scared of the camera XD

return from hiatus

I am proud to report that I finally have something to report!

Say hello to the 4th instars!
hiding under Demeter
le skins

moulting again

I return with pics!
3.50 pm - one scorpling has just started to moult. It's exoskeleton breaks/splits/cracks open between the carapace and the chelicerae(mouth part thingys). Look at the arrow. It then squeezes through that opening.

6.50 pm - halfway through...

9.50 pm - It's done. Although because i was too busy watching Mummy 3, I don't know for sure what time it finished moulting =_=

1 - 2nd instars

2 - newly moulted 3rd instar

3 - skin of number 2

4 - 3rd instar. Moulted some time ago but it's exoskeleton hasn't darkened enough yet.

3rd Instar!

4 scorplings have molted into 3rd instars. These are the skins. They're just about 2cm long.

Here's a closeup of one. It probably just finished molting a few hours ago. The telson(venom bulb) is still white but will turn a yellowish-brown later. The four eyes (2 near the mouth, the other 2 are quite close together so it looks like there is only one eye) can be seen very clearly. The armour/exoskeleton will also turn dark green/black later.

edit: the 2 eyes near the mouth are the lateral eyes. The other two are the two median eyes.

One scorpling has molted again! Here's the skin. It's so small!

So the midget has died. It wasn't eating at all and kept isolating itself from the others. I found it half submerged in the water dish and when I prodded it it was dead.

return from hiatus

Scorplings have turned into fat and round little cylinders. Whenever I put a cricket into the tank, Demeter just grabs it and she usually crushes the head. The scorplings then swarm all over it. A few of them even run off with a whole leg in their mouths. I've even seen gluttons who cart off two-pedipalp fulls of cricket legs or guts.

They've all gotten off Demeter's back but a few occasionally climb back onto her. Some even lurk under her belly and follow her wherever she goes. But when everybody's sleeping most of them huddle up together in a ball of limbs and cute squooshy bodies.

However I've noticed that one of the scorplings isn't eating at all. Even when I put in an extra cricket and nudge the scorpling towards it, it doesn't show any interest in eating whereas the others will immediately pounce on it even before Demeter has let go of the cricket. It still looks like how it did right after the first moult. The others have turned into various shades of grey and black and are really really fat and cute and oh so squishy :P