Thinkin about pickin up one mroe emp.

So I have a full grown female and a male that is one molt away from adulthood. But I went to the local pet shop yesterday and they had emps for $19.00US. I want to breed her and they had a nice male, they also had a female that looks pretty gravid. Should I just wait for my male to molt and mate with my female? Or should I get a full grown male and mate them? Or should I get the gravid female and not have to wait 9-18 months for a brood?

Well you cant have 2 males and a female. they will fight. its probably best that you get another female because 2 females and a male work out swimmingly. 2 males and a female will cause excessive fighting which isnt necessary. And it may appear that she is gravid, but its very possible that she isnt and about to molt instead.

As he said, a larger female : male ratio is what you need when doing a communal set-up.

Also, your emp might take a while to molt as they are pretty slow growers, but then again I don't know how close it is to molting so I can't say.

and i know you said you had emps a bit ago, but you should ease into it. dont immediately start having babies unless your ready for being there to do whatever necessary. it could be hard for you considering you go to work for quite a lot.

My male is months away from molt. And the gravid female I think may just be overfed. I may be able to trade for an adult male but I want to see an emp molt. it would be so cool. he is way more chill than she is. as far as having babies I have another vivarium set up already and another that is in my garage that I can set up. I am out for 11 hours 5 days per week, but my girl is at home when I am not. Though she is the reason my red tail boas are dead... she is totally freaked about the scorps having babies "eeeewww it looks so gross". She would be more than willing to follow any instruction I leave for their care and well being.

Anyway if I do pick up the "gravid female" should I seclude her from the pair I have till she does give birth?

Yes.

As for the molting, you would be lucky to see your emperor molt. I have only ever found the left over exos

yeah they tend to do it whenever they feel the least threatened aswell. i mean come on. wouldnt u not want to strip and be seen by everyone? same as them they dont want to be caught in a weak oppertunity and get eaten.

I have done it before. lol I would be so excited to see that.

lol yeah i would too but seeing that both of mine tend to hide all day and only come out of there hides to crawl at the wall...

Wint me My female is the only one I see come out. She presses her "private part" against the glass. tryin to flash me.

lol im pretty sure she is just trying to climb out of the tank. dont flatter yourself

DANG IT!! yeah she does that from about 12:00am-2:00am which is cool because I at least get to see one routinely.

lol ive learned to not see them. mine are so unpredictable that i dont even bother waiting for them.

All of mine are always out or active at night. I usually seem them between 8pm and 1 in the morning

well my night is from 9 pm to 9 am

12:00-2:00 is usually the window in which I get to see her. But I haven't seen either of them in in 2 days. But my substrate looks cool though.

Well somedays me 2 boys come and some days they dont. all depends on what they want.

So yes or no?

I think you should get a mature male as you don't know when your male will molt. Could be in a week, could be in a year, you just don't know.

But make sure you won't be keeping two males with one female though won't you?

Also be careful when you put the males together. If you get a male that hasn't seen another male in like a year or 6 months it could be a permanent fight. Make sure you get a male thats from a group of like 3 or more because they are most likely to get along then. Make sure to re-arrang the tank aswell as soon as you put them together.

The males I am seeing are living in groups of 6+

well then your most likely fine

But there's bound to be more than one female in that group.

Always keep your own female:male ratio greater.

EG. 3 females : 1 male

Otherwise, regardless of how they were being kept before, you could have a hell of a lot of fights on your hands

yeah its not worth it because if they start to fight, then you have to separate them and find new places and its just a huge pain.

hopefully the pet store will trade me?