Scorpions are viviparous across the entire order. Embryos develop inside the mother and emerge as miniature scorpions rather than hatching from laid eggs. In some lineages the embryo is nourished through a placenta-like connection to the maternal gut diverticula; in others it draws on yolk within an egg membrane that never leaves the body.
Newborn striped bark scorpions are white and soft, with a cuticle too thin to prevent desiccation. They climb onto the mother's dorsal surface, where a brood can number a dozen to several dozen, and remain there while their exoskeleton hardens. After the first moult they disperse and hunt on their own. Litters can be large, with reports of up to about fifty young.
The common belief that young scorpions routinely eat their mother is not supported. Maternal cannibalism of offspring and sibling cannibalism do occur under crowded or food-poor conditions, but the arrangement is best described as brief maternal care, not matriphagy.