Scorplings

Can you find polished "river rock"? That stuff works good.

I've found it at pet stores as well as garden supply stores.

Hee hee . . . now it's MY turn to be up late and on the forums!

I'm eight hours behind you -- when you were posting this afternoon I knew it was late there. (I'm not stalking anyone or anything -- as I mentioned my stepdad was from Wiltshire and I got good at flipping between time zones.)

They will actually change colors when they molt (turning to something between brown and black) and freely wander from mom. If they're still bright-white and not walking on their own then they haven't molted yet. You might also find what look like shrivelled-up skins in the tank -- that's kind of what the first shed exoskeleton looks like. It's not as "crisp" as the molts they have later on.

They tend to move a little on the mom. I've noticed that before.


Nope, another day of sleeping in!! I live on the west coast. Time zones are weird -- we have four in the continental US, and six if you count Alaska and Hawaii.

they will moult while on her back, then leave the mom. They will leave the exuvium all over her back looking like runny egg whites.

A false bottom is okay, but a plastic box with a lid will suffice.

Nice update Connie! 4 more days will probably seem like 4 more weeks to you huh...

Curious... what is holding that cork bark up on the right hand side of the pic?

Can you tell for sure that they've molted and started wandering? If so, I'd chance offering a headcrushed cricket (left twitching). If it looks like some haven't molted yet I'd wait.

Double-check for Thaedion's imput -- he knows his forest scorpions better than I do.

Although, it could be a "mess with the kids and get a face full of pincher" pose.

Just be sure to rinse the gravel before you put it in there. And mom should be OK without food until the babies leave her back.

I've never heard of them munching from hunger -- usually it's from stress. My female het that hadn't eaten for a couple months before having babies didn't eat any of them. If she did OK for that long, I think your scorp-mama will be fine.

I agree with Mike on the not needing to feed and don't worry about how long it's been since she ate last. I had 1 Het and 1 Pandinus birth after 12 to 16 weeks of fasting and no one ate any babies.

You can leave some depth to the water dish, even for the babies, as these will 'bathe' also. Below is a pic of 2nd instar Het that was caught in the act of 'swimming' that is a standard bottle cap (30mm Ø x 13mm deep)



Here is a pic of a 2 week old munching on 1/2 of a meal worm I cut up and dropped in, I usually leave the kids with the mom for 1 week after they left the back. I don't know if they learn things from the mom or not but it seems as she coaches them on the 'crush, kill, destroy' of prey items and how to retreat to the burrow defense.

The coconut fiber setup sounds fine. As soon as the babies disperse go ahead and change mom to the same stuff.

Moms don't quite "teach" the babies per se, but if they're there it seems she'll kill prey and leave it for them to eat -- like she's providing more than she is teaching. As far as I know hunting is instinctual with scorpions and the babies will be able to eat without a problem when you separate them from mom. If they have a hard time catching prey early on try "headcrushing." It sound gruesome, but twitching prey will attract their attention and can't get away easily.