Emperor scorpion

There seems to be quite a bit of interest in scorpions at the moment so here are a few pics of our emperor scorp. (still haven't sexed it yet)

Cool, not often seen nowadays as export has been nipped in the bud. Any breeding plans for this little scorp John?

morelia wrote:Cool, not often seen nowadays as export has been nipped in the bud. Any breeding plans for this little scorp John?

Hi Karl
Since we only have the one and as we don't know the sex we haven't really got any breeding plans so far.!
But who knows what the future holds.
John

hopefully youll have luck finding out the sex and gettinganother of the opposite sex for breeding!! :)

lovley little guy John/Nikki having seen him/her in person cant believe how they grow goodluck

Hi John,

We have a bunch of these guys, pop it in a deli tub, take a ventral photo and let's see what sex it is...

Tony W wrote:Hi John,

We have a bunch of these guys, pop it in a deli tub, take a ventral photo and let's see what sex it is...

Hi Tony a couple of pics of ventral side... what do you reckon?
John

Beautiful! I quite like these and hope to acquire an Emperor someday although I really am enjoying the Asian.

What sex is it Tony? Have you bred yours yet?

Yeah I love these guys,lovely little scorp!

Tan wrote:Beautiful! I quite like these and hope to acquire an Emperor someday although I really am enjoying the Asian.

What sex is it Tony? Have you bred yours yet?

Hi Guys,

What we're looking at here are the pectines and genital operculum, that little boomerang shaped thing with the combs attached and the small lump above these, these [pectines] are commonly thought to provide a sensory function [indicate vibration etc]. The pectines in females are smaller than in males, however, if you don't have a mature scorpion of either sex you'll possibly be scratching your head.

John, a tough one, is the scorpion mature? The pectines on my males are significantly larger and the combs longer...that would of course lead one to sexing this as female...however, the genital operculum [genital opening] that lump anterior to the pectines appears oval [it's not the clearest] this suggests a male...in females the genital opening is heart shaped...if this is a young scorpion, I'd monitor these areas through maturity...check the below link for an image of the same...

http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2008/03/20/sexing-pandinus-imperator.html

Tan, I gave my imperators the opportunity to mate earlier in the year [August] on introducing a male to a small group of females courtship began almost immediately...at present many of our females look to be piling on the weight which is a good sign...


One of our communal mating housings, a 33l tub with eco earth substrate a scattering of sphagnum moss, a few hides and scorpions of course, 1:4 if I remember correctly....these were essentially left for a week and a half or so and monitored daily...it appeared that the communal group were tolerant of one another, most of the animals were well fed prior to introduction and were of similar size this may have contributed to their communal behaviour...


Courtship in P. imperator, the male grips the female's pedipalps [male bottom] and the pair dance and shuffle around the place, the male will deposit his spermatophore during this ritual and shepherd the female over the top, this enters the female genital operculum which in turn triggers the release of the sperm within ...the group was returned to individual housing after around 10 days or so...

Superb post Tony!! Very interesting read. I know I for one have learned a lot from this as I am sure others will too. I was unaware of the pentines so found Johns image rather interesting but more so now since your post.

Fingers crossed for babies but please keep me in mind if and when you have loads of little ones as I would be very interested in some :)

Tony W wrote:John, a tough one, is the scorpion mature?

Hi Tony I'm not really sure if its mature or not, how do you tell? Its body length (from base of tail to head) is 4.5 cms so i'm not sure how far off being mature that is. Great post and look forward to news (and pics) of babies. thanks
John

John, follow the link for more comparisons...

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/spiders-inverts/84209-how-sex-scorpions.html

The scorpion resting on my hand is approx 6cm maybe a little more from prosoma through mesasoma....I think your's is likely a sub adult, however, as we all know proof of the pudding is in the eating...even small specimens of a species can surprise where fecundity is concerned.