SURPRISE BABIES!

i was losing hope that me emp LSP was pregnant, (my other King Henry died in the tank with her he was my favorite). And here about 8 months later,surprise for me i lifted her hide to check on her and there was a full back of scorplings! It made mine and my boyfriend's day!!

I really need some advice though I never did extensive research since I gave up. She seems very defensive and I know that there's a risk of her eating them if they fall off or if she's disturbed... I kept her well fed with pre-killed mice before they were born so how often and what should I feed her? and when can I expect their first molt? Any other sources that anyone could refer would be great!

Here's some pictures, any guesses how many?

Also info about humidity, temperature, light, water?

This should answer most of your questions: [ASA] Raising Forest Scorpions

Scorpion19981000 wrote:

This should answer most of your questions: [ASA] Raising Forest Scorpions

+1

I actually have GS' care sheet bookmarked for referencing. I am memorized a good chunk of it, but even a seasoned master can always use some material for reference. By a good chunk i mean maybe 20-25% haha.

a few points:
keep the humidity pretty high. I think 70%+ [70%-80%]
if you have a false bottom or a large enclosure you could pour a glass of water in the corner. the substrate will then draw the moisture up. What you're going for a moist--not soaking, or dripping--packed down substrate. The reason we pack it down is so we know that the substrate will hold it's shape for burrows. The moisture also helps with this. you can also add forest moss to the top of the substrate to help hold in moisture. since I have a smaller enclosure if i do the glass of water thing i drown my substrate, so i mist my substrate with a mist bottle quite regularly to keep the substrate from going dry. 4-6 inches of substrate is the minimum.

to prevent fighting and cannibalism you'll want plenty of hides. especially if you keep the slings--scorplings--with the mother. another alternative is delicups. one for each sling, with a small amount of moist substrate, and a spot for water.

as far as water goes a shallow water dish is preferred. to prevent drowning you can add aquarium gravel, or small pebbles to the dish. this also helps them get out. i use a CRABWORK hermit crab water dish. it has a slope to help the scorpions get out. if the humidity gets too low scorpions will bathe themselves to bring their humidity levels up. they are also mediculous cleaners, so they'll bathe to keep clean too. fresh water daily is needed.

as far as feeding most will feed 1-2 crickets 2x a week for adult scorps. as far as a freshly birthed mother i have no idea really. youd have to read GS' guide or have a pro tell you. i havent dabbled in breeding yet so i don't know. the slings however will eat either pinhead crickets, or juvenile crickets. however, juvenile crickets will need their legs removed--a they will eat them like a "Cricket Drumstick" haha--and "headcrushed." use some cricket tongues and just crush the head i believe haha. the slings will share the juvenile cricket sings it's large, and some will munch on the drumstick. be sure to remove any leavings the next morning. this is important to prevent mites.

humidity is important right now. they should moult soon, and youll want proper humidity to help with their moulting process. improper humidity during moulting can cause mycosis [sp?]. for heat youll want what's called a temperature gradient. warmer on one side than the other. this way if they get too warm they can escape the heat by moving to the other side, and vica-verca. any heat source should come from ABOVE or THE SIDE of the enclosure. otherwise you'll boil/steam your scorpions. also scorpions burrow to reduce their body temp. its a natural instinct. if your heat source is from below they wont be able to escape it and they may go crazy haha.

during the day your temps should be around 86*F, and at night somewhere around 77*F-80*F
if your apartment stays around 80*F you should be good with just adding a heat source to one side, and having it off during the night. if you use a heat lamp you could use an infrared bulb. scorpions cannot see red so it wont bother them. please avoid UV. UV rays are harmful to scorpions. even short amounts can be harmful from what ive read.

these are just some points to answer some of your questions. by all means this does not mean dont read GS' care sheet. read it, learn it, love it, live it, bookmark it. it will save you a lto of headache and guessing.

happy Brood Raising! they are beautiful babies :3

id also like to guess somewhere around 15 babies? :3

I count 14 babies at leat. Maybe one or two more under the rest.

Your substrate is way too dry for an Emperor and I suspect too shallow as well. You want 4-6 inches (minimum) of damp coco fiber or peat. Your substrate also appears to have lots of chips and small pieces of bark mixed in it which is not recommended.

Since your scorp just gave birth, redoing your substrate will need to wait until later, but you should get some water into it ASAP either by misting or slowly pouring water directly onto it. Try to avoid misting or otherwise disturbing your scorpion and her young when you do this. Then, follow the instructions in the ASA care sheet.

@Ramenuzumaki, Mycosis is only a problem for desert species. Forest scorpions don't seem to be as susceptible to it.

shark_xo wrote:

I kept her well fed with pre-killed mice before they were born so how often and what should I feed her?

I hope you were feeding her something other than just pre-killed mice. An Emperors' diet should consist of crickets or roaches (or both) and an occasional meal or super worm. Although they will eat vertebrate prey like pinkie mice and lizards, it's actually not good for them.

Moisten up the substrate and stop feeding it with prekilled mice Feeding vertebrates to invertebrates can be very harmful.

+1 to Scorpeace and shebeen.

The substrate needs to be moist, and there should be a minimum of 4-6 inches of it.
Don't feed it pre-killed mice, it can lead to health problems and quite frankly, it just makes a mess.

shebeen wrote:

@Ramenuzumaki, Mycosis is only a problem for desert species. Forest scorpions don't seem to be as susceptible to it.

oops my bad haha :3

Everyone has given great advices and there not much for me to add

Let me guess the numbers of babies..

About 17-18.. 19 is max. It's always slightly more then what you can count

The substrate is about 5 in I got a pointer on that awhile back. The tank doesn't hold humidity too well but I do mist it and pour some water in daily.
Thank you for the tip on mice, she took to them better than crickets (lap is lazy) but for the babies ill start with crickets I read up on care sheets thanks for everyone's pointers

So far 16 counted hoping theyll come off her soon.

I have two other questions I found minimal info on in my research I've been doing.
Are the babies at higher risk since the female most likely killed the male after mating?
And is it ok for scorpions of the same clutch, or same parents even, be bred together?
I'm not to sure how inbreeding goes with invertebrates, but from what I've gathered it may e ok for only a few generations. Those were my lingering questions so any info greatly appreciated

shark_xo wrote:

I have two other questions I found minimal info on in my research I've been doing.
Are the babies at higher risk since the female most likely killed the male after mating?

Even if the adult male really did died in the hands of this scorpion mom.. it's probably just to eliminate possible threats for her incoming brood. Forest scorpions such as Pandinus imperators and Heterometrus spinifers are usually great moms. If you have provided the right enclosure settings, there isn't much issue raising a whole brood within themselves or even with their scorpion mom.

As mentioned in my forest caresheets:

What can you do after the 2.instar forest scorplings has dismounted from mum's back:

Quote :

I'm not to sure how inbreeding goes with invertebrates, but from what I've gathered it may e ok for only a few generations. Those were my lingering questions so any info greatly appreciated

From my experience, no issue with inbreeding and so far i have not came across a scientific report that says it does.
However, given the choice it's always good to have new bloodlines introduced at one point or another.

Emergency!I noticed a dead baby I thought was a molt and caught mom eatting the babies I took out the one crawling around. There's still two on her back what should I do??? I don't want her I eat them there's only 6 left....

1. Do you mean the scorplings has molted once (now 2.instar) and most have dismounted with only two left on mom's back?

2. And the problem is the mom is killing them one by one and only 6 are left? (3 on substrate, 1 rescued by you and 2 more on mon's back) ?

3. Have you followed Shebeen's advice?

shebeen wrote:

Your substrate is way too dry for an Emperor and I suspect too shallow as well. You want 4-6 inches (minimum) of damp coco fiber or peat. Your substrate also appears to have lots of chips and small pieces of bark mixed in it which is not recommended.

Since your scorp just gave birth, redoing your substrate will need to wait until later, but you should get some water into it ASAP either by misting or slowly pouring water directly onto it. Try to avoid misting or otherwise disturbing your scorpion and her young when you do this. Then, follow the instructions in the ASA care sheet.

i actually found more clinging underneath her hide.
i was able to save seven so far that are 2 instar and only 2 remain on her back.
i keep the entire room at a constant 75-80 and alittle lower at night, ive been pouring water in to keep the humidity up...

in the tank i noticed two dead (uneaten) and only molt remains, there was one in her mouth so i assume the others were eaten. she had one in her claws which she dropped, i removed it and separated from the others. two days ago i offered crickets to the mother at the open of the hide and disturbed her as little as possible...
should the other two be removed any time soon? and are they going to survive on their own?

how do they look?