Unexpected P. Imperator babies

Went out of town for three weeks with no signs my lady was gravid. Granmother fed them while I was gone. Came back to find three babies wandering about. They're just the slightest off white in colour and weren't on mama's back, although one was in the burrow with her. I went ahead and separated them into their own small keeper with increased humidity/warmth and a sponge in a mealworm dish for water.

I had thought she was gravid once before but it turned out she'd just eaten her first boyfriend (found the poor fella's claw sitting inconspicuously in the back of her burrow a couple of months later during a cleaning). Likely gravid from before I purchased her.

I've done research on the ins and outs of taking care of the babies, but I can't seem to find at what point they start to darken, only that they darken more with each moult. I'm not sure if I should have them fully separate or include the mother at this point. Two are nicely active, but one seems quite lethargic, or at least non responsive to things around it, though it does still move about a bit.

Any help or suggestion would be much appreciated.

-- I would post a photo, but apparently that isn't allowed for a week. :/

h ://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h317/kediil/IMG_20130724_180833.jpg

Baby Pandinus imperator are white when born, so they may have fallen off the back of the mother. Do they look like this?: http://goo.gl/kowA7k

If they look like the ones on the back, they have fallen off and will most likely not survive. Don't reintroduce them to the mother because she will eat them. Go here:http://www.allscorpionarchives.com/t14-how-to-incubate-1instar-scorpling if you want to try.

If you add in the ttp to the link I included you can see a picture of one. They're definitely tiny. She doesn't have any on her back, so I don't know if she went full on cannibal on them and these are the only three to have gotten the hell out of there in time, or if they actually left her back. I can't seem to find any in between photos of babies that aren't tiny and white or a good half in long.

I think that may be a freshly molted 2nd instar baby. Not sure on that though.

Yeah, I just finished looking through the site you provided and they definitely aren't chubby in the least. I did grab some pinheads and put a fresh killed one in, but no one was interested, quite possibly because I just uprooted them though.

I'm certainly prepared that they all my die since I wasn't here earlier, but who knows.

Any thoughts or suggestions beyond their instar? Such as bringing in the mother, etc? Certainly anything is helpful.

The substrate in your photo is too course and way too dry. I recommend that you swap it out for a couple inches of damp ground coco fiber or peat. A sponge in the water bowl will harbor bacteria. A better option is a layer of gravel or pebbles in the bowl to make it shallower. I would also remove the rocks as they could easily crush a scorpion that size if it burrowed under them.

shebeen wrote:

The substrate in your photo is too course and way too dry.  I recommend that you swap it out for a couple inches of damp ground coco fiber or peat.  A sponge in the water bowl will harbor bacteria.  A better option is a layer of gravel or pebbles in the bowl to make it shallower.  I would also remove the rocks as they could easily crush a scorpion that size if it burrowed under them.

It's a thin layer of dry peat moss over about two inches of dampened peat moss (wet, but no drops when squeezed), to keep the humidity up (ranging between 55 and 60 this past day/night). I wasn't sure about having them in direct contact with the damp stuff since some info mentioned that rot-type thing they're susceptible to with too much moisture.

Rocks removed. Should I put in a piece of papertowel or egg crate so they have somewhere to hide without risking harm?

I'll change to gravel.

The non responsive one perked up for an hour or two, but didn't make it the night.

~ Thanks much for the help!

And come to think of it, when should I see about giving them a pinhead or two?

~Much appreciation!

Yay! They ate a couple of headcrushed pinhead/juvies and they are fat and happy!

Glad to hear that they're eating. The "rot-type thing" you're referring to is a fungal infection called mycosis. It's only a problem for desert species that are kept in humid conditions for an extended period of time. Emperors are a tropical forest species native to humid environments and are fairly immune to mycosis (although a few rare cases have been reported). There's no problem with keeping all your substrate moist, including the surface.

Rather than using cardboard for hides, which tends to mold and rot in a humid environment, use pieces of cork bark (it's mold resistant) or pieces from a broken flower pot or tea cup. You basically want something that's light weight and relatively flat. Start a small depression under it with your finger and the scorpions will usually take care of the rest, i.e., digging a burrow.

That was indeed the word I was looking for, and good to know it's the desert types that are more likely to get it than my emps.

I'll certainly figure out something for a better/lasting hide.

I'll just hope for the best for these two until I feel their big enough to rejoin the adults, assuming they survive their molts. I don't suppose there's a recommended instar/size for rejoining the group?

~The help has been invaluable!