B. jacksoni...how long does their molting process take?

edesign

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Well...I was redoing my B. jacksoni and A. seemani (tarantula) tanks, actually i was putting the scorps in the kritter keeper and the T in the larger aquarium so it could burrow more. I didn't have enough peat moss to cover the floor of the KK so I put each of my 5 B. jacksoni's in their own little plastic containers with a lil peat moss on the bottom til I had time to go get more.

Last night I turn on the black light to check on em and I notice one looks like it was split in half...back 1/3 and front 2/3 looked like they had a 1cm gap in between them. I thought it had somehow been killed (it was a small cricket in there...couldn't have done that) so I flipped on the light and popped the top to take a closer look. To my astonishment (it had ate the night or two before) it had started to molt. I squirted a little bit of water in to the substrate to try and raise humidity a bit more and put the top back on. Bit late to raise humidity I know, it was in the 80-100% humidity range outside yesterday/this morning so should've been ok.

Anyway, I checked in on it when I woke up this morning around 10 and it was still in the same spot and had not shed any of it's molt. The tail part is still stuck around the tail, the carapace was split like it should but had not come off yet either.

How long does it usually take this species to molt? I'm not sure when it started last night but it's been almost 12 hours since I first noticed...my T didn't take this long iirc (i know i know, irrelevant lol).

First time I've had a scorpion molt, i've been waiting months...hope this doesn't turn out to be a bad molt :( If i lightly blow on it it contorts and twists it's body like it's trying to get out so it's not dead, the cricket was eaten before the molt, and there's no danger of other scorpions attacking it in the meantime. so VERY glad i happened to seperate them when I did, think I'll leave them seperated for a week or two to be safe in case the others decide to follow suit.

edit: weird...said i posted this 2 hours ago or so but it never showed up so i reposted just now. If there's a duplicate and I can't see it, mods please delete it, thanks.
 

G. Carnell

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Hi Edesign
start helping it now, 12 hours is way too much
my B.jacksoni finished its in 1-2 hours

BE VERY GENTLE, help it out of the legs and stuff
then lift up the tail so that the scorp is hovering- that will help it get out
and breathe on the parts where the scorp meets the old exoskelleton

if your lucky it will survive
the fact thats its squirming means you still have a chance
good luck; dont be rash, you can ver very easily kill it

dont cut the exoskelleton at all
 

G. Carnell

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another note: be patient, it will take a while

dont expect it to take 2 minutes


i spent about 10 minutes helping an H.laoticus out of its tail
you might have to spend more on this
 

edesign

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well...not sure howl ong it's been, 45-60 minutes...successfully uncovered the lungs and got everything off around it's main body. Tail is still covered as before, leaving it til last as you suggested (protect the stinger from damage?)...however, i cannot tell if the chelicerae are uncovered or not, there is a tiny amount of fluid visible if i try to remove what I think is the old skin (looks like there's a small white line above them, like the edge of the old skin where the top half used to meet). The pectines are clear as well I believe...

The old skin is still wrapped tightly around the claws, arm, and all the legs...don't think I'll be able to remove it from there without injury to the scorp :( would raising the humidity help any to seperate or should that have occured when it first increased it's internal pressure to split it? At this point i'm at a loss as to what to do to free the legs and arms/claws...
 
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