Babycurus Jacksoni mating

I just put my B. Jacksonis in a communal tank the first time today, they were always separated before. I believe they are subadults, I have a full grown adult, and these are smaller. What happened is that they made their mating ritual, they moved around holding each other, and I even saw what I believe is a spermatophore. What happened at the end, on of them stung viciously the other and left, he then ate the spermatophore. Is that possible that they mated?? I haven't tried sexing them since I didn't think they were adults.

Sounds like adults to me!

He actually ate it? That's gross

Let's hope something comes out of it!

It's possible that they mated -- a lot of scorpions have a "sexual sting," kind of the scorpion equivalent to wining and dining her.

Or maybe more like a roofie . . . either way, keep your fingers crossed.

BTW, to sex B. jacksoni, the males have bulbous pedipalps. Females go through one more molt than males and are noticeably larger when mature. The female's metasoma is also larger when mature than when subadult.

I've heard that subadult females are capable of breeding before their final molt, so you may be in luck even if she wasn't larger with a beefed-up tail.

Good news then. From what I believe, and the pedipalp shaping, the female stung him and fled.

Good Luck! I hope you get some scorp shorties!!

In a sexual sting, it's the males that sting the females . . . maybe something else is going on here.

Maybe it was just some territorial disputes bacause you just put them together?

well fingers crossed

I dont think it was territorial, it was clearly the mating ritual. He was at it for a while, grabbing both her pincers and walking her around. I just didn't expect it from "subadults".

It sounds odd to me if they really are subadults?

Female are capable of breeding at subadults (5th instar), but there's some question of whether or not they'll retain the brood if they molt after mating.

I doubt males can breed at subadult (4th instar).

Mr. Mordax wrote:

Female are capable of breeding at subadults (5th instar), but there's some question of whether or not they'll retain the brood if they molt after mating.

I doubt males can breed at subadult (4th instar).

I don't believe that is accurate information you got there! Do you have any sources? As far as I'm informed by the people I know that knows a lot about scorpions, no scorpions is able to breed before adulthood...

Exactly the reason I posted here, if they were adults I wouldn't have bothered.

Let me rephrase myself:

Females stop growing at sixth instar, males at fifth.

Both are capable of reproducing at fifth instar.

Maybe "subadult" was the wrong word to use.

I'll see if I can't dig up some sources on the matter.

Again, that goes against all I have learnt! I have always been told that the last molt is the molt to adulthood and therefore it can't reproduce before the final molt...

This is the first time I hear otherwise?

servel ppl claim to have scorpions that mate, molt and then breed or in orther variations. I havent personal seen it but i belive it can be done, Since servel sp of scorpion can produce servel litters from 1 mating. The sperm would still be inside the female scorpion after the molt.
Dont belive there have been alot of official infomation about it.


Back to the B.jacksonii

You will see some fighting in B.jacksonii its normal and trust me they can easily live together. I have 8 females and 6 males together without a problem and i can just buy new ones and throw down there with nothing happening.
Its allso normal to see the female tell the male to piss off after the mating have happend

How is your take on that the last molt is the adult molt and they can't breed before that? It was Tom Larsen who told me that and he got the information from Jan Ove Rein? Also heard it from Frank Foldbjerg (Kejser knows who these people are)...

Rene, I've been looking for a source. One person said it was in an issue of the ATS forum magazine, but I can't access their archives online . . . I also read it's given in the Biology of Scorpions, which I have a copy. Unfortunately, I have to leave for work soon, but I'll definitely try to find the reference when I get home.

What I'm turning up says it's rare, but it can happen. It doesn't seem to be a normal occurrence.

We shouldn't jump to conclusions also, there is no births to back this up.

Well, I went and read through my copy of The Biology of Scorpions, and I was wrong . . . sort of.

The book says "reports of postreproductive molts do not appear in the literature." That's not to say that it's never happened, only that it hasn't been recorded in a peer-reviewed article. It's been a long time since I've heard about the subject, so I'm assuming evidence is anecdotal, meaning it originated as firsthand observations within the hobby but never made it to the scientific community.

There's also the possibility that people have observed fifth-instar females mating, but no young came of it. (I do recall hearing from other hobbyists who have observed this.) Along those lines, I found something very interesting in the book:



Notice that there are a great deal of species with a variable number of final molts, both females and males. So it is entirely possible, though unlikely, that a female will be mature at fifth instar.

Hm, I see! That's odd seems possible though!

Pshh, just confused teens

Nice find and very interesting

Update!!
I have 3 B.Jacksonis together, 1 male 2 female. Well, both females gave birth, within 1 day each. I'll keep an eye on them to see if they ever molt once again.

would be cool to give certainty that they can get pregnant before their final instar