# Keeping Malayan (Singaporean, if you will) vinegaroons communally



## Draiman (Jan 27, 2009)

I went bug hunting again today, and found at least eight vinegaroons of various ages and sizes in a very small vegetated area. I now believe that these are _Thelyphonus_, not _Typopeltis_, as are most, if not all, vinegaroons occurring in the Malayan peninsula and Singapore. Anyway, I took home an adult male, about the same size as my existing adult female. The moment I put him in her enclosure, he began to perform some sort of gyrating dance, and she reciprocated with a brief threat display. No real violence, yet. At the moment, they're simply sitting within one or two inches of each other. The question is, will this situation last, and for how long? Is it possible to keep them communally even after the mating process (if it even happens at all)?

Here are a couple of pictures of the male:













A picture of their habitat:







And a wolf spider I caught - care to ID it?


----------



## Draiman (Jan 27, 2009)

What the _*hell*_? Why can't someone just help me out?


----------



## Deroplatys (Jan 28, 2009)

Lol, i get posts with no responses ever lol
I tried keeping hatchlings together, only to find half of them in the other halfs mouth 
Im not sure whether more food would of helped, although saying that, they might of just been feasting upon already dead ones:?


----------



## Draiman (Jan 28, 2009)

Yeah, I have heard from other people as well that babies tend to cannibalise when kept together. I assume you managed to get yours to mate, hence the hatchlings? How did you do it? Mine don't seem at all interested in mating.


----------



## Nikos (Jan 28, 2009)

@Phark as with almost all arachnids, canibalization is always an option, so keep them together at your own risk.
However adult specimens are more tolerant than juveniles. I have kept a pair of T.cantonensis together for almost 2 years, while in a small group of juveniles of the same species some specimens were eaten.

If they are adults and the female is not inseminated already (which is the case at the majority of WC specimens), they will mate on their own. No extra "help" is needed from your side.
Mating of Uropigids is a long proceedure so they might have mated while you weren't present. 

@Deroplatys I think I have replied to your question about keeping the young together. Always keep them seperate to be on the safe side.


----------



## Draiman (Jan 28, 2009)

vardoulas said:


> @Phark as with almost all arachnids, canibalization is always an option, so keep them together at your own risk.
> However adult specimens are more tolerant than juveniles. I have kept a pair of T.cantonensis together for almost 2 years, while in a small group of juveniles of the same species some specimens were eaten.
> 
> If they are adults and the female is not inseminated already (*which is the case at the majority of WC specimens*), they will mate on their own. No extra "help" is needed from your side.
> ...


Thanks for the input!  

Can you also ID the roons from the photos above? Lastly; how often should I feed them?


----------



## Deroplatys (Jan 28, 2009)

Yeah i seperated as many as i could, but ran out of housing so i decided to have a little test with a small group 
As for mating them i didnt, i brought my female gravid from a show.


----------



## Draiman (Jan 28, 2009)

Phark said:


> Thanks for the input!
> 
> Can you also ID the roons from the photos above? Lastly; how often should I feed them?


I hate quoting myself, but oh well, here we go again.

According to the book, _Catalogue of the Smaller Arachnid Orders of the World_ by Mark S. Harvey, only _Thelyphonus doriae_ and _Thelyphonus linganus_ occur in Singapore.


----------



## Nikos (Jan 28, 2009)

Phark said:


> Thanks for the input!
> 
> Can you also ID the roons from the photos above? Lastly; how often should I feed them?


I will look in some papers and let you know.

as for feeding, standard arachnid diet should apply. couple feeders per week and if they are not eaten remove them asap. Once they go underground stop feeding till they surface again


----------



## Draiman (Jan 28, 2009)

vardoulas said:


> I will look in some papers and let you know.
> 
> as for feeding, standard arachnid diet should apply. couple feeders per week and if they are not eaten remove them asap. Once they go underground stop feeding till they surface again


Once again, thank you and sorry for my impatience. Two crickets per week and I'm good?


----------



## Nikos (Jan 28, 2009)

Deroplatys said:


> Yeah i seperated as many as i could, but ran out of housing so i decided to have a little test with a small group
> As for mating them i didnt, i brought my female gravid from a show.


These are not "mainstream" pets but I'm sure me and many others would gladly accept some of your extra offspring, its a pity loosing them just like that  :wall:


----------



## Deroplatys (Jan 28, 2009)

Its a shame thier not more popular than they are, me and another amblypygid keeper set up this a month or so ago to try and rally up all the lesser known arachnid keepers, only 17 members as of yet :/ but some knowledgeable people on there 

www.chelicera.org


----------



## Nikos (Jan 28, 2009)

Phark said:


> Once again, thank you and sorry for my impatience. Two crickets per week and I'm good?


sounds OK 

You can offer as many as he/she can eat but once they are full they usually go underground


----------



## Nikos (Jan 28, 2009)

Deroplatys said:


> Its a shame thier not more popular than they are, me and another amblypygid keeper set up this a month or so ago to try and rally up all the lesser known arachnid keepers, only 17 members as of yet :/ but some knowledgeable people on there


kinda lost you there, could be cause english is not my mother tongue.
do you mean that you have a web-page that you keep data or info or anything? or is it more like a two guys thing, meaning just emailing and stuff?


----------



## Draiman (Jan 28, 2009)

vardoulas said:


> sounds OK
> 
> You can offer as many as he/she can eat but once they are full they usually go underground


Hmm alright. Does feeding more equate to a shorter lifespan?


----------



## Nikos (Jan 28, 2009)

i don't know, sorry


----------



## Deroplatys (Jan 29, 2009)

I forgot the link sorry 
Its a forum just like this but dedicated only to amblypygids, uropygids, and solfugids


----------



## Boris Striffler (Feb 3, 2009)

Hi Gavin,

there are two nice papers on the Uropygids of SE Asia:


HAUPT, J. & D. SONG. (1996): Revision of East Asian whipscorpions (Arachnida Uropygi Thelyphonida). I. China and Japan. Arthropoda selecta 5 (43-54).
HAUPT, J. (1996): Revision of East Asian whipscorpions (Arachnida Uropygi Thelyphonida). II. Thailand and adjacent areas. Arthropoda selecta 5: 53-65.

The latter also contains a key to _Typopeltis_ species but as you can assume from the titles, there is nothing in them on Malayan/Singaporean species. But Mark Harvey's catalog lists _Ginosigma schimkewitschi_ for Malaysia and Singapore. So if you could take some pics of the genital plates of your uropygids (male & female), I could compare those with Haupt's drawings and redescription.

Cheers,
Boris

P.S.: The easiest way is to put the uropygid in a clear plastic box (e.g. cricket box) and put another box in the one with the uropygid. If turn over the boxes you can take excellent photos from the underside.
Even easier is to anaesthetize it with CO2.


----------



## Draiman (Feb 3, 2009)

Boris Striffler said:


> Hi Gavin,
> 
> there are two nice papers on the Uropygids of SE Asia:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the input! I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.


----------



## becks0303 (Dec 3, 2010)

*RE: Bug hunting*

Hey Draiman,

Im a singaporean too, wondering where could you find these babies?

thanks


----------



## Michiel (Dec 7, 2010)

Draiman said:


> I hate quoting myself, but oh well, here we go again.
> 
> According to the book, _Catalogue of the Smaller Arachnid Orders of the World_ by Mark S. Harvey, only _Thelyphonus doriae_ and _Thelyphonus linganus_ occur in Singapore.


Never rule out the possibility of undescribed taxa......I wish that there where unexhaustive lists in books! 

@ Boris, Hi Boris, would you mind sending me those papers? I would appreciate that if possible. My e-mail is cozijn.jankie@casema.nl

Cheers, Michiel


----------



## Banshee05 (Dec 7, 2010)

see your mail account


----------



## Michiel (Dec 7, 2010)

Banshee05 said:


> see your mail account


Thanks for sending those, Michael


----------

