Dwayne's a Mommy!
By Chelsey ^_^
Yes, so a few months after I got my second pet Emperor scorpion (my first one is now buried in a shoebox in the backyard ='[ ) and naming it Dwayne, I get an offer to try and raise a new little colony of scorpions. I finally realized, after some research and a trip to the Vivarium to have Dwayne checked out, that "he" was pregnant- I always just thought he was a little fat and maybe I was overfeeding! To make a long story short, I woke up from a nap a month or two later (Friday, May 2nd 2003) and found THESE little buggers all over my scorpion!:
Aw, look at their little eyes! Now for FAQ:
How big are they?
Just to give you some scale, Dwayne is about 3.5 to 4 inches or about 10 to 11 cm.
How many are there?
I've counted 12 so far, but the ones that end up dying will die during the 1st or 2nd molt (the first two weeks).
Are you going to keep them all?
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, whether or not I will be raising my own colony or what, I guess it will depend mostly on how many survive first.
How long have you had Dwayne?
Since Sept. 2002, Jerry gave her to me. Look Jerry- you missed the miracle of birth (although I did too).This is what you will be in for in 7-9 months, aren't you excited? =)
How did she get pregnant?
I didn't actually witness the mating but this is from my research:
When mating, scorpions will perform an interesting courtship dance called "promenade-a-deux." The male will grasp the females pinchers with his own. He then leads her to a site suitable to deposit his spermatophore. This done, he precedes to pull her over the site where she will lower herself and transfer the sperm through her genital opening.
Females are usually pregnant by the time we buy them since they keep them in big tubs altogether before shipping them out to pet stores. What slutty bugs! Plus scorpions are one of few non-mammalian creatures that give live birth- no laying eggs! Just POP! and out they come.
Why do you still call her Dwayne?
Yes, I still call her Dwayne - Why not? Sure Dwayne is generally a human male name (hence Dwayne Johnson) but this is a scorpion! Must human societal constraints apply to this arachnid?? Anyway, there are girls named Morgan and the like and guys named Tracy. Somehow I don't think Dwayne will have a huge sexual identity crisis.
Here's some higher resolution pictures:
Nice up top view 483Kb
You can see their cute little pinchers and stingers!
From a different angle 526Kb
The contrast is a bit off but I like! Closer.
I take credit for the photography (;-P) granted these were the best two pictures out of the some 30 I took! Thanks to Andy for letting me borrow his digital camara!