First Moult to my Knowledge

I bought two P. Imperator from a breeder roughly a year ago. This is the first moult that I know of.Someone told me sometimes they'll moult in a hide, and even eat the moult sometimes, so I'm not too sure. I thought it was weird they havent moulted until now. The breeder said they should moult in a month. I believe eh said they were 4i.

Anynow now the "softie" is now hiding in his hole, and my other one chills at the front of his hole with his tiny baby claws exposed trying to be threatening and failing. Im pretty sure this is normal since they're from the same brood, and Sasori is just protecting the "softie."

i just looked at the hole they are in and the smaller one that hasnt moulted yet is in the hole like staring the "softie" in the face. not sure if hes like threatening him, being aggressive, or just having a staring contest. is that normal?

I also watched a moulting video, and noticed that the scorpions--as far as the vids i saw were--normally come out the front. Like the mouth area. However, mine came out of the top. is that weird? i didnt see the moult so im not sure how easy it was for him or whatever. I just looked in today and noticed an exoskeleton chilling there.

My main questions are:
can I keep the old exoskeleton? How long will it last? should I toss it? When should i feed the newly moulted scorp? Under my normal feeding schedule? Later? Sooner? How long should it take for his/her new exokeleton to harden again?

Exo
https://i.servimg.com/u/f44/17/54/11/82/2012-010.jpg

reread some of the faq. i shoudltn feed him for 7-10 days.

Hi Ramenuzumaki,

Ramenuzumaki wrote:

Someone told me sometimes they even eat the moult sometimes, so I'm not too sure.

Eating spermatophore.. yes.. sometimes.
But a scorpion eating molt skin? till date, i have never witness that they do that at all.
If someone has one that does, i would really like to see the video documentation.

Ramenuzumaki wrote:

i just looked at the hole they are in and the smaller one that hasnt moulted yet is in the hole like staring the "softie" in the face. not sure if hes like threatening him, being aggressive, or just having a staring contest. is that normal?

I believe it just happens that the smaller scorpion is relaxing in the same hide.. facing the freshly molted one.. nothing else.
If it's agressiveness/ threatening, most likely the subject of your post would have been something negative

Ramenuzumaki wrote:

I also watched a moulting video, and noticed that the scorpions--as far as the vids i saw were--normally come out the front. Like the mouth area. However, mine came out of the top. is that weird? i didnt see the moult so im not sure how easy it was for him or whatever. I just looked in today and noticed an exoskeleton chilling there.

From your picture, that is the normal "opening area" when a scorpion emerges from his older exo-skeleton.
The only variety in terms of molting could be just the different positioning while the're at it.

Some proceed with molting while hanging from a bark:


Some flip-over and molt on their backs:


while some just do the "regular molt" like the one you have posted above:




Hope it helps.
Let us know if you have other questions

thanks for the reply GS :3
i had actually just gone over, and book marked your extensive Forest Scorpion care sheet.

im trying to take care and not bother them. which is easy since its just not paying attention to them haha
i just look in the hole from time to time

how about as far as the exo itself goes? should i just toss it? will it last long enough to keep?
i was kinda hoping to get a pic of it next to the freshly moulted scorp. by "fresh" i meani n 7-10 days time haha. I really dont want to bother with it right now.

as far as them in the same hide yeah they do that a lot
there are two hides in there, but they are almost always int he same one

how about the fact that its been almost a year and no moult until now? the guy i bought them from said they should moult in a month. Said they were 4i. I think hes a breeder.
so that would make this one 5i now right? and the other 4i.

what i used for their hide was the cup they came in. i cut it in half, and then cut the bottom off so its like a rainbow shape. then I used that as a framework to start a hide for them. they never tried to burrow deeper either. which i thought was weird because my old scorp would make these elaborate tunnels in his enclosure.

i took it upon myself the other day to make one of them deeper while they were in the other hide, then i used my finger to start the tunnel going to the left from the bottom. start an elaborate tunnel, he went in there, but didnt really try digging anymore. next day he's moulted.

i havent really been doing anything different. mist with a squirt bottle etc. have a bottle cap of water. which empties itself for some reason haha.

im still pertty new to the hobby haha. this is my first time having a scorp that's moulted.

Ramenuzumaki wrote:

how about as far as the exo itself goes? should i just toss it? will it last long enough to keep?i was kinda hoping to get a pic of it next to the freshly moulted scorp. by "fresh" i meani n 7-10 days time haha. I really dont want to bother with it right now.

Whether to toss it or not depends on you mate. I keep as much "molt skins" as possible so that i can study on the sexual dimorphism of different species as they grow.

Recorded length at different instar might help others to indentify which instar stage are their scorpions at as well. It's also pretty cool when you have a whole set of exo-skeletons from a specie layed out in a row. E.g. from 2.instar to 8.instar.

How long will it last is dependent on how you preserve it. For me, there's basically dozens of molts per day to clear per day and i simply throw the duplicate ones away or store the needed ones in a tackle box.

The exo-skeletons of scorpions are fairly brittle after 2 days from a fresh molt and you have to be careful during shifting e.g. for camera works or to store it. Btw, turning it into a paper weight seems like a good idea to retain the exo-skeleton for a very very long time

Ramenuzumaki wrote:

how about the fact that its been almost a year and no moult until now?

Sometimes a scorpion molt can "disintegrate" fairly quickly underground. I'm assuming you having been keep a close watch on him in a way that he's not able to "sneak a molt" in between your visits.

Hmnn.. a molt interval of one year.. might not be usual but it does happen at times.

I try to keep a close eye on them. They are "pet holes" afterall, so I try to get a glimpse of whatever possible haha. Once he is ready to be fed again I'm going to move him into my biger tank with his "brother." By the looks of this moult I'm pretty sure Skorpinoc is a male. I havent gottena good look at Sasori yet. Maybe once they are int he bigger tank itll be a littl easier to keep an eye on them since they'll have a ton more to explore.

how would i turn the moult into a paper weight? Ive already accidentally broken of one of the legs >.< It was hooked to the edge of my desk and i was trying to unhook it when it fell off D: