Heterometrus spinifer Breeding Project

I'm guessing 26 litle fellow.

GS wrote:

Hey guys,

I suspect that my Heterometrus Spinifer is gravid but i do not eliminate the possiblity of just fatness.
She is a full grown adult and has been separated from a communal setup for 2-3 months due to her aggressiveness towards other spinifers.

Pse comment if you think she is simply Fat or Gravid.
Any insights will be great! Thanks





Ps: Yes she is the one who ate her tankmate !

AWESOME guys!! she giving birth right now!! A quick shine into the hide (as my daily routine) exposed some babies on her back & its so damn exciting!!

This is my first brood from a Heterometrus Spinifer and I'm like a eager dad waiting just outside the operation room

She has actually increased in size of about 30% since my first post of her pictures/video about 1 month ago and she finally stopped eating about 2 weeks ago.

There she is right now... making babies!
I didn't wana disturb her with photo/vid taking right now so i probably leave her alone till shes done.
Will greatly appreciate any little tips you may have on any areas of concern.

Thanks for all your valuable inputs & guesses guys. I'll update on her status again for sure

That's great news mate, good luck with that lot! And I'm guessing 31 babies

Wow congratulations!!!!

As long as its humid enough then just leave her to it. try not to disturb her at all until the babies leave her or she will start eating them.

Wow nice one bro..ill still stick to 38 lil spinifers..

Thanks guys

Took a 3min short video last night (approx. 3hrs into her labour) while i refilled her water bowl. Vid is taken on the outside of her enclosure under infra red lighting for minimal distraction.

I guess she was gravid

Congrats, it looks like she has quite a few more babies coming.

Updates

Birthing duration: 1½ days

Heterometrus Spinifer 1st Instars Scorplings (6 day old ):

Aww! Those scorplings are just too cute! I especially love the up-close photo where you can see all their little eyes! =D

Wow congratulations!!! Have u tried to count them yet lolz

Thanks! Yeah they're so damn cute! like small rolls of sushi. haha
I tried counting but couldn't get below the pile.. lolz
Will update again once they dismount or so

Hey guys, some of you might find this pic familiar, on the left is Scoopy(who recently gave birth) muching on her tankmate. Right beside her was Grump, another adult female in my H.Spinifers' communal setup who was also isolated to her own tank after her several attempts to attack the male below her.



Here's the thing, i was doing some cleaning at Grump's enclosure and it caught me by surprised that her front legs are curled up towards her underneath. For a moment, it sadden me as i thought that it might be a "death curl" or somthing. Upon closer inspection, it does looked like the *cradle position (or someone can tell me the correct term for it) just before my recent female (Scoopy) gave birth.

Below is a picture i found on the net as a sample to show the positions of Grump's legs as i didn't want to stress her out with flash light from my camera now.

The above picture belonged to PantherKut at http://www.pantherkut.com/2009/04/23/scorpion-giving-birth/

*cradle position: The front legs are curl towards the underneath of the scorpion mum, so that when the babies pop-out, they have a better chance for a good grip to climb themselves up to their Mum's back (instead of falling on straight on the substrate).

Grump seemed to notice my appearance from the inside of her hide and shifted herself alittle. I immediately placed her enclosure gently back on the shelf and covered the 4 sides of her enclosure till it's almost pitch dark except for the mesh openings on top for adequate ventilation. Just as i was sealing up the last bit, i saw her going back to that "cradle position" again.

I'm not sure if i'm right but i wouldn't want anything to happen to any possible babies in the event that i might have stressed out Grump while she's at it. I also believe that sometimes scorps will do some weird positions in their "free time" but i'm not sure if sometimes these weird positions does include some *cradle positions (even though the scorpion itself is not prego at all).

Pse let me know if i'm not being clear. Anyways, i'll leave her alone for now.. will update again

Any advice/comment will be great guys. Thanks!

GS wrote:

Thanks! Yeah they're so damn cute! like small rolls of sushi. haha
I tried counting but couldn't get below the pile.. lolz
Will update again once they dismount or so

Like Sushi! I love it!! And speaking of Sashimi, sorry to hear about the loss of the male! I'm surprised after successful living communally that they'd attack each other! Think she went a little nuts with postpartum depression?

iitomodachi1 wrote:

I'm surprised after successful living communally that they'd attack each other! Think she went a little nuts with postpartum depression?

Lolz.. possible.. ha
Up next, I'll be posting up some new "sushi" vids.
For all to enjoy

Freshly Molted 2nd Instars H.Spinifer Scorplings:



Dismounted from Mum's Back:



Scorplings TUG-of-WAR!!!



Mass Feeding for 33 kids:

Hey Bro, how big is she? Great vids again!! Congrats on the newborns too!

Haha, loving the glorious pile on.

And strangely, that tug-of-war was probably the most violent scorpion behaviour I've seen. Ahh, nothing like sibling rivalry.

Aw bless them! I want!!

wow the scorplings are very violent

iitomodachi1 wrote:

Hey Bro, how big is she? Great vids again!! Congrats on the newborns too!

Thanks Shawn. She about 3 inch for mesosoma length. Full length (mesosoma to metasoma): abt 6 inch

Billy No Mates wrote:

Haha, loving the glorious pile on.
And strangely, that tug-of-war was probably the most violent scorpion behaviour I've seen. Ahh, nothing like sibling rivalry.

empscorp wrote:

wow the scorplings are very violent

lolz yeah true.. luckily they haven't go to the extend of killing each other for food

231bex wrote:

Aw bless them! I want!!

Updates on my baby Heterometrus spinifer scorplings
These are the 13 which are housed communally with their mum. The rest of the siblings are housed in a separate tank by themselves.

The little ones with mum grew amazing fast and healthy under her care...
Attained 4th instar within 6 months.

"Sun basking with her favorite son"



" Intruder alert !! "
*wee uuuu weeeeet !!! *calling for support...."


"Lets talk about TEAMWORK here !"


"Tank upgraded. Nothing fanciful... i like things practical and simple.. till they are adults "


"Inspecting her new enclosure with a bodyguard"


"The gloss under natural sunlight"


"Quick.. hide under me my sons.."


"Squeezing for a family photo..."


"ahhh... what the heck.. kids will always be kids... -.- "




Tracking on their lifecycles

Seeing this makes me want to have some

LOL at teamwork there.. Even if they are not that dangerous, bro.. that would hurt

hahaha

Awesome pictures again! You have style yes

Heterometrus spp. has to be one of my favourites
Could anyone tell me which Heterometrus sp. this one is? I like that the telson is black too.

Wow they are some awesomely cute pictures bless them