HELP, SOS, spinigerus birth problems (PANICING)

[mogadons]

Hi. I'm a newbie and this would be my first post. I just got home from work only to find out that my spinigerus finally popped. This would be my first scorpion birth that i witnessed. What really bothered me was that all of the babies were not on mom's back - they were all scattered on the floor. Some look like huge mites and some already look like little white scorps.

In the midst of my panic I collect all the babies that were scattered on the substrate and placed them on top of a damp tissue. (saw this on a post in this forum).

Any chance that those scorps that i separated would live or did i just doomed them all. HELP ME. What should i do?????

At this time mom is still giving birth to some more. REALLLY NEED INPUTS GUYS.

[What]

It isnt unusual for the baby scorps to wander a bit before climbing up onto the mother's back....

For the ones that are separated already, keep them warm and damp. For the others, wait and see if they make it onto her back.

[mogadons]

Thanks for the quick reply What.

Any chance of survival for the ones that have been separated? Should i place them back with mom or keep them separated and pray that they survive?

Im afraid that putting them back might add more stress to mom

I'm an idiot!

[What]

I honestly dont know about the separated ones, I have heard both recommendations.

Wait until a couple more people give their opinion on the matter....

(It is 2:40am here and my judgment might be a bit off.)

[mogadons]

ohh sorry! its around 6:45pm here. God bless you mate thanks

[Cirith Ungol]

I would try putting them back on mum, without upsetting her too much. Wait until she's done giving birth.

1st instar scorps usually have a survival rate of... extremely low if not on their mum. A dampt tissue won't do. Mums back emits some kind of chemical that they need in order to grow and develop. If they had been second instar scorps the story would have been an entirely different one.

It might be very hard to get them back onto mums back, if she even accepts that. But it's a better try than certain death.

Other people will be able to go into much more detail, but they'll probably tell you basically the same.

[Mr. Mordax]

Someone on here has successfully raised 1I scorps without the mother -- he took ones that had fallen off and kept them on warm, damp cottonballs. Eventually they molted to second instar (at least one emp needed help; he held its exuvium with forceps while it came out).

[mogadons]

This is really sad! the mother abandoned all her young. I've counted around 40 young but only 13 of them seems to be moving. The rest of them looked like rice. Any chance that those premature ones could make it? The 13 1st instars are kept on a moist cotton ball and the 30+ are also kept in a moist cotton ball in a separate tank.

[Mr. Mordax]

Sounds like you made a good call there on separating the two groups. I'm really sorry to hear about this; I had something similar happen with my H. longimanus.

*does some backtracking*

Hmmm . . . I can't find the original thread. I'll let you know if I track it down.

[mogadons]

Thanks IHeartMantids and everyone for viewing and sharing your views.

@Cirith Ungol: I tried reintroducing them to mom but when i woke up i saw one of the babies in her mouth.

As of the moment 12 1st instars have fully developed limbs while 3 others although they are moving when i blow on them - their parts have not fully developed.

there are around 43 dude that are still look like rice. Any chance they will develop?

And lastly, as many of you have mentioned, I've kept the embryos/1st instars on moist cotton. My question is should i cover the container and put some air holes on the cover to keep it @ high humidity or should i leave it open for moderate humidity and good high airflow?

Thanks for all your support.

PS:All in all 15 + 43 would have yielded me 58 babies but i guess nature's clearly at work here. I placed a picture showing both containers - the ones that are circled are the 3 underdeveloped but moving 1st instars

[Cirith Ungol]

You could try contacting "Brian S" via pm for example. Maybe he has something more to add, but I don't have much hope there is much help to be gained anywhere. If they are just plain "rice" then they are not only tiny but without legs even. I don't see any miraculous recovery from that stage I'm sorry to say, but you do better to keep them on cotton balls than to throw them away.

You don't have any pictures?

[mogadons]

Sounds like you made a good call there on separating the two groups. I'm really sorry to hear about this; I had something similar happen with my H. longimanus.

*does some backtracking*

Hmmm . . . I can't find the original thread. I'll let you know if I track it down.

Sorry to hear that too does this happen often?

[mogadons]

just posted

[quiz]

congrats on this wonderful experience. You did a good job by seperating them. Make sure to keep the tissue/cotton balls damp at all times until they molt to 2nd instar and make sure to keep them warm 24/7. The babies with limbs have 95% of surviving. Nothing to worry about

Here's a few pic of I.politus that I raised from 1st intar.
when I scooped them out of the fems enclosure


placed them on damp cotton


they molted to 2nd instar

[mogadons]

@quiz: thanks but do the 1st instars need high air flow or a humid environment? thanks for the reassurance i surely hope the ones that have limbs make it to 2nd instar!