A nice surprise - my first brood

Just got back home and found my (what was supposed to be subadult) H. swammerdami popping a brood. 2 are already on her back and I can see one under her. More updates and some pics to come tomorrow.

Congratulations

Congrats man! I just had some c.gacilis and v spinigerus pop on me the other week. Babies for everyone!

Nice one Dolby...and a nice surprise for you to....

Gratz! Cant wait for the pictures but no hurry to disturb her thou.
Very delicious xmaz buffet!

Thanks guys!

GS wrote:

Gratz! Cant wait for the pictures but no hurry to disturb her thou.
Very delicious xmaz buffet!

Will try to get atleast one fast pic tonight (probably without flash though) when I offer her food. Took a fast peek in the morning and looks like there are around 10 scorplings on her back.

Congrats! Way to go!!!

Thanks T!
Apparently feeding and pics will be only tomorrow. Her back is full now, probably 15-20 scorplings now. But after 22 hours from the moment I found het with 2 on her back, she still haven't finish. Looks like she's popping about one each hour.

Birthing has finished. She took 24h+ to pop all of the out.
Just fed her and used the moment to take one fast pic.

Big momma with her lil' piggies:

From the pic I can clearly count 15. So for now it's 15+ until I am able to count them better.

I'm guessing 16-18
Very gorgeous and huge babies!

GS wrote:

I'm guessing 16-18
Very gorgeous and huge babies!

Yep, I'm pretty sure they're about that many.
And yes, they're huge. About the same size that my A. bicolor on premolt from 4i to 5i.

Wow that's huge!

Is the body size of the babies alone around 1.7cm?
Btw, i can't keep my eyes off the beautiful "claws" of the proud mom

No, not that much. Maybe 1.2-1.5 cm. Might easily be those 1.7 cm once they hit 2i.
Wondering what the gestation on these guys is. According to some posts in another forum it would be 15-24 months. Well, for sure it's more than 9, as a friend imported her in march and she's been alone since then... although his theory is that she was retaining sperm from before and "fertilized" herself when she got here on a bigger enclosure etc.

Awwwww congratulations!

Very unlikely on the "self-fertilize" part.. though it'll be very cool if she does.

Unless your friend is saying that she has given a brood (before arriving to your care) and has not been housed communally ever since or mated with a male after that previous brood.

Yeah, the gestation is that long. Its a very very long journey to raise them from 2.instar to adults... mate them and then wait for the whole gestation period. Good job in keeping the gravid mom is a great enclosure with the right settings, it take effort

Looking forward to your documentation on "piggy's" growing up as well

Thanks Anna!

Way to go Dolby. Mom and brood look great.

wow congrats dude!!!

Seems that all are 2i now, I was away for new year, but when I returned last night, most had already molted, the rest molted today.

Btw. will coco fiber be just fine for when I separate them? Somebody adviced me to use something like kitchen paper to avoid mites, but I don't like that idea too much. It will dry out too quickly and won't allow burrowing.

i use coco it works fine.

Congrats mate! I know you've been waiting for your first brood for a while now and what a scorp to have your first brood from, only the largest in the world A species I'd love to own one day, she looks like a beast!

Got a rough count on them yet? I was going to hazard a guess but it's really hard to tell from the pic, sweet pic though. It's good they've hit 2i, should start wandering about soon. I'd just use coco too.

Thanks bro.
I was able to count 17-18 from the first pic. The final count will probably be pretty close to GS's guess @18-20.

Sorry should have paid more attention!!

Fingers crossed for nearer 20 for you mate. At least it won't be much hassle feeding the young, they're going to be seriously big 2i's