Babies!

[Little B-Py]

My scorpion, Black Arachnia, has been gravid since we got her in April. Well my wife and I didn't know the gestation period for them, nor did we take the time to research it. Well 2 days ago we walked in to move her to a different tank and BAM, little white babies on her back! I'm not sure how many are on there but my wife is thinking about 10-15. Question though, how long will they stay on her back?

Pics:

[Neal]

After about a week they will start to get off her back, in the mean time keep her WELL fed or she will start to eat her babies. She will rip the crickets apart into smaller pieces so her babies can eat, once they get off moms back, you need to seperate them.

[Boanerges]

Mine stayed on the mothers back for a couple of weeks before coming down (If I remember correctly they didn't come down until after their first molt, not positive about this though). The mom did not eat any of the babies. I actually left them in there with her for a long time before I took them out (this is not advised but my female was really good with them, when I would go to feed her and the babies she would block them from me and put her claw on the ground for them to get back up on her back if they were not on there). I would tong feed the mother and crush the heads of larger crickets and drop them on the floor for the babies to eat (the babies would come down and eat the them). I personally never seen the mom feed any of the babies but I heard many people say that theirs does...

[wilomn]

Food is the key. If mom gets hungry, the first bit of protein to come by is lunch. Over feed her for a bit and you should do OK.

[Little B-Py]

We have a bowl of meal worms in her tank that she actually uses. I pull the log off the top of her yesterday and she had half a worm stickin out. lol. We try to keep a few crickets in there too.

[Neal]

Don't let the crickets run loose, because they can stress her and stress can lead to cannibalism, if you are going to feed crickets, crush the heads so they don't move. I'm not sure what species some of the other guys were talking about, but I have a bit of experience with emperors, because I useto mate them and sell the babies to a local pet store.

[Little B-Py]

Before she had the babies we would let some run free but I crushed the heads on the ones I put in there earlier. Will she rip them apart, if so then when? I put 2 in there w/ crushed heads and they are still there.