Heterometrus swammerdami

Scientific name: Heterometrus swammerdami
Common name: Giant Indian forest scorpion
Origin/Distribution: India; Sri Lanka
Venom: Mild to moderate

* History of female: The previous owner bought the female as a sub-adult in march '11, since then she has been housed alone.
I received her in october '11, while she hadn't molted at the previous owner's care.
* Instar of the female: Believed to be 7i

* Duration taken for signs of gestation:
No data on gestation period, however, generally this species' gestation is around 15-24 months.
-She seemed to have great appetite few weeks before her brood.
-Her level of aggretion/defensiveness increased before giving birth.
-No physical signs of pregnancy.

* Environmental conditions for the gravid female:
The female was kept in a 35Lx25Wx20H (cm) plastic tub with plenty of ventilation on top and sides. 2 cm of coconut fibre on the bottom for retaining humidity and a thin layer of bark on top. 8 cm diam. water bowl in the middle.
There was no hide in the enclosure.
The tub was at room temperature (20-24 celsius) with a 20x20cm area of the side covered with a heatpad.

* Gestation period for #1 brood: Unknown
* Number of young born: 23
* Number of young eaten by mom: none
* Number of young surviving to 2.instar: Full brood survived
* Number of young surviving to 3.instar: 20

Lifecycle observation:

1.instar >> 2.instar: 15 days
2.instar >> 3.instar: 115 days / 3 months 25 days

* Number of days taken for the 2.instar scorplings to dismount from mom's back: 13 days after molting to 2.instar

to be further updated

Husbandry for the young:
The 2i young were housed individually in 10cm diameter (250ml) delicups with 15-20 mm coconut fibre as substrate.
The young are fed 2 times a week with appropriately sized (headcrushed) mealworms, when the sides of the cups and the substrate are moistened with 5 cc of water.

Report template courtesy of GS

Thanks using the template and the effort to update more info for our readers

I'm sure many will find the stats useful. Thanks for your awesome contribution.

I will be following your journey to raise these gorgeous specimens up if i may

GS wrote:

Thanks using the template and the effort to update more info for our readers

I'm sure many will find the stats useful. Thanks for your awesome contribution.

I will be following your journey to raise these gorgeous specimens up if i may

Sure bro, will be updating as they grow.

I'm also updating more info (as I find time to do it) into it to comply raise this from a breeding report into a full ASA article.

Updated sections:

-Lifecycle observation
-Origin/Distribution

Hey! If you keep them together and just chuck a bunch of roaches/crickets every now and then they will gro much faster! Mine went from 2.-3rd instar in 2 months