Pseudoscorpions

[Vfox]

I am really interesting in them, but can't seem to find much info on them. Do people keep them, I know they are all kinds of tiny, but I think they are really interesting. I've going searching in the woods for them without luck, and I hear they can grow up to 7mm's, but since I've only ever seen one, and that was about 3mm's I can't say for sure. Anyway, I was wondering if people keep them, breed them, and sell them, because although tiny, they are nifty.

I'm talkin about these things.

 

[ahas]

That' s looks wicked!

 

[thedude]

prolly not, there like mites to allot of bigger things, next time you find a herculese beetle or some thing like that put it in a jar of alchohal and some times they come out or keep looking around woods piles and such im sure you will find one, but if you do find one good luck feeding it

 

[Vfox]

prolly not, there like mites to allot of bigger things, next time you find a herculese beetle or some thing like that put it in a jar of alchohal and some times they come out or keep looking around woods piles and such im sure you will find one, but if you do find one good luck feeding it

They are not like mites actually, when they are on larger insects it's because they are "hitching" a ride. It's pretty well documented on craneflies. These things even spin a little web cocoon to sit in and wait for prey to creep by, and they have a type of poison gland (harmless to us) in their pedipalps to kill its prey. The adults could easily take a day old cricket, but not much else, I was thinking of trying flightless fruitflies. I have a bunch of ideas, but not really sure of what will work, kinda why I need to find a bunch, lol.

 

[Galapoheros]

Too bad these aren't an inch long or longer. No point in thinking of that, just not going to happen. I used to see these in rotten logs when I was a kid. I was interested in them too for a while. I remember seeing a pic or old vid of one using it's chela to move along a thin string, like a monkey.

 

[ShawnH]

I found one once about 12 years ago near my house. I wasn't sure what I could feed it so I just let it be. It was hanging out on a flagstone walk way, don't ask me why I noticed a 3mm long thing walking around but I did. That was the only one I've ever seen, they might be around but they sure are hard to find.

 

[bluefrogtat2]

only seen one

i found one in northern wisconsin on a trip one time.I pulled a book out of a bookshelf in a cabin i had rented and when i was rreading it crawled across the page.Very cool and small as could be.i let it go but watched it for a while.very cool bugs

 

[Vfox]

i found one in northern wisconsin on a trip one time.I pulled a book out of a bookshelf in a cabin i had rented and when i was rreading it crawled across the page.Very cool and small as could be.i let it go but watched it for a while.very cool bugs

I think it was Aristotle that referred to the European varieties of these as "book scorpions", It's nice to see it's based on fact, lol.

 

[ShawnH]

I forgot to mention the one I found was in North-eastern Illinois.

 

[lucanidae]

I find them all the time in leaf litter here in NY. I've tried to keep them before, usually just in a vial with some detritus. I just ended up forgetting about them though. Also, these are arachnids so it should be in the other forum....not to be picky or anything.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

I've been keeping some but at adulthood these only get to 3mm with the chelicerae.

 

[Vfox]

I've been keeping some but at adulthood these only get to 3mm with the chelicerae.

Have you been able to breed them, or are you just keeping adults you've found in the wild? Also, do they floresce like scorpions, or not like spiders and mites? I know they are not scorpions, but I figured I'd ask just in case. How hard is it to feed them by the way, that seems to be most peoples concern.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

I've been breeding them for over a year but not in a way that I am sure will be self sufficient, it's more like trying to maintain a culture than 'breeding'. I offer them mite infested dog food and small cultured springtails (they aren't big enough to use the large springtail cultures).

 

[Vfox]

I've been breeding them for over a year but not in a way that I am sure will be self sufficient, it's more like trying to maintain a culture than 'breeding'. I offer them mite infested dog food and small cultured springtails (they aren't big enough to use the large springtail cultures).

Would fruit flies be too large of prey for them to take down? A pet store around here sells flightless fruitflies fairly cheap, so I was thinking of trying them out. What species of pseudoscorpions are you breeding, I assume a US species?

This species?

Or this species?

 

[opistoglyph]

Cool to experiment with, unlimited number of species. Providing the right parameters for reproductive maximum is temperature related. In NZ they were being cultured to combat varroa mites in beehives. At 18, 20, 22 degrees C. 140 pseudos of one endemic pseudoscorpion produced over 1400 nymphs rather rapidly at 18 degrees, none at 22, and 45 at 20 degrees. There's where the fun is with these is finding out what exactly are optimum conditions, and reliably providing them. They were cultured in barely vented snap cap medicine vials with 1 cm damp sand, and pieces of bark. Fed tiny aphids and drosophila larvae. Wish I could find the paper but it was a paid research site I'm no longer accessing.

Make some berlese funnels, or get some fine nets (like those used for brine shrimp, mysid shrimp, daphnia) and load it with samples of leaf litter, forest soil, bark from dead trees, log moss, you'll find plenty.

I've "cultured" 2 types. 1 from Ken the Bug Guy, another from the bark of pin cherry trees on my property. Used springtails, velvet mite nymphs vacuumed in huge numbers from concrete patio, mite infested animal feeds for food.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Can you use these guys as a pest control in millipede enclosures?

 

[Hisserdude]

Can you use these guys as a pest control in millipede enclosures?

Yes, I would imagine so. Once all the mites were gone you would need to make sure there were some springtails in the enclosure at all times for them to feed on.

 

[Smokehound714]

Some pseudoscorpion species can actually get quite large- 5-6mm is possible with some species.

 

[Jerry]

I've seen them here in NEB first time I got a close look I was really shocked and said to myself there aren't scorpions in Nebraska no way then after a little research I figured it out they are very cool see them all the time at work I work at a saw mill there climbing on the logs all the time

 

[loganhopeless]

You can actually buy these. Check out bugsincyberspace.com , Peter often times has these.