My first promenade-a-deux - with pictures

Just saw a promenade-a-deux for the first time.
I thought my M.Martensiis were as that's how they were sold to me, but I am having suspicions that they could actually be adults already. I haven't find in any source a way to distinguish sub-adults from adults.

Anyway, back to the action... They were on it for I guess 1.5h - 2h. With the male dragging the female all around. I didn't witness a sexual sting, however have of that time I was not at home as I had to drive my wife to work. They did not have a good surface for the spermatophore until I got back home, and I put them a small flat piece of rock (around 4x2cm) as that's the only thing I found. 5-10 minutes later, I saw the male depositing the spermatophore. The female was not for long over it, then followed a struggle, seemed as the female took control and was pushing the male away, and then they split.

I do hope something did happen and that they are both adults. If I see that she is getting bigger I will have the confirmation.

Couple of questions though, if indeed they are still subadults, would they make the mating ritual? And more importantly, would a subadult male be even able to deposit a spermatophore?

DolbyR wrote:

Couple of questions though, if indeed they are still subadults, would they make the mating ritual? And more importantly, would a subadult male be even able to deposit a spermatophore?

I believe only adults are able to perform the mating ritual. Males would only initiate a mating ritual when he sensed a "sexually ready" female. Imo, only adult males can deposit spermatophore.

Wish you luck for having a huge brood of M.Martensiis babies

The "Action":

























The Result:

Nice capture there bro!
I've never witness M.Martensiis' mating before. Thanks for posting it up.

& yeah.. definitely a lovely adult pair you have there! Gratz

I wanted to capture it on film, but of course my videocamera was out of battery
But gladly I was working from home today so I had the chance to take atleast the pictures

Congrats! Wonder how long gestation is for these guys?

Thanks.

IIRC, I've read somewhere it should be around 6 to 8 months.

Congrats im jealous am yet to see any scorp mate,hoping we will see some action when our 3 emps get togehter

I guess we all are missing something I am yet to see a molt. Hoping I'll catch my emp or the Iurus molting one day

ive not actually seen a molt in progress apart from that scorp we lost coz he was stuck in it so that doesnt count lol, have got loads of molts ive found in burrows when ive dug them up lol

Sweet, hope to see a back full of babies in the near future

I've never witnessed a molt in process either but I have watched my scorp giving birth which was cool. Hoping to see some mating action soon

Hopefully I will be able to catch the next mating on film. That would be too much luck though

There seemed to be some more mating action Saturday evening between one of the males and my big female. I don't think it led to anything though. She didn't seem very cooperative and she's quite bigger and stronger so he wasn't able to pull her even out of the hide.

Edit:
Just checked,, and actually she is the one who mated the first time. So maybe that is why she was not interested.

Almost 2 months after the mating, here are a couple of pics of the female. Still wondering if she actually is gravid or not.
I was talking to a friend of mine that used to have a big colony of these, and apparently gestation is around 3-4 months. So by this time I would had expected she would be bigger than she is (if indeed gravid|).