Mastigoproctus giganteus care

[Androctonus_bic]

Hello;

I have adquiered recently 3 medium size M. giganteus. I have some questions about it because I have found very contradictory answer against my questions so:

1. What is the correct Temperature and the correct humit levels?

2.Are they communal?

3. How I can make a correct sexing? (Objective caracters if it is posible)

Before any answer, I want to leave you my gladness.

Cheers
Carles

 

[Michiel]

There is a small caresheet in the non-venomous animal section of the website The Venomlist. Check the Uropygi subforum.

(I have no experience with these animals, so I can't answer your Q.)

Cheers, Michiel

 

[zonbonzovi]

Hello;

I have adquiered recently 3 medium size M. giganteus. I have some questions about it because I have found very contradictory answer against my questions so:

1. What is the correct Temperature and the correct humit levels?

2.Are they communal?

3. How I can make a correct sexing? (Objective caracters if it is posible)

Before any answer, I want to leave you my gladness.

Cheers
Carles

Hi Carles...there really isn't a lot of good information out there, unfortunately . I have an adult pair & some small juveniles.

1) In my experience, they become fairly inactive below 65F, in captivity. The juveniles I found exiting tunnels under scrap wood in S. Arizona...the temperature read 105F at the time. Night time temperatures at the hottest time of year there were around 85-95F. I've played with the temperature a bit & they seem to be most visible in the low to upper 70s F.

I keep them pretty dry except for the areas that they favor for tunneling...I try to maintain enough humidity in the soil so that the tunnels will not collapse.

2) Definitely not communal except for early instars, although this information is second hand from folks that have raised nymphs with the mother. On the other hand, I've had the adult pair co-habitating for several months now for mating purposes and damage has been minimal. I also keep them well fed on adult B. dubia weekly, though.

3) If you have male & female at similar ages, the males pedipalps will be noticeably longer. Here's a more informative communication that I received from a researcher, however:

"The spines on the trochanter of the pedipalps are reduced in males. Also the apophysis that comes off the patella of the pedipalps is more slender in males and usually has non of the serrated edge on the external edge like you see on the internal edge. Once you have a female, these characters are very easy to see and differentiate."

Good luck with them! These are easily on of my favorites

 

[Androctonus_bic]

Hello partners;
First of all, thanks for all of your answers.

I'll follow this care councils. Maybe a general idea could be like keep S. heros but with a lil' bit higher in temperature during the day, isn't it?

In other hand, and acording what you said, maybe I'm a lucky man choosing my bugs. (or maybe not)

Here a schematic draw to understand better this sexing method;

http://webs.lander.edu/rsfox/rsfoximages3/uropygid19L_x720_x_480x_x540_x_360x.gif

Female: Patela with a bigger spines in the inside edge of the apophysis.

Male: Longer and smother apophysis in the patela.

So... here, pictures of my bugs; let's play!

1# Female 1?

2# Female 2?

3# Male?

Now...Sorry for the pictures... Do you think I made a correct sex diagnose? Or I watch more phantoms than there is?

Cheers
Carles

 

[Galapoheros]

They are neato! I still don't know why they aren't more popular. They are pretty hardy. Pic 2 and 3 are the same btw. They look like females, easy to tell when mature by a quick glance. Easy to tell looking underneath also. Upper 70's to mid 80's has worked well for ime. They like something kind of flat to dig underneath, something that covers a lot of area. I think a 50/50 mix of coco fiber and sand works well, not too wet but not bone dry. They make a well rounded chamber and go for some months sitting there. I had a few make a chamber and hang upside down on what they dug under and lay eggs while hanging there. They are found in a wide range of micro habitats, the desert southwest US to semi tropical areas in Florida so they are not too picky, congrats, I think they are interesting to watch.

 

[zonbonzovi]

IMO, captive conditions will be very similar to S. heros. Good call!

On page 23 of this:

http://etd.lib.ttu.edu/theses/available/etd-06302009-31295015074650/unrestricted/31295015074650.pdf

there is a basic illustration of the ventral parts of male/female, as Galapaheros noted(some folks don't find this to be very reliable. it has worked for me, though). Ditto on his habitat suggestions, esp. the area for building a chamber. I used a large rock & attached 4 stones to the bottom with aquarium sealant & buried it in deep substrate. The female took to building multiple entrances in the first week. Quite fascinating to watch the excavation! Arrghhh...I always forget about the Florida population and how much different the habitat seems(although the microhabitat is very similar)

 

[Galapoheros]

That was a cool little read. One other thing I've noticed is that, though they shouldn't be kept together, males get along better than females. Two males will start to check each other out and finally say, "Heeeeyyyyy, you're not a girl!" and walk away from each other. But the females will seriously fight until one runs away. When watching what would happen when I put two females together, I didn't let it go too far but it looked like that if one didn't run away, it would be killed and eaten. I also think they can be kept kind of like heros pedes. In the wild though, I see pedes climbing around on cliffs and I've only seen vinegaroons walking around on ground that is more flat and can handle drier areas than heros imo.

 

[Steven]

hey Carles,
i used to have M.giganteus too and they are really nice pets, maybe i'll get back into them one day, but not for now

anyway, i did find sexing them rather easy and more reliable if you had a look at their ventral side, i had pictures of the sexual dimorphisme in the past, but i've lost them, so sorry
can you take pictures of their underside?

this is the only picture i could find back in my archive,...
male (in front) dragging the female over his spermathec

 

[zonbonzovi]

Steven, did yours ever reproduce? If so, do you have any data?

 

[Galapoheros]

I had to edit my other post, I typed, "...but bone dry." I left out the word "not". I never kept the ones I had "bone" dry.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Ventral, female:

 

[Steven]

Steven, did yours ever reproduce? If so, do you have any data?

i had 2 females carrying an eggsac underneath their belly, but while at it,.. they both died on me , dunno what i did wrong in that period, but it felt really bad,... since i was only left with a male,... that also died shortly after,... so sorry no data .... and no offspring.

I don't know the correct words anymore for the segments on their ventral side,.. but males clearly look different then females,... that "lip" you see on the female hanging over the 1st "segment",.. with males it is differently shaped and almost touches the 2nd segment as far as i remember.

 

[Galapoheros]

I've seen a lot of pics of captive vinegarones carrying eggsacs but I am confident this is not normal since the sac seems so delicate and looks vulnerable to dehydration to me. I had three with eggs, each one made a chamber a little larger than a tennis ball under a rock, eggs showed up around September if I remember right. Each sat there in the chamber, sometimes upside down hanging on the rock for weeks with the eggsac underneath them. They hatched out in the chamber in winter and all emerged from under the rocks in the Spring. So it was something like 7 to 9 months underground. I would put at least 6 inches of substrate, I think it would help if you want to get babies. I suspect some lay eggs in Spring and hatch out in late Summer but don't know.

 

[catfishrod69]

i have 4 vinegaroons that i actually was trying to sex earlier today...this is a pic i found on the net, and as far as i can tell, i got 3 females and 1 undecided, wich gets along with one when i hold them close, but another one attacked it with snake like speed....anyways i hope this pic helps you....has kinda helped me so far....and the pedipalps on all mine basically look same....

 

[catfishrod69]

i circled the differences to help out