Advice about a newly bought pregnant Emp?

We need a separate apartment for out pets, lol.

I can manage the space for my inverts relatively easy, but my herp numbers are growing fast and they are a problem. Just my beardies have 2x 430 litre vivariums + 4 undersized tanks for my Leopard geckos (current and future breeding projects), 1500 litres for Iguana, then the BP, and the latest, a milk snake (also for a future breeding project)

Sorry Wodesorel, we got bit offtopic here with GS

It's all good. I'm just trying to find a larger tank for a good price. Everyone around here prices their used tanks at two to three times the cost of new! (It's supposed to be cheaper, stupid greedy craigslist people.) I may be getting a 40 breeder I can requisition for them, but ideally I'd love to go larger.

Anyway, the babies were out exploring for the first time on their own last night. Not very far, but enough where they could chase each other around over food. I also watched mom waltz right over and steal a cricket from a little one. Watching them interact in a group is really an awesome thing, and I am so glad I decided to get her.

(And it's baby season galore here! My first hissing cockroach just had a massive litter today as well. Probably three dozen babies - so much better than her first litter where only one survived!)

So the babies have molted again, putting them at 3i now.

I do have a question though - I thought they were supposed to go out and find their own spot to molt? There is a garbage pile of little scorpion molts in front of the main den, and I'm pretty sure mom is the one who carried them out. Is this normal? I never see the babies out and about - the most they'll do is come to the front of the den and stand with momma.

aw that second pic is amazing , may i have permision to pinch it? i may have a go at drawing it, its sooo sweet

our babies just molted all oveer the place lol, saw some babies taking molts up from the tunnel once, think they all clean now and then

*~BEX~* wrote:

aw that second pic is amazing , may i have permision to pinch it? i may have a go at drawing it, its sooo sweet

I'd be tickled pink if you did!! Would you be comfortable sharing it when you're done? I'd love to see it!




The babies I think are all done molting. I found 13 shed exoskeltons left outside of the burrow in the last few days, so I'm going to assume that's how many babies are left. That may have been all of the ones that were born, or we may have lost one or two. I can't get a decent count from the photos I took of mom with them on her back, but it sounds about right.

The "carnage" from the first day of molting:




Surprisingly I caught one of the babies molting out in the open during the middle of the day. I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures since I doubt I will ever it again!







And not even three minutes later:

Awesome pics!

of course i will share it great pics again

So, mom has taken to sitting outside the hide anytime it's even remotely shady in the tank. I'm assuming she's sitting guard as the babies are becoming more active? They've got three new tunnels started and I've been watching them catch small crickets on their own the past few nights. It's really odd to go in and see her sitting out in the open in the daytime.

I am a bit concerned about mom's weight. She seems to eat non-stop but I'm still thinking she seems rather thin? Should I start throwing in larger items for her more often? She'll take adult dubia without fuss and she seems to not share them with the little ones unlike the smaller food.

Can't believe it, but they're already moving onto 3i! I found the first of the molts this morning.

They're still all sharing the save cave with their mother, and as far as I can tell not a single one is using the pots and wood I put in as hides of their own. How much longer will it be okay for them to remain in the 20 long? Getting the new room ready is taking a lot longer than planned, and we still haven't been able to find a decently priced larger tank. I'm hoping that we still have three or four months.

(And how the heck DO I move them once it's time??)