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Heterometrus Madraspatensis

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  • Heterometrus Madraspatensis

    Hopefully this thread will end in there being babies but it's nice to start a breeding report from the conception

    MATING

    My first and second attempts at breeding these consisted of putting the male into the females enclosure. Which subsequently ended up in (1st attempt) the female trying the snip off the males pedipalps and (2nd attempt) the female putting up a fight and the male 'sex stinging' her, but she still remained uninterested and territorial. Although she did become a little 'drunk' afterwards... was quite funny to watch.

    (for those who haven't seen scorpions mating before this 'sex stinging' consists of the male inserting his telson (stinger) through the females side membranes, no venom is injected but this is a technique used to calm the females down)

    So after a little advice I created a simple honeymoon suite consisting of a foot long tank with half inch of forest bed substrate and some slate in the middle as the 'platform'. He also mentioned trying on a full moon, which sounds superstitious but actually worked along with the honeymoon suite. Dont know if it was a critical factor but I will be breeding my scorpions on a full moon (or day before/after) from now on lol!

    The female was put in first, and for the first time since I have had her became dissorientated and settled down straight away. The male went in a minute of so later and after 3-4 mins he spotted the female and started a slight wagging of the metasoma, although he made no advance.
    A short time later the female walked over to him and allowed herself to be gripped by the male. He didn't have to 'sex sting' her, just flicked her legs with his telson a few times.

    They turned around and the male, slowly brought the female over to the slate. Not much of a waltz although there was a little backwards and forwards movement. The male was more raising his metasoma up, occasionally over the females head and wagging it from side to side.

    then for a short time the wagging got more frequent and there was a juddering of the back legs, I am presuming this was when the male was setting down his spermetaphore.

    The male brought the female forward a short distance, stayed there for a short time then all of a sudden, the female sprang back to life and the male legged it!

    Leaving behind the spermetaphore.

    I'm hoping that this was successful and will update this thread once things (hopefully) progress

    spermetaphore:



    [youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DSJ2TzoNF9M[/youtube]
    [youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EneKcEd6Br8[/youtube]
    [youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mnA5IyZRDHM[/youtube]
    Last edited by Lisa Baines; 14-12-08, 11:12 AM. Reason: added video's :)
    My Collection: - Support captive breeding





  • #2
    decided last night that the moss in the enclosures needed re-drenching. and as i got to this females tank and took the moss off the top of the bog wood...

    ***SQUEEEEEE***

    there she was, the first time since january I had seen her full body. she was mated 2nd week of december, then in january was rehouse to the 4ft tank. where she dug a burrow in two days and apart from seeing the odd pedipalp, in fact twice in 2 months, I have been unable to see her.
    She stopped eating at the end of january, and before me was one incredibly plump scorpion. white blobbing to the side membranes and a distinctive nerve cord squished against the tergites!
    So pleased to announce that the mating was a success and hopefully any time from august onward I hope to update this thread with some very good news.

    Sorry there are no pictures, obviously I disturbed her and by time i had lept across the front room to get my camera, she was pretty much back inside her burrow. However will try and get one of her before she drops... I dont think I have seen a picture of this species in gravid state on the net before.
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    • #3
      I sooo cannot believe my luck, it was awesome to see her under the moss two nights ago... tonight she came all the way out in hunting mode... guess she is hungry after 2 months of not eating
      And as much as I know this species is pretty aggressive, nothing prepared me for how aggressive she would be in gravid state. ever seen a 5" scorpion jump about 3" into the air? I just did! even the slightest movement triggered her into hissing and jumping. for the first two minutes anyway, she went camera shy after that and wouldn't jump for the camera... typical

      And for the first time in all my scorpion keeping... I saw venom from a scorpion.

      I took the opportunity to get some pictures, because I have yet to see pictures on this species gravid on the net.
      I know she was pretty peeved with me but I thought it would be of use to other people wanting to breed this species in the future. She has another 4-6months to go so plenty of time for her to settle down and relax. And I slung in about 3 crickets to keep her going, obviously take out the uneaten in morning
      I apologise for the poor quality of the pictures... my camera sensor really doesn't like artificial light and taking pictures through plastic tubs lol. only thing that lets this camera down!







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      • #4
        Update (13/04/09)

        over the last week she has increased the size of her burrow, shifting a good litre of substrate. She is now bang on 4mth into her gestation, and has now disappeared off the face of the earth again lol.

        I am not sure whether this is to regulate her temp/humidity throughout the burrow or whether this might be some sort of 'birthing' chamber - might be a bit of both.

        I am going to get one of those chef's thermometers soon (ya know the ones with a long probe to check the inner temperature of food) So I can get more accurate reading below the surface.

        Anyway glad to see the positive behaviour of this mum to be and will update again so
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        • #5
          this is looking good, Lisa! fingers crossed for you and her!

          incidentally, i've seen venom once...on the telson of a Caraboctonus keyserlingi! lol...ornery things they are!

          my H madraspatensis is still a scorpling but growing nicely!
          Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
          -Martin Luther King Jr.

          <-Black Metal Contra Mundum->
          My Collection: - Support captive breeding

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          • #6
            update (05.05.09) WE DID IT!

            three nights ago I saw the female out again. sat on the bogwood which is the entrance to her burrow. she still looked plump so I never thought any more about it.

            Tonight when i saw her out, she was accompanied by 3 2i babies. Which was quite a surprise because I wasn't expecting anything until around august. my plans were to re house her into shallow tank to make it easier to extract the babies. sods law!

            anyway we removed the female (who wasn't impressed) and went through the substrate with a fine tooth comb. where we found 12 healthy 2i babies. all were brown apart from two that were paler. I presume the moulted to 2i fairly recently.

            the babies were transferred into separate tubs (cricket tubs) with 1cm coir substrate and a milk bottle lid with a hole cut out for shelter. I put some crickets in and 1 was eating within minutes... good stuff.

            As mentioned above the female was still looking like she was well fed so the huge amount of crickets she ate within 4-6 weeks of mating saw her through to raising her young without the need for further food. last week was the first time I had noticed the crickets look like they had been eaten.

            so at a surface temperature of 28oC the gestation was just under 5 months. Sorry I cant be more specific. Now I know I will try and get a better gestation duration next time.

            The heat mat goes all the way to the bottom of the tank at the back so some area's under the substrate would have been higher than the surface area.
            The actual birthing chamber (see previous post) was made half way along the bottom right hand side, approx 5" away from the heat mat. humidity would have been very high at this point.

            Anyway I hope this helps anyone who may breed this species in the future. pics to follow tomorrow
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            • #7
              well done Lisa, a beautiful species, nice to see them getting a toehold in the hobby
              Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
              -Martin Luther King Jr.

              <-Black Metal Contra Mundum->
              My Collection: - Support captive breeding

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              • #8
                yeah they are neat little scorpions. And I know there will be quite a few more babies coming up fairly soon
                My Collection: - Support captive breeding




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