Gravid scorpio marus palmatus

right i am currently browsing the net for a pic of the above scorp in gravid condition.

reason being one of the females i have just bought is rather fat as in round and elongated, the back plates starting to separate.
Other reason being is that she is kicking hell out of the male.. its not mating dance she is really being aggressive. the other male and female have settled down and you can get near them... the fat female goes into offensive position whenever you go near the tank and starts trying to tag as soon as you're within 2-3" of her. I have noticed the other female is staying well out of the way! She is approx 5cm length so i recon she is of sexual maturity. (cant get an accurate length i'll lose my fingertips lmao!)

The other two have settled in shallow burrows or under the cork bark. she is furiously trying to burrow deeper.

So for the males safety's sake i have separated her to another enclosure. I have offered crix to see if she is hungry. Im not counting out the fact that she may just be ready to slough but she looks like she may have sloughed not to long ago before i bought her, her body is still pretty shiny. Or it may be that she is a VERY feisty female!

If anyone has any pictures of a gravid or has successfully bred this sp please let me know, This is the first time i have kept this sp so any personal input would be great.

LRC xxx

Can you get a shot of her from the side? Sometimes when they're gravid you can see new embryos through the membrane.

eerrm yeah sort of but the inbuilt macro setting on my camera aint the best in the world! got a jewellers loupe coming sometime this week so will have a good look with that. Until i can afford a (set of?) macro lenses!

My best suggestion is to get a good SLR and then use the manual focus.

It can be hard to get really good macro shoots with out alot of lighting..
i have tried it a couple of times now.. allso freehanding macro shots tend to get abit blurry.. so something for it to stand on and a remote is perfekt.. with alot of lighting.. a Ring flash or something like that..

A scanner might also be pretty useful for an undershot. Just don't close it on the scorp

lol will try with tripod in a bit. I have a fuji finepix s9500. not quite a DSLR but closest i could afford at the time. Canon 400D is on the xmas list hint hint hint to hubby!

Got a Canon 350D Rebel XT with a couple of glasses.. 100mm Canon macro works pretty good but mostly its the shooter not the equipment that does something wrong.. but with that big a lense you need alot of lighting..

I've got the Canon Rebel XT and can get some great closeups with just the kit lens.

Yeah but iam talking really really good pictures..


http://www.fotostart.dk/index.php?p=604&u=1909&pl=3052
http://www.fotostart.dk/index.php?p=604&u=1909&pl=2988
http://www.fotostart.dk/index.php?p=604&u=1909&pl=2984
http://www.fotostart.dk/index.php?p=604&u=1909&pl=3367

This is a some of the good pictures i have taken with my Rebel XT with a 100mm macro lense.. but trust me it can be much much much better.. but yeah Mike the kit lense is great for close-ups as well.. hmm i need more time so i can go play with my cam..

did you take those pics? very nice!

hmm crap i geuss i hijacked a thread?..

I hope she is prego LadyRiot

Kejser wrote:

hmm crap i geuss i hijacked a thread?..

I hope she is prego LadyRiot

hehehe no probs! not taken pic yet will do it tomorrow.. got caught up with housework!

right this is the best picture i could get of her, as you can see from the pic, the last 2/3 of her abdomen are swollen. The agression you can see in the picture is what she is like whenever you go near her. She's been that aggressive she has even lost the very tip of her telson!

And we got our jewellers loupe today, and under 30X magnification you can not only see the tiny babies but you can also see them move. Was pretty awesome to see! I recon she still has a bit to go yet but I cant wait to be a mummy again!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!

Either that or she has some hellish parasites in her!!!

nice! this scorp always reminds me of an emp.

poor little girl is missing her stinger but to me she doesnt look gravid but ive only delt with gravid P.Imps so dont take my word for it

I couldn't get a picture of her while her body was to the ground, where she does look a lot fatter than when she's in attack position. Time will tell though.Either way coz of her attitude i've decided to call her PMT!

Just an update. The SMP is now twice its size from previous picture, Very fat and elongated now. She's getting docile, tries to put up a fight if my hand goes near the tank but for the most part she's underground most of the time. Tried to get a picture but she wont stay out long enough.

To add to matters the spinal column is now very noticeable along her back, its like someone got a permanent marker and drew a stripe on her lol.

Getting excited to say the least!

LRC xx

ahh we may have a brood at the same time the same thing with my het... she was fat.... now her cords showing aswell.. im excited..
the only thing is... shes refusing to burrow???

depends on the temperature of the substrate. or she may be due any time now and needs the space to maneuver. will be glad to hear how things go for you.

woo hoo lots of baby scorps!!!

just another update.

PMT as i lovingly call her spends 99% of the time in and digging further into her burrow. on the occasions i have seen her she is defo getting larger and can no longer manage to eat a full 2/3i cricket. she's looking remarkably like a ping pong ball with limbs!

tried to get a picture of her today but she dragged her heaving body away before i could get the picture!

I have a male and a female in the other critter keeper and the female in there is looking rather plump too so going to be watching her closely. methinks i might need to get a couple more critter keepers in case she decides to have a go at the male... who stays well clear of her. if their paths meet he runs away like mad!!!

yeah no probs.