These amazing animals are IMPERIAL (or EMPEROR) SCORPIONS from west African countries including Togo and Ghana.  Despite their fearsome appearance and reputation some scorpions are actually quite docile, and these certainly are!  They are only active at night and usually spend the day resting in deep burrows which they have dug for themselves!

I have several imperial scorpions in my collection and one of the most popular is named Stingo!  Unfortunately when Stingo moulted for the very first time as a tiny baby, having been born in my house in March 2010, his sting (or telson) broke off inside the discarded exoskeleton (or exuvia).  This was the first and only time this has ever happened to a scorpion in my collection and I was really surprised to find that it had happened at all.  I decided to keep the baby along with a few others and decided there and then to ironically name him Stingo!  Here he is, pictured at 18 months old in September 2011:

You can clearly see in the picture below how the sting simply is not there any more.  Scorpions are unable to regenerate a sting if it is lost but thankfully not having it hasn't affected Stingo in any way at all.  Imperial scorpions have very powerful claws which they use to catch and kill their prey rather than using their sting as some less powerfully-clawed scorpion species would.  Stingo is in great condition and very docile, as this species usually is, so children can enjoy getting up close and personal with him with confidence due to his lack of venom!

Scorpions give birth to live babies rather than laying eggs and on many occasions since I started keeping them I have had baby imperial scorpions born in my collection, the most recent of these being in March 2010, when Stingo himself was born!  The mother scorpion carries her babies around on her back for the first few weeks of their lives to protect them from danger and even breaks up pieces of food to feed each individual baby, demonstrating fantastic parenting skills and devotion to her babies!

As the babies grow and develop they moult their exoskeletons and take on more of a typical scorpion shape as seen below, rather than the 'blob of jelly with legs' shape which they have soon after being born as seen above! 

At this stage they also start to become a bit more adventurous and will come down from their mother's back to explore their environment as seen below:

I would never try to remove the babies from their mother's back as she can still be very defensive of her little ones at this stage and will try to sting or pinch anything that moves near to them!  However because they will come off of her back of their own accord I can then handle them and get some pictures to show off how adorable baby scorpions can be, as you can see here:

After another moult the babies become quite a bit darker in colouration, although still nowhere near as dark as the adults.  At this stage they are about six weeks old, completely independent from their mother and feeding by themselves!  The one below is munching on a baby cricket, which I breed myself to ensure that they always have a steady supply of tiny food to eat!

All scorpions have a venomous sting but only a very few species are actually considered dangerous to people.  Most scorpion species have very weak venom and imperial scorpions are certainly one of these.  However, having been stung by one of my adults in 2007, I am very careful when and how I handle the larger ones because whilst not causing me any significant harm it was a big shock and caused enough discomfort to prevent me from being prepared to risk it happening again! 

My handling of the babies at this size carries no risk at all as the sting of a baby is barely even able to break the skin.  In fact the babies are surprisingly calm and docile when being handled anyway and don't even making any attempt to sting as long as you handle them gently, as I always do!

Like all arachnids, scorpions have to moult their exoskeleton regularly as they grow.  The pictures below show one of Stingo's moulted exoskeletons (exuvia) from September 2011, when he was 18 months old.  In the first picture below the head area or carapace is closed but in the second I have flipped it open to show the opening through which the scorpion's new body emerges!

And here it is open!

It always amazes me how an animal as complicated in structure as a scorpion can moult without damaging the old exoskeleton, but it happens pretty much every single time and this time was no exception!  On all my scorpions other than Stingo the old sting is perfectly preserved too, and you can see the sensory hairs all over this one below!

Immediately after moulting a scorpion's new exoskeleton is very soft and they are vulnerable to attack, so they would usually spend time in their burrow or hidden away during the time it takes for the new exoskeleton to harden up.  Directly below is a picture of Stingo soon after moulting in September 2011, showing a much paler colour than usual, and at the bottom is a picture taken a few days later when he was back to his normal dark colouration!