P. imperator

Hi all, wondering if you could lend a hand and confirm or correct three sexing attempts. After rehousing my other one, figured I'd be ok moving these three from tank to cup to tank, one was calm as could be, the other two (do they hiss or make noise?) I would have sworn they were cussing at me, all up high as they could be, spread out and posturing, spinning on a dime...

Anyhow, here are the three, telson included for age reference, as the third was the one I had asked about being gravid and most folks said too small and too young. They look to be female (1st) male (2nd) and female (3rd). Sorry about the telson pics, shot through a less than clear cup, I did get them to sit on a clear lid though.







The third didn't want to cooperate for pics, that's the clearest one. Do they spit or excrete clear liquid in defense, the lid it was on had the drops of clear liquid only after picking her up.

Female = male = female.

Again, thank you! Hopefully these three will lead to many little ones

you are very lucky! hopefully he'll be a real ladies man and get both females gravid.

Yep, two females and a male. The last female looks like the only one that's a subadult -- if you could post a pic of all three beside each other that might be confirmed.

The clear liquid may have been venom.

And yes, they can hiss.

Little luck, lots of reading. Actually, the second and last were in the initial purchase, I got the third because of the pudge and the dark line down her back. I wasn't sure, but I thought gravid (thus the post) and not everyone is sure she's too young





The first in the list is actually a replacement, something happened to the original third, so when I went back, I looked through those available to find one with a darker telson and pectines (and that bit in front of them) that most resembled female pics from the web.

I'm adding a nice flat slate tomorrow, they're feeding nicely on gut loaded crix and I have a 5 set up and ready to go if I should see slings or overly aggressive behavior from one of the females. I promised not to breed any tarantulas for at least a year, but my wife has softened since she saw the T slings and 2nd/3rd instar bark scorps in the last couple weeks.

See, she heard stories from my family about when I was in the pet industry decade adn a half ago and heavy into tropical fish. Thousands of gallons leading to several hundred species spawned and raised... she worried I'd get out of control again :) I rather prefer calling it "hobby which pays for itself"


Thanks Mr. Mordax, above is the original pics, so not possible to be pregnant while subadult, does that mean an upcoming molt is possible?

I'd have felt silly if you told me they made no noise, but that's cool!

Trip

I remember seeing those pics and everyone thought it was a subadult, which I still believe -- however, the other telsons look like those two may be adult. A photo with all three next to each other would prove / disprove this.

The other two are most definitely darker, though hers isn't entirely cream colored. I'll try to get a pic of the three of them, or at least two of them in the morning.

I was thinking all three for a size comparison more than a telson comparison -- subadults are usually distinctly smaller than adults.

Ah, gotcha. Procrastination takes years to master, working on my doctorate now, so I've pretty near perfected it, back in a few with a pic

Trip

Left to right, the one in question, the adult female, the adult male, a solo cup on end (had to tip it up to see the male.

subadult.

Yep, one subadult and two adults.

The sub is pretty large, probably 'cause she's approaching her final molt, but if you look at the chela hers are much smaller than those of the other two.

Ok, cool, but still a female? (didn't know if you could tell before maturity...)

Not to hijack my own thread, but how do you tell when they're in pre-molt, do I need to separate them, do anything special?

nah, they will be fine together. some people have observed other scorpions in a communal setup "guarding" moulting tankmates. you will know when the scorpion is in premoult... It will get HUGE as if it's about to explode, then a little while later it will moult.

and It's still a female.

also, mature scorpions do not moult again, so don't get confused lol.

I'd read somewhere they didn't, interesting that they wouldn't. I know mature male tarantulas don't, but they have a significantly shorter lifespan, makes more sense.

Thanks to both of you again for the help and information!

Didn't know whether to start a new thread. Here is my P. imperator

What do you think male or female?

hmmm... I'ma say male.

I'm leaning towards female -- your emp is kind of in the gray area in terms of sexing. The point on the operculum is very subtle. The pectine teeth aren't terribly long, either.

Ok thanks! Not what i wanted to hear though i was planning on getting another male

i say female as well.