Androctonus australis 7i to 8i?

hi i'm just wondering if hes possible to molt from 7i to 8i? hes so fat and slow. thanks!

I have a 7i male that looks that Fat. However, males usually mature at 7.instar.
If we are talking about female, yes its possible for 8.instar.

Hey .. I'd be tempted to think he's simply overfed and/or your temps are a bit low slowing down his metabolic processes causing his digestion to also slow down....Besides, males of many species are notorious for gorging themselves (if food is available) and then retreating to digest and in some cases not eating again for weeks or months. He certainly doesn't seem interested in that cricket over in the corner behind him..

in my case, this male doesn't want to mate with other females. he always run. i've tried to put him in action but he refused to interact. is he a mature 7i already or maybe he wants another molt to reach his maturity? is there a tendency for this case?

Smiles .. .Sherlock would say "eliminate the possibilities and whatever is left must be the answer"
So, possibilities:..hm


It's a sub adult male possibly approaching molt.
It's a sub adult female possibly approaching molt
It's an overfed adult male who's not in the mood for courting.
It's a gravid female
Your females are already gravid.
Bio/habitat conditions are out of range or in other ways non optimal for this scorpion.
It's sick or incapacitated in some way.

If there's a tendency for this kinda thing? .. I've heard of a few species taking an extra molt to become adult but i can't recall hearing of a scorpion taking 8 molts and especially not a male....It's usually females that take an extra molt.

First of, providing that you have done a pectine count and got a confirmation of the sex, a male.
The next is are you sure of it's instar? (e.g you have raised this specimen from 2i)

i dont know about his whole background but i already asked a few from his recent keeper and i dont know if its true or not. i got my aa as an 7i chubby male. hes big as my other adult Aas. and nope my female wasn't gravid.
i think den is right, hes sick or incapacitated in some way or overfed.

thanks for the replies btw i really appreciate it.

Thats a male for sure.
As said, i've a 7i male that is that chubby too (usually my males are all well proportioned in terms of ratio in body mass to tail fatness)
I'll be letting him mate with an adult female soon, i'll see if obsesity is a prob for males.. Lol

Den wrote:

If there's a tendency for this kinda thing? .. I've heard of a few species taking an extra molt to become adult but i can't recall hearing of a scorpion taking 8 molts and especially not a male....It's usually females that take an extra molt.

Technically, eight molts would equate to ninth instar...