# Scorpion Pics with Babies



## Eiroc (Feb 3, 2008)

My Flinders Scorpian just had some babies, so I thought I'd share them with Australia:


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## tan (Feb 3, 2008)

Aaaaw, so cute! And you didn't even try to breed her - very clever Mummy!


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## sockbat (Feb 3, 2008)

Nice. But very creepy.


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## callith (Feb 3, 2008)

I have a mate with one, he has had it for 12months and he says it keeps getting fatter and fatter but he doesn't feed it enough for it to get fat. is there any chance that it is pregnant?? and it is defiantly an adult female.


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## hornet (Feb 3, 2008)

callith said:


> I have a mate with one, he has had it for 12months and he says it keeps getting fatter and fatter but he doesn't feed it enough for it to get fat. is there any chance that it is pregnant?? and it is defiantly an adult female.



gestation is about 18months


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## callith (Feb 3, 2008)

yeah we know that, is it likely that its pregnant


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## krusty (Feb 3, 2008)

thats so cool.......top stuff.


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## Eiroc (Feb 4, 2008)

Yeah, could be. Depending on the species, gestation can be between 2 and 18 months. But a scorpion nearing a birth will be wanting to eat plenty, to nourish her growing young. So try and keep her well fed.

After all, you don't want her to eat them when they are born


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## callith (Feb 4, 2008)

im 95% sure its a flinders range and thanks for the advice, i will pass it on


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## Mark Newton (Feb 4, 2008)

Eiroc said:


> My Flinders Scorpian just had some babies, so I thought I'd share them with Australia:


 

How are you keeping her? It's not good that she has had such a small brood and the young are on the ground, this is an indcation that conditions may not be suitable for a successful raising to 2nd instar. It looks abit dry in there....she needs a degree of dampness and higher humidity for success.

re other statements:
Urodacus never have a gestation period of 2 months, its always 12-18. If your scorpion is getting larger and she is adult female, then most likely will be gravid. Most wild caught adult females are gavid. Increase dampness of the environment and seal the container off so it cant lose water. Use a soil/peat mix at 50:50 and have it damp...not wet, just damp. Do not disturb the scorpion very much and keep her in dim light.


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## tan (Feb 4, 2008)

How can you say the cage looks dirty from those pics? I'll have you know the substrate is quite new and the white lump I can only assume you are talking about are actually small drops of vermiculite from her feed she had just received (they had fallen in from the cricket tub). Her cage was a tad dry at the time but he chose to take pics before misting her for the day so the pics would be a little clearer. As for the size of the brood I can't comment as we didn't even know she was gravid, lifted her lid to feed her yesterday and there they were. She is fed regularily and seems to be healthy to us. However, we are first time keepers with scorps so, yes, we are still learning. The period of gestation reply was meant to imply depending on the species from 2 - 18 months (just some info read from a book). 
It is always wonderful to receive advice and comments, however as usual with this site, TACT would be be appeciated before you hit the Submit reply button!


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## PhilK (Feb 4, 2008)

Mark is THE authority on Aussie scorps Tan, and he never said anything about it being dirty?

Was just giving some helpful advice on how you can help their survival chances is all.

Anyway you're really lucky, I wish my Flinder's girl was having babies!! They're so cool make sure you update us.


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## Mark Newton (Feb 4, 2008)

tan said:


> How can you say the cage looks dirty from those pics? I'll have you know the substrate is quite new and the white lump I can only assume you are talking about are actually small drops of vermiculite from her feed she had just received (they had fallen in from the cricket tub). Her cage was a tad dry at the time but he chose to take pics before misting her for the day so the pics would be a little clearer. As for the size of the brood I can't comment as we didn't even know she was gravid, lifted her lid to feed her yesterday and there they were. She is fed regularily and seems to be healthy to us. However, we are first time keepers with scorps so, yes, we are still learning. The period of gestation reply was meant to imply depending on the species from 2 - 18 months (just some info read from a book).
> It is always wonderful to receive advice and comments, however as usual with this site, TACT would be be appeciated before you hit the Submit reply button!


 
Wow...I'm not too sure where you are coming from. Nothing said of 'dirty', it 'looks' *dry,* which means from the photo I see it as dryish, however, images can be deceiving and maybe it isnt. My point is that this species and most Urodacus for that matter do require a certain level of moisture in their environment for a successful parturition and molt to 2nd instar. In my experience broods this small tend to indicate something is wrong. If the young have moved off mums back after they were initially on it as I assumed from the images, this also indicates something amiss with the conditions. If these images were taken directly after birthing then that might not be the case. 

Also, misting is not a very good way of maintaining the correct level of hydration. If you need to mist, this means the rate of evaporative water loss from the housing is too high and if this is the case it is not suitable for raising offspring.

and yes...I was just correcting the error of 2 months gestation for any species of Urodacus, they are minimum 12 to a general maximum of 18.

Best of luck...

Cheers


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## tan (Feb 4, 2008)

Hi Phil, 
I know exactly who Mark is and do appreciate comments and help it was just worded a little abruptly. I have read various caresheets written by him and respect his work in this area. It is his caresheets that have helped us set up these cages.
I'm sorry regarding the dirty cage thing, I could have sworn it said something about the cage looking dirty when I first read, apologies.
Thanks for the advice Mark, I just get frustrated sometimes when assumptions are made and sometimes the written word can come across rather bluntly.


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## Eiroc (Feb 4, 2008)

Mark Newton said:


> Urodacus never have a gestation period of 2 months, its always 12-18..


 
Guys - I did say it depended on the species - not referring to this one (as I didn't know what the other user had).

Also, I do keep the humidity up, I had just cleaned away some of the substrate while trying to lure her closer for a better picture for you all.

As for the breeding advice - thanks guys, but as we said "it was all a surprise to us as we didn't even know she was preggas" so dampness conditions were not ideal at the time of their birth.


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## Mark Newton (Feb 4, 2008)

Eiroc said:


> Guys - I did say it depended on the species - not referring to this one (as I didn't know what the other user had).
> 
> Also, I do keep the humidity up, I had just cleaned away some of the substrate while trying to lure her closer for a better picture for you all.
> 
> As for the breeding advice - thanks guys, but as we said "it was all a surprise to us as we didn't even know she was preggas" so dampness conditions were not ideal at the time of their birth.


 
LOL...dont you just love text discussion, it can be so easily misinterpreted.

Yep....I know you said 'it depends on the species'....I was trying to emphasise that there are NO species of Urodacus with such short gestation peiods, I hope that's clear.

Okay..so you think conditions may not have been correct prior to parturition. What happens is that mums physiology will be the result of local acclimation, or adjustment to conditions. She may not have been entirely in parturition mode physiologically, if you know what I mean. Some species will even resorb developing embryos if they determine conditions as incorrect, and this may have happened to some degree here. What normally happens is that because mums chemistry has turned off her 'maternal' genes, she may not be producing what the young need from her. It's been shown through scientif demnstration that the young derive water and possibly solutes via mums cuticle. If she has turned this system off, the young will eventually get off her back and stay off as they desperately try to locate the 'right' place. During this time very often mum will eat the kids one by one.....but, not always.

The other 'HOPEFUL' possibility is that she is just a first time mum, who tend to have low brood counts the first time round, although 12-15 would be considered low. I have had _elongatus_ give birth to about 45 young in one brood. 

Hope all that makes some sense....you need to keep the soil damp..and seal off the container.


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## Mark Newton (Feb 4, 2008)

tan said:


> Thanks for the advice Mark, I just get frustrated sometimes when assumptions are made and sometimes the written word can come across rather bluntly.


 
No worries...I've been on forums long enough to accept misinterpretation of text communication. And...I am a pretty blunt writer, my science background I guess, but never had any form of disrespect happening there.

cheers


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## tan (Feb 4, 2008)

Thanks for that, those bubs seemed to have hoped onto her back soon after that pic was taken with exception of one who is underneath her...
So seal off container means perhaps put some cling wrap under lid with a few airholes to keep humidity up?
cheers


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## Mark Newton (Feb 4, 2008)

tan said:


> Thanks for that, those bubs seemed to have hoped onto her back soon after that pic was taken with exception of one who is underneath her...
> So seal off container means perhaps put some cling wrap under lid with a few airholes to keep humidity up?
> cheers


 
Dont have any airholes...none. When this species gives birth it is underground in a sealed off coccoon like burrow. You need a tight fitting lid for the container. There will be more than enough air in there to last her months. Once the young have dispersed from mum you can then allow her into a more natural 'scrape' type of microclimate. Keep the young on a peat/soil 50:50 mix dampened...with good ventilation, or mycosis will be a problem. Watch for ecdysis and then be prepared to seal off... 
or at least allow the scorpion to seal itself off under a rock or similar.


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## Scleropages (Feb 4, 2008)

Anyways congrats on the babys , we just had 3 _Lychas Marmoreus_ give birth in the last two weeks , haha crappers!


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## tfor2 (Feb 4, 2008)

Thats awesome, my teenage son has a flinders, shes about 6 months old now.


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