Methinks there is something in the water

There was something in the water in our house on Kiowa Ave.
It was like the fertility goddesses' sacred pool spewed from our kitchen sink.

It began with Harry, our giant desert hairy scorpion.

This little nasty wandered into our campsite in Palm Canyon when we were with our couple friends, Mason and Keara. I may have lost my mind amidst blood curdling screams (they were more like squawks) as Jon tried to catch this thing in a water bottle. Harry is about 6 inches long and HUGE. These pictures really don't do her justice.

Jon was going to take Harry home, freeze her, and turn her into a desk ornament in resin. However, due to the fact that I am borderline mentally unhinged, I felt bad for such a beautiful specimen of a scorpion to be brutally murdered. I did what any sane, bug-fearing wife would do- I let Jon keep her as a pet.

Surprisingly, desert hairy scorpions make GREAT pets. You can find the tutorial on how to set up a tank here. I'm actually really fond of Harry (disclaimer: I'm fond of Harry if she is in her glass enclosure with a lid on it). 

How do we know that Harry is a girl?

Well, Harry is pregnant.

We began to notice startling amount of weight gain in our scorpion. In fact, she looked like a sausage with legs.

This was Harry in her "first trimester."

This is Harry's current condition.

You can see why we were alarmed. 

We actually took her to the Phoenix reptile expo with us in November (yes, that is how backed up my blog is.....) and had an arachnologist confirm that she is pregnant. He even showed us where we could see the embryos. 

Apparently, when Jon caught Harry, she was returning home from what can only be referred to as "a good time." We had Harry for several months before she began to look pregnant. Apparently, per the arachnologist, it is not uncommon for scorpions to have a gestation of 9 to 14 months. They can also put their pregnancy on stasis meaning that if she feels like the environment is not optimal, she can pause her pregnancy and delay giving birth. 

At this current point in time, we have not had baby scorpions yet. But we did have other babies.

Find out in my next post what kind of baby we are talking; me or the dog?

(spoiler: It was both)

Like I said, don't drink the water.

xoxo,