Breeding conditions

• Humidity ~ 40-50%
• Temperature in the day ~ 27-35 ° C
• Temperature at night ~ 20-25 ° C
• Terrarium 30x30x20 cm

Occurrence

Scorpio lives in the areas of southern Africa: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Biotope

Parabuthus transvaalicus occurs in hot and dry deserts and semi-deserts. During the day, I hide in minks dug by myself, under stones, or felled branches of trees.

Look

A large scorpion , adult females can reach 15 cm. Parabuthus transvaalicus is black and brown, and its legs and pedipalps are brighter. Scorpion has a powerful metasoma quite strongly POROS than ETA red hairs.

Temperament

The behavior of a scorpion can vary significantly.
In my breeding individuals I noticed that the individuals that were bred for me from L2 were quite calm and even after reaching sexual maturity they did not show increased aggression. Otherwise, it's up to adults who appeared in my cat breeding. At the slightest attempt to manipulate the terrarium, the individuals took a defensive position lifting their pliers and waving the metasome. It was even worse when trying to catch an aggressor with a penet, and immediately "shooting" venom.

The power of venom

Scorpio does not have very strong poison its LD50 is 4.25 mg / kg body weight, which is not an impressive result, the problem may be a huge amount of produced toxin, the amount of which can be stored is demonstrated by its powerful metasome. P. transvaalicus as several representatives of the genre can "shoot" venom. This is to defend against intruders. The attacker's eyes are the most vulnerable to this form of defense. For a long time the breeding of these scorpions that I failed to observe this phenomenon, which changed by introducing into the breeding specimens from the trapping. Scorpio can be a real threat to young children, elderly people and, of course, people who are allergic.

Length of life

The life span of a scorpion depends on the conditions under which the arachnid is maintained. Unfortunately, I do not have accurate data on the length of life of P. transvaalicus. You can suggest other types of people who live up to 9 years.

Terrarium

For the breeding of quite young specimens, at L2- L3 stage, urine-boxes are quite sufficient for us. For older individuals, all kinds of salad containers will be suitable, and for an adult , a 30x30x25 cm terrarium will be sufficient . For an adult pair, the tank should be correspondingly larger . As elements of the decor we can use such materials as: pieces of bark or flat stones.

Type of substrate

As a substrate, we should use a mixture of sand, clay and coconut fiber. Such prepared ground will help the scorpion dig a shelter.

Conditions in the terrarium

If we want to provide the scorpion with the conditions closest to those found in nature, we should take care of the relatively high temperature, which should remain at 27-35 ° C. This value is obtained by placing a mushroom-shaped bulb in the terrarium with a capacity of about 25-30W. Humidity, on the other hand, should remain at 40-50%. Too high humidity persisting in the terrarium can cause the appearance of ringworm on our ward, and taking into account the dark coloration of Parabuthus transvaalicus it will be hard to notice its fungal.

Elevated humidity is ensured by young individuals for the time of successive exuviaes as well as pregnant women.

Multiplication

Gender recognition

When recognizing sex in adults, this scorpion should not be a problem, adult males have a much more massive chele , moreover, their construction is definitely finer than females. In contrast, in females we can easily see the lobes that are at the base of pectin, in males it does not occur. In addition, the number of teeth on pectin is as follows:

• Female 33-36
• Male 37-42

Multiplication

Having an adult scorpion couple, this multiplication is not a major problem.

In my kennel after combining mature individuals, the pair immediately began their dance. Scorpions showed no aggression towards each other. After successful fertilization, the female took food in really large quantities, ate everything she found in the pliers and what she managed to overcome. Her diet included crickets, cockroaches and locusts .

After a pregnancy lasting just over six months, the female gave birth to 95 young. Of course, in the case of this species as well as other young after the transition from mother molt and descent from the mother, I decided to separate, this is to minimize losses caused by cannibalism, which may take place during the passage of successive scents by young scorpions .

Comments

A scorpion species recommended to people who have some experience in breeding a scorpion that is more poisonous and aggressive. People who will undertake the breeding of these beautiful arachnids will certainly not be disappointed. Its quite large sizes and the ability to keep in the group (of course after reaching maturity) will make this species an interesting breeding facility.