My scorpion Irene mated successfully on a vertical surface with my smallest male on June 8, 2013, and had her brood on September 2, 2013. It only took a total of 13 weeks for her to produce precisely 39 babies.
Feeding: I only fed her a total of 3 times; 2 medium sized Blaptica dubia roaches, and an adult cricket: averaging to about one meal every 2 or 3 weeks, then a long fasting period before parturition.
Housing: 10 gallon enclosure with moist/semi moist substrate. I keep a 60 watt IR heat lamp on top, which I occasionally turn off for a few days or put on a different enclosure, but the tank itself (not to mention my bedroom) will stay in the mid 70's to low 80's during the week. I let the substrate dry out a couple of times before dumping more water in until all of the substrate was wet. I keep flat bark hides for the scorpions to crawl under, and as you can imagine, it stays pretty humid under there. On top of that, I cover the top 2/3 of the enclosure to restrict airflow and meet the essential humidity needs.
She shared her enclosure with her mate, and absolutely no aggression was seen during gestation. In fact, I suspected she had already given birth when I did my weekly check-up, only to find that the male was no longer under the same hide as her. This raised my suspicion that she had given birth because they both typically like to be under the same hide. Sure enough, my suspicion was correct -- there she was with 39 newborn babies.
Brooding Enclosure: I kept her in a separate deli container for the next week in my heated closet, where her young can develop and molt into 2nd instar in a less stressful environment, and with less problems. It also helps to remove the mother, and not the babies. Especially a species with such a high birth count. I utilized the outer shell of a coconut as a hide, which she used. All the babies were off her back approximately 6 days after their first molt. They stayed under the coconut with their mom.
And to top it all off, she did not cannibalize any of her babies. My first captive breeding project is a 100% success. I sold all but two babies, but I will raise them along with several other juveniles from 3 different broods, so that I may continue to breed this wonderful species.
Thanks for reading.
Patrick
