Today Esme helped me out with a flash light to take better pictures of the scorpion with babies. In macro mode flash is not possible (nor useful), and since I didn't want to stress the new mother too much, I tried to take pictures the very hard way and pushed my old Philips ESP 60 digital camera to its limits.
I took several photos, and experimented a lot with the sensitivity setting of the digital camera and Esme had to move the flash light to and fro per instructions I gave.
Later I added a temperature and humidity monitor to the terrarium, since I want to register this information. The scorplings have to molt soon, and the wrong temperature or humidity can mean failure of this delicate process and the little ones can die. Since I couldn't find the requirements of this species, I decided to record so other people can use this information. Lets just hope that my set up is a good one.
After the photo session we went to the center of Xalapa to buy plastic boxes. When the little scorpions leave their mother they have to be separated otherwise they might eat each other. I bought two sets of clip boxes, each containing 4 boxes of different sizes (the label states 8 pieces, but I consider it odd to count a box and a lid as 2 pieces). The lids are colored an appropriate "baby blue". At about 30 pesos (less than 3 USD) a set, this could be considered an excellent deal.
The sizes are as follows:
The latter is almost one gallon (about 3.79 l), and according to some people sufficient to keep a (not too big) scorpion. But I prefer a bigger container, and moreover glass instead of plastic.
Esme wanted to look for some clothes, and then I saw a t-shirt I couldn't resist to buy...
At the end of the day we went out to buy CD recordables in Plaza Animas, a big and modern shopping center. There is also a small pet shop, and Esme asked if they sold crickets. They didn't, but gave directions to a shop that does. So we went to the shop by taxi. When we saw an Eukanuba (dog and cat food) sign, we asked the driver to stop.
It turned out to be a vet. But we got new and better directions. So after another short taxi drive (did I mention that taxi fares are very low in Xalapa?), we arrived at a pet shop, and the owner was just about to close for the day...
However, when she saw that we could be customers, she let us in and asked what we wanted. Crickets. She had just 5, but that's ok for now. Two males and three females. Some time ago I made a "cricket container", since I want to breed my own crickets and save us some cricket hunting, and it takes just a few to get started.
She had many exotic animals in her shop: snakes, frogs, and even an African scorpion (400 pesos!). Also she had a ferret, an animal I love to have as a pet. Since the owner was not feeling well, we bought the crickets and left the shop. But we will come back soon...
I also signed up to "Arachnoboards" today. The scorpion section of this message board looks excellent, and I asked questions about scorpling care.
In the night I fed the scorpions crickets. I killed the cricket I gave to "Romy" first, because she was not able to move as she used to do with all the little ones clinging on her back. The remaining male cricket was chirping in the night to attract the remaining female.