Freshly Molted 4 or 5i (maybe??) AFS's

Just wanted to share the latest photos of my H. Spinifer's that have all seemed to molt and suddenly appear huge to me. Still 3 or so inches but much larger than they have ever been! They were tiny when I first got them!

















This next one is hilarious, they have been protecting each other since I got them. The 2 biggest ones will get all aggressive and posture keeping themselves between me and the other 2 scorps. I first noticed this when one had molted the night before. They have all molted in the past week now. I new 2 had molted but didn't realize all 4 had until tonight during some tank maintenance and cleaning.



And this next one was immediately after I put a piece of pot back in as I couldn't help but accidentally destroy their burrow . I was think that they were thinking; "Come on, lets go home this big white guy is a jerk!!"

That "protection" shot is great -- I caught an H. longimanus molting and a tankmate came out in full threat posture at me. They seem very defensive of other members of the burrow.

Thanks, yeah I just find the protection thing absolutely amazing. I can see the argument about scorps being bugs and not thinking and being mostly reactive and instinctual but seeing this behavior in a communal setting really makes you wonder if they are thinking more than some think. It has to take some comprehension of what is happening with others from the burrow such as a molt or other danger that they possibly "make the decision" to protect each other. And the two biggest ones seem to do the protecting.

Or maybe my understanding of how deep and complex instincts can be. I've got some odd theories that could apply to this but just my mad train of thought I would be interested in hearing of other communal experiences that are similar though.

Is it my eyes or they have this cool reddish brown tint on them
Do they hang around on the surface much? My Emps has been in their burrow 97% of the time.. Sometimes i wonder why do i keep an "empty tank" in the middle of my room..

Btw Bro, Its very heart warming to see your H.Spinifers protecting each other.
Awesome pictures and vivid description there!

great pics bro, and yeah they do have a red-ish tint to them.

Great shots! They're looking good and healthy.

I've always housed my Emp subs seperately and put them in communal set ups as adults so I've never been fortunate enough to observe them "protecting" each other during molts. I have however observed larger adults behave in a way that seemed as if they were protecting smaller ones(siblings). I don't know if this is the case necessarily. They very well may have behaved in this defensive manner instinctively regardless of the presence of their smaller siblings, but it sure seemed as if they were protecting them.

Mr. Mordax wrote:

That "protection" shot is great -- I caught an H. longimanus molting and a tankmate came out in full threat posture at me. They seem very defensive of other members of the burrow.

That is so funny, you don't really expect them to be intelligent enough to take the other scorpions safety into consideration! There is more to these animals then people think

Thanks all! And yeah your guesses are as good as mine, they sure do appear to have that reddish tint to them as GS your 97% sounds about right Hunting these things in the wild must be really difficult! I have not seen mine a long time other then the fact that this last burrow was up against the tank wall so I could see a claw or barely make out that I still had 4. I was doing cleaning as they moved some parts of a molt out of the burrow and a section of their burrow seemed abandoned due to leftover exoskeleton so I was picking the stuff up and found another little area that had a few pieces, when picking this up I stumbled upon their new burrow under it and one came out, so I pulled the others out as I had already destroyed their burrow It Sure was a treat to see them all molted and bigger than before I had to break the camera out!

As for keeping them together I read they are more of a true communal species and that the mom will actually bring them fresh killed prey back to their burrow up to 3i or so. And also that they will often work together to bring down prey. So I put them together right away and feed the 4 of them a large maimed cricket every day, eventually two and for a while now I've just been dumping 4 in there every other day, and I rarely find parts left over. So hard to tell when these guys are eating or who hasn't but I think they are taking care of each other there

And Kristopher, I can see how you can think that is a possibility and it very well may be but watching them do it whenever I get the chance to see them out it appears to be pretty apparent and they do it only when one has freshly molted or I'm by the smallest one. They will cross the tank to get between my hand and the smallest one or freshly molted one. I have never held a scorp to this day so I haven't handled them wrong or anything and scared them so this happening again I thinking it is intentional and wonder if it just may be a conscience decision versus instinctual, who kows.

Mr. Mordax wrote:

That "protection" shot is great

+1 Awesome pic!

iitomodachi1 wrote:

Hunting these things in the wild must be really difficult!

Actually, it's surprisingly easy -- just go into the jungle with a blacklight. Some of our members from SE Asia have even found them just looking under bark and logs.

My dad actually had one scurry across the kitchen floor when my family lived on Sumatra (before my time, unfortunately ).

iitomodachi1 wrote:

And Kristopher, I can see how you can think that is a possibility and it very well may be but watching them do it whenever I get the chance to see them out it appears to be pretty apparent and they do it only when one has freshly molted or I'm by the smallest one. They will cross the tank to get between my hand and the smallest one or freshly molted one. I have never held a scorp to this day so I haven't handled them wrong or anything and scared them so this happening again I thinking it is intentional and wonder if it just may be a conscience decision versus instinctual, who kows.

That's really interesting. It is entirely possible that they are actively protecting each other. René made a good point when he said that there's more to these animals than people think. As science proves time and time again, there's more to EVERYTHING than people think.

Wow, I suppose it is hard to bring them back in our suitcase huh?? I want to retire in Thailand, buy a house someplace in 15 years or so and when it's time to retire head over there and relax with the best food in the world and plenty of beautiful scenery and lots of H. Spins!!!

nice pics!!!

Just an update, was rehousing to a 5 gallon for the 4 lil' ones and noticed they are all molting again Found a huge freshly molted one and the other 3 just fat as all get up ready to burst! Enjoy

Nice, man. They all look healthy and the fat ones are definitely ready. If you're lucky you can catching their molting process on film

Oh I hope so! I have a camera and tripod ready and it doesn't look like they are burrowing in the new tank yet I just hope they wait till tomorrow night when I get back :/

And thanks for the compliments Bro

Never so lucky on that, I caught a couple babies but that was it. The AFS's I won't see or hear from for months and all of a sudden I see them and they are bigger than the last time, lol. At least it's a pleasant surprise, I'd like to catch one molting at some point though!

i love that picture when the two scorpions are protecting the other one.

Thanks, and the 2 are protected the 2nd pair behind them, it is very difficult to see but they do this consistently! Funny how communal they really are