AFS babies burrowed

Hello all,

First post!

Anyway, my AFS gave birth almost a month ago. The babies are 2I and have all burrowed under the substrate. My last count before they burrowed was 13 but now I rarely see them. I usually see 2 out late at night but no more than that. They are kept with mama still but was wondering if I should separate them so that I know they are still alive. Mama is finally eating her own crickets now that her babies are gone in hiding and I have been leaving "drumsticks" and live crickets (unable to jump) around ever 2 days or so. The next day they are usually all gone (sometimes 1 or two live crickets are still there). So I'm wondering if every baby is able to eat or if only those two babies are eating everything (they don't look that fat). What should I do? I actually prefer them to be independent but also to stay with their mama as she is good to them. I have the urge to start digging carefully just so I know that there isn't a dead and rotting scorpion baby somewhere, but don't want to stress them out.

Welcome to the forum!

Your scorps are probably fine. It's really up to you for what you want to do. If you're really worried about the other scorpions, then you may VERY CAREFULLY dig them up.

As for separating them, again, it's up to you.

There are three ways to raise Heterometrus scorplings.
The first would be to separate all individuals into separate containers, the second would be to separate the mother but leave the scorplings in a communal setup, the third way is to house the slings communally with their mother.

In setup number three, the slings will grow the fastest, followed by setup two.

In terms of cannibalism risk, setup 3 has the highest risk, however, the cannibalism risk is relatively low if enclosure settings are optimal and the specimens are well-fed.


You may want to read this: [ASA] Forest Scorpions' Caresheet

Also, what species is it? "Asian Forest Scorpions" can apply to several members of the genus Heterometrus. I'm guessing they are either H. spinifer, H. petersii, H. laoticus, or H. longimanus.

Thanks for the link!

As for the species, it is H. petersii after researching all the differences between each. I will probably just leave them alone and make sure there's plenty of food for them. There are 2 burrows and 2 hides above ground. It looks like the burrows get very far because they are pretty much at the ends of the tank and one day I saw the "soil" (coco fiber) being pushed up (looking kind of like when a gopher digs up a hole from the ground.

So I lifted the water dish and look what I find:



The above pic was after half of them ran off before I could snap a shot. Looks like I have 13 live babies in 3I.