C. Vit. Had Babies!

Hi all. As I mentioned in a previous thread "Moving Mothers with Babies," I have a little colony of 5 striped bark scorps (C. vit's) in a ten gallon aquarium. I looked in there today and discovered one had a back full of babies! This was not the one I suspected was gravid. So, I have a choice of moving mom to a new enclosure or leaving her alone. I don't care about loosing some scorplings along the way but I would at least like to get a few new additions to the colony. I'm afraid if I move mom new she might get stressed and eat all her babies.

I'm also thinking about what food will be best for the babies when they dismount mom's back. I'm thinking pinhead crickets might be a good choice??? Wingless fruit flies might also work but I'm worried they will crawl out of the glass aquarium (if I leave the babies in with the colony) and make a mess of things. If I leave the babies in the colony I'll be sure to keep plenty of prey for the adults in there to hopefully reduce cannibalism. These guys seem very communal so I'm thinking just leaving mom in there might be a good option. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Removing babies would be your best option. The live prey that you will be tossing in there for adults could kill the scorplings or they can be mistaken as prey by the adults. As far as feeding, I used head crushed pinheads. Good luck, and hope to see pics soon, as I also have a colony of C. Vittatus.

Thanks for the info denya! Do you think it would be best to remove the babies after they dismount mom's back or move mom and babies to a new enclosure before they dismount? So far mom is by herself in an area the other scorps don't use much and seems to be doing well.

Also how many C. vit's do you have and what size tank do you use? Have you had any luck moving moms with babies?

Do not remove first instar babies from their mom. She keeps them alive. Once they have molted once and start leaving her back on their own separate them into single scorpion enclosures. Deli cups, tupper ware, tackle boxes, etc. And raise them to adulthood on their own to prevent cannibalism when molting. Or just leave them on her and let them go the natural way.

As far as food goes I feed my 2nd instar Lq's 1/4 inch crickets as they are called and sold at that size at my local pet store. I end up catching them and removing their jumping legs since they are almost the same size as my slings. The process of tweezing them and then pulling their legs leaves them a little beat up to make sure they don't over power my slings. So far it's been working well.

Thanks Yames! What do you think about moving mom with babies on her back to a new enclosure and then separate the babies after they dismount? I have stacks of cork bark in the tank and I'll probably never find the little ones in the colony after they dismount.

I see that there is a choice here to leave things alone and let the babies fend for themselves in the colony (and feed them suitable food) or move mom with the babies on her back before the little ones dismount. I'm trying to build up my C. vit. colony so I would like to try the method that would most likely give me the most surviving scorps.

I've heard of ppl moving mom with babies on her back and having no problems. I'm not saying you won't have any, but I think it would be best. If you move her, watch her closely. If you notice a drastic drop in your sling count, she's probably eating them. I had a bad mommy problem and had to remove the survivors from her back and incubate them. It's your call what you wanna do.
I currently have 1 female, 3males. Instar unknown being they are WC. They share a 10g tank. My 3i baby, the lone survivor of cannibal mom, and my inexperience in incubating babies, is in a med. size critter keeper.

I would advise against moving the mum with babies still on her back, unless you have an urgent need to do so.
Unnecessary stressing of the scorpion mother is never a good idea.

It might be better to move the other residents out, if it is possible, or wait until the dismount the mum, and then move the 2. instars to their new homes.

Good ideas everyone! I'll mull this over. Thanks!

If you are really in need of removing the mother with slings on her back, i suggest coax her into a bark and move it with her, thus minimizing the stress.

C. vitts will always be on my list of scorpions to have, I've been trying for some years now but to no avail.

Pics from you will be the next best thing LOL

Hi voldemort, just yesterday I decided to do what you suggested and so far it has worked very well. She seems fine and I don't think she has eaten any babies. I moved mom with babies on her back (when she was on a piece of bark) to a large critter keeper. I plan on taking mom out as soon as the babies dismount and raise the babies in the large critter keeper together with plenty of stacked bark to so the little guys will have plenty of elbow room. I will keep plenty of prey in there so hopefully I won't loose too many to cannabalism.

I do need to get set up for micro photography and display some nice pics. Where are you from? I'm lucky as the C. vit's are local here in Texas.

One question for anyone, now that I have mom separated from the main tank, should I attempt to feed her before the babies dismount? I think not but I'm not sure on this point.

Well mom and the babies are all still doing well. As I mentioned I moved mom out of a communal tank to a large Critter Keeper. I don't think she has eaten many (if any) babies.

I think the babies are now second instar but are still on her back. I can see definate legs and tails and they are no longer white. I can also see what appears to be some small molts in the pile of babies. There are a bunch of babies, too many to count!

When the babies dismount I will move mom back to the main communal tank and raise the babies together in the large Critter Keeper with plenty of stacked bark. I plan on feeding them wingless fruit flies at first with a few crushed crickets in the cage also.

That's fantastic I'm glad it worked out so well for you. Keep up the good work. Also ship me some slings!!!!

I wish I could send them around to everyone. Unless they eat each other up I'm going to have a bunch of them on my hands (well in the tank)!