Female Hottentotta hottentotta (Fabricius, 1787) with babies
H. hottentotta is not complicated since the females are parthenogenetic. Therefore even unfertilized eggs develope into embryos. They share their genotype with the mother and therefore are female, too. The gestation time is about 4 to 6 months long. The litter can contain more then 40 young. They will molt into second instar within a weeks time and leave the mother's back. When the young are independent they will kill small crickets reaching their own bodysize. They can be kept under the same conditions as the adults. When fed properly they can reach adulthood within 12 to 18 months - adulthood is achieved in 7. instar in females. When kept in a group cannibalism will most likely happen, especially during molts. It is rather problematic due to the parthenogenesis that the scorpions will litter every few months - and there is nothing one can do about it. Therefore it is possible, that a large amount of young pile up, especially when a few more adult specimen are kept.
Size: 4812px × 3445px
Location: Africa
Photo credit: © Eng Wah Teo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., adult, affect, africa, aggressive, animal, arthropods, babies, baby, barks, caboverdensis, calm, cannibalism, cape, cardiovascular, carnivorous, central, chelicerae, cholinergic, coast, congo, dangerous, disturbed, female, females, fluorescent, gambia, guinea, guinea-bissau, hatchlings, instar, invertebrate, ivory, lethal, light, love, mali, mating, medically, medium-sized, mother, motherly, nervous, niger, nigeria, nocturnal, offspring, outcrops, pain, painful, parthenogenetic, parthenogenetic., potentially, predators, produced, protective, reticulated, rocky, scorpion, scorpions, severe, significant, sting, stones, symptoms, systems, threaten, toxin, undermeath, uv, venom, venomous, verde, wildlife, young
