Scorplings

Ok. So as some of you know I have kidlets. about 15 of them clinging to mummy's back, hanging on for dear dear life.

Anyhoo. Yesterday I put in a wax worm. She hasnt killed it, doubt she has. The shop has told me that this "natural" stress if better then "human stress" of trying to find it and uncovering her to find it. Will she be ok? Will she actually finally eventually kill it. Been told she HAS to eat as if not babies will be munched on *feels sad* She grabs hold of it but doesnt do much else! Just sorta wrestles with it!
Im such a noob. Only just got used to an adult and now I have babies!

Im not home tonight, at my parents so cant run in and out the bedroom to peek in though the sides to see if its still there. I hope she will be ok!

I hope the babies will be ok!

xxxxxxxxxxx

Listen to what we've told you, Connie -- the mom does NOT have to eat while she has babies on her back. Most of them will reject food anyway. Just ignore her, and everything should turn out ok.

If she's just grabbing the wax worm then she is indeed refusing food. She's keeping it from getting to her babies because she's a good mom.

Will she kill it then as I dont want to open tank and get it out

I wont feed her again. Will wait until babies come off back, remove them and then feed her

xxxx

Good plan!! If it bothers her, she'll kill it. But a waxworm doesn't really pose any threats.

By the way, I'm moving this thread to the emp / beginner section.

Okies...hahahaha noob alert!

xxx

As my signature says (that for some reason isn't appearing), "we were all noobs at one point."

Go into your control profile settings and in there there is an option on signature showing ^_^

xxxx

I did that, but it didn't show up on my old posts.

But look! There it is on my new post!

All is well with the world again. Reminds me that I need to do my sig...

Anyhoo. not home and worrying about Stingy. Hope she ok! *smiles* Yes I worry!

xxxx

you should post some pics. If you did already I can't see them
-Eddy

Ah jeeze. Unless you can get the pictures without touching the tank at all, maybe you should just leave her be until the babies molt and disperse.

That's good.

Your first brood is always the one that makes you worry the most. (Kinda like with first-instar Homo sapiens, from what I've heard.) I'll be panicking over B. jacksoni and C. hentzi broods pretty soon here.

Ok -- the babies don't necessarily equal food to the adult as soon as they come off of the mother's back. Some people have successfully reared them to adult in the same tank as the parents. A more common reason is it's easier to keep the babies separate because then each tank gets one prey size (small prey in baby tank, large prey in mom's tank).

Sometimes mom will even tear up prey items and offer them to the young once they molt for the first time. It's just that she's most likely to eat them due to stress while they're still first instar.

And whatever you do, do not put paper towels / toilet paper / sponge in the water dish! It's an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. Your best option is to just put some aquarium gravel so they can climb back out (but only after they've molted and left mom's back).

I know the shop has said something different, but I generally trust hobbyists on forums like this over petshops any day. Petco's emperor caresheet says to feed daily -- now when have you ever seen an emperor take prey daily? That's probably where a lot of panicking over fasting emps comes from with people new to the hobby (a bit of a rant at Petco, not anyone on here)

As long as they're wandering off of mom's back, it's safe to move them. They can all be in one tank. (I have 8 baby Heterometrus that all cluster under the same piece of bark.)

If you're concerned about them running back to mom you can put a cup over her to isolate her or take her out of the tank while you round up the 2I babies.

just for the record they can stay with the mom even after the first moult. I left some P imps with the mom into the third instar, and they all lived in the same hide without incident, the mom even crushed and left food for them. So there is no set removal time, just as long as they are fed properly they won't be looking at their siblings for nourishment...

PS: keep the questions coming, they will build the base for future searching as this site grows.

It was your experiences I was mentioning, Thaedion -- with mom tearing up prey.

Connie, you'll know they've molted when they've come off of mom's back. They also look a little darker and more scorpion-like instead of being little fat white sausages with eyes.

IHeartMantids wrote:

... They also look a little darker and more scorpion-like instead of being little fat white sausages with eyes.

I always say they look like maggots with claws!!!

About the dishonesty, some sellers are just misinformed . . . but there are a few bad apples out there who tend to ruin things.

And good for you for not getting too close to mom! As for the gravel in the water dish -- emps can submerge themselves and not drown, so the main thing to check is that a little one can climb back out if it gets in. Beach rocks should be fine if you can scrub the heck out of them. I'd avoid anything porous (sandstone or similar) because it would be hard to get all the salt out. Agates should work well.