Dont see this much in the USA! It was an incredibly fast gestation and she looks like she is still fat haha.
* Brood status: Successful
* Instar of the male/female pair: 7i/8i
* Steps taken to mate the pair: 8/8/2014 (pairing). female was fed up sufficiently and one evening I introduced my friend's MM on loan since mine were still 4/5/6i. Shortly after this, my male matured. The couple paired quickly. He bolted to her and began dancing. She was initially reluctant and I feared slightly for the male due to her more defensive disposition to feeders and other disturbances. They danced for maybe under a minute (quite unusual IME for Parabuthus) and he laid his spermatophore on a piece of loose pottery, drug her over it, then got out of there.
* Duration taken for signs of gestation: Almost immediately she started devouring 1-3 dubia a week, sunning herself daily, and drinking alot of water. I decided to give her a different setup than usual, opting for a large hide across the hot end, slanted. She made herself cozy under this scrape for the next few months, out and about usually closer to the 150W heat lamp. Prior to birthing, she would spend less time sunning, refused food, but drank. Two days before dropping, she dug a deeper "burrow" in the sand under the big cork scrape, and sat there for two days before dropping her young!
* Environmental conditions for the gravid female: 100% coco. Waterdish always full. Half enclosure sprayed once a week through birth.
* Gestation period: 4.5 months - 134 days - 12/20/2014 (birth)
* Number of young born: 64-66
* Number of young eaten by mom: 0
* Number of young surviving to 2.instar: 64-66
A better look at the brood. Looks big and healthy!
Pictures of the second instars
