks mate!

JamieLawrence wrote:

Broods are like buses, you wait ages for one and then they all come along at once

Hahaha, that's a good one!

Guys,

would 75ml sterile containers (diameter: bottom 35mm/top 50mm; height:70mm) be too small for housing 2i Hottentottas or would they do better in 250ml delicups (diameter: 80mm bottom/100mm top; height: 50mm)?

Sand and coco would be the best substrate for the young? Or just dry coco?

If you are talking about minimum requirement in terms of enclosure size,

75ml sterile containers (diameter: bottom 35mm/top 50mm; height:70mm)
- Can raise 2.instar, probably have to rehouse once they are 3.instar
- Good restricted floor space for power feeding

250ml delicups (diameter: 80mm bottom/100mm top; height: 50mm)
- Sufficient to raise up a single specimen up to full adult
- Enough space to place a small capful of water and a small hide

If you have the space allowance in your room/ invert shelve, i would go for 250ml, save the hassle of upgrading their homes in less then 25 days (estimated) when they will molt to 3.instar

GS wrote:

If you are talking about minimum requirement in terms of enclosure size,

75ml sterile containers (diameter: bottom 35mm/top 50mm; height:70mm)
- Can raise 2.instar, probably have to rehouse once they are 3.instar
- Good restricted floor space for power feeding

250ml delicups (diameter: 80mm bottom/100mm top; height: 50mm)
- Sufficient to raise up to full adult
- able to place a small capful of water

If you have the space, i would go for 250ml, save the hassle of upgrading their homes in less then 25 days (estimated)..

Thanks buddy.
Yeah, space is always an issue, but I think I'll go for the delis anyway. Saves me from going to the pharmacy anyway (just got 100 delis when the swammerdami popped).

If space is the issue then i'll recommend you to get tackle boxes:

Click here to view:

Click here to view:

Each of these tackboxes has multiple air vents on top of each partitions. In addition, i had the four corners of the tackle box's base secured with a small piece of anti-slip rubber. So that when the tackboxes are stacked together, there will be gaps in between for air ventilation.

I've tried that for some 2i's. Easy, but didn't like it that much.. I prefer separate boxes.
The brood isn't so huge anyway that it will not make a big difference on top of the 30-40 delis I have set up at the moment

Trust me.. you won't be saying "there are just that many of them" very soon...

Hahaha!
you're right, specially when spring will bring some new species along aswell.
Soon I am moving all inverts out of the living room though. Got a spare 12-14 sq.m. guest bedroom/office kind of room where they'll go.
Only the reptiles will stay in their current places.

Do I sense the start of a new scorpion room Sweet!

That's the plan
They're nice for watching at the living room, but they really do get too stressed. TV, dogs, walking around, light on & off, etc. Thinking of making some of those heated racks I showed the other day.

Congrats on the brood! This species has been one of my full time residents in my collection for some time. I've always been a fan of the miracle that is parthenogenesis, keeping parthenogenic Tityus and Liocheles, but Hottentotta is always the first that comes to mind in terms of enjoyment. I currently have a free-birthing group of this species in a 10 gallon with plenty of hiding space. You'd be surprised at how social they are even with babies on their back. Between this species and Hottentotta judaicus, these have made the Hottentotta genus by far my favorite genus as a collective.

Thanks Envyizm! Hottentotta are definitely becoming my favourite genus as well.

Mine could be 2i already, they seem more defined like body shape since yesterday, and they are moving around mum's back a lot. I haven't seen any traces of exuvia though.

I took a closer look last night.
I confirm they have indeed molted, all molt skins were on the bottom of the enclosure, all together like a small "molt-mat".

So this makes just 3 days from 1i to 2i. Quite a surprise, I was expecting something around 4-5 days.

I guess it won't take long until they come down and start wandering around.

Update:
They have started getting on and off mom's back as of yesterday morning.
Last night about half of 'em were down. But this morning all were back up. Apparently she was hungry too. She've found a mealie wandering around and was eating.

Pic update too. This is from sunday evening, already with 2i's.

Sweeet! Got a count on those bad boys yet?

Not yet. Look like 10+ though. Didn't want to disturb her too much. She gets psycho when I peek in there
Probably 2-3 days max until they're all down.

Another update

couple left on her back:

awesome pictures!

Thanks Ludedor

And... Last significant update from me.. Babies are off mums back now. Brood ended up being twice as big than what I expected, considering there were few undeveloped embryos too.

Final count: 22

Little update..

Timestamp:

The cabos have started molting to 3i.
6 out of 22 have turned 3i between thursday and saturday (don't know the exact dates though)


Edit:
Second batch (4 scorpions) turned 3i yesterday (Monday 26.03). For my records, I will consider the molt date for the first 6 as Saturday 24.03.

Edit2: (Timestamp: 01/04)

2 3i found dead. Both were from the first ones to molt.