Babycurus jacksoni molting (pix heavy) update

Cool, My GF got a glass baking dish I can use for the flighty pair. Supposedly the breeder sex'd then to be female and a male

I've heard from a few people that you can't reliably sex this species until mature (or subadult in the case of females, assuming you know for certain the instar).

Not for certain on the instar and your had previously advised on this on my chocolate version some time ago; thanks for the reminder though as it is appreciated,

Mr. Mordax wrote:

I've heard from a few people that you can't reliably sex this species until mature (or subadult in the case of females, assuming you know for certain the instar).

True. But where does sub-adult start, i4, i5, or i6? I leave for 8mo and apparently missed that memo on sexing a B.jax.

I call subadult one molt before adult, usually . . . not sure if it's a true technical term.

Anywho, males mature at 5I and females at 6I. You can sex at 5I (mature males or subadult females, if my definition holds) because males will have the bulbous pedipalps and females won't have the thick tail they gain at 6I and will lack the bulbous pedipalps of a male.

Mr. Mordax wrote:

I call subadult one molt before adult, usually . . . not sure if it's a true technical term.

Anywho, males mature at 5I and females at 6I. You can sex at 5I (mature males or subadult females, if my definition holds) because males will have the bulbous pedipalps and females won't have the thick tail they gain at 6I and will lack the bulbous pedipalps of a male.

That's right, I forgot that the pectine count was not really here nor there with B.jax for sexing purposes. On that note...I'm going to go against your intuition and temp (temporarily) sex this sub-adult as female (I've decided this after close inspection of the pix and it's size - again, this is a temp sexing. Drop us a current pic of the other so I can be proven right or wrong on this).

hmm, I want to say that my blind guess based on size compared to a penny still stands but I'm going to stand back and say I need more pix of the one above before I maintain it further. I'll mention that the PDF that's referenced in the care sheet put up last year only has pix of a "sub-adult" female. For further detailed info on the genus, including holotype descriptions between male and female check out the revision by František Kovařík HERE.

Pectines overlap with this species but my guess is that he sexed the one that just molted as a male and the other as a female (at least that's what I'm saying for now).

We should run this as a long contest on the forum. "Guess the sex of PaperTiger's B.jax"

Yup, thats what I'm thinking too. Probably shoulda put it in the "sex a scorp" section...lol

PaperTiger wrote:

Yup, thats what I'm thinking too. Probably shoulda put it in the "sex a scorp" section...lol

Was my guess right about how the sex you were told by the dealer? Who did you get them from btw?

They (Tarantula Inc./Cornhusker State) could not remember what they had sent; they just informed me how they determine the sex for future reference.

PaperTiger wrote:

They (Tarantula Inc./Cornhusker State) could not remember what they had sent; they just informed me how they determine the sex for future reference.

That explains a bit

Great captures PaperTiger

When it comes to pics, you are the man. We're both in IL, maybe I can get a first hand look of some of your scorps someday, set-ups too, probably be good for a beginner like me.

Arachnid Steve wrote:

When it comes to pics, you are the man. We're both in IL, maybe I can get a first hand look of some of your scorps someday, set-ups too, probably be good for a beginner like me.

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. I need to get a Canon Rebel and then the pictures will literally speak of my favorite hobby.