Need info badly

[a.ojala]

Ok, I went to the sac reptile show and picked up a few new pets and three of them where a 1.1 pair of adult vinagroons and a HUGE female Egyptian wind scorpion (Solifugae???). I also think she's gravid, due to her gigantic size. She was collected in Egypt 2 weeks ago btw. So my questions are:

1) any tips on breeding vinagroons/can I keep them together

2) how moist should I keep there tank

3) what would a good sub be

4) what would a good sub be for the Solifugae

5) how moist should I keep the Solifugae

6) is it possible to tell if she's gravid through the photo

Thanks for the help

[Hisserdude]

This is what Orin's book says about vinegaroons. " if two same sexed or uninterested specimens are placed together one usually eats the other's tail and eventually kills the other. Pairs usually can be kept together for a few days without aggression." i think coco fiber is ok for substrate and It should be damp. Feed once or twice a week. Sorry do not know about your wind scorpion. Hope this helps!

[Shade of Eclipse]

I have an adult pair of vinegaroons and they have to be housed separately. The female is quite aggressive towards the male and was only tolerant of his presence initially when I placed them together for courtship and mating.

Do not let their enclosure dry out completely and keep it moist. They spend the majority of their time underground where there's some soil moisture and come out at night to hunt.

I use a mixture of equal parts of sand and coco fiber that they burrow into.

 

I've not been able to keep wind scorpions alive for more than a few months, but during the time that they were alive they burrowed in a substrate composed of mostly sand with some coco fiber that was kept moist but not saturated with water. Gravid wind scorpions will usually have eggs visible within their abdomen. Eggs should be a lighter color and larger in size than the greyish granules you can normally see within the abdomen. My wind scorpions liked to burrow closest to where the heating pad was located and would usually be seen laying as close against it as possible.

[a.ojala]

Thanks for the info on vinagroons, has anybody successfully bread them on this page?

The wind scorpion has hundreds of circle looking things imprinted in her abdomen, but every time I shrink the image in in order to post it, the image becomes to blurry. Can I send you a photo of it, so I can have a second opionon ? Also, any tips on how to keep the eggs alive, if she lays them?

[Hisserdude]

Yes vinegaroons have been captive bred. If you see circle things imprinted in her abdomen I would assume she was gravid. Orin has reared eggs from them, do you have his book invertebrates for exhibition? There is detailed info on windscorpion breeding in it. If not I'm sure people with more knowledge on the subject than me will post their suggestions

[a.ojala]

I men't has anybody bread them who is on this page. No I don't have his book, I might pick up a copy soon though. Did he mention how he incubated the eggs?

Also did Orion rear the Egyptian or Arizona specie? Because I have never heard of anybody rearing the Egyptian specie successfully.

[a.ojala]

Also how deep should the sub be for both species?

[Hisserdude]

His book says " ovum were maintained on a shallow bed of damp, somewhat dirty sand. This was kept inside a 5oz condiment cup with three thumbtack holes in the lid. The temperature was maintained near 75 degrees." I think an inch or two deep of substrate is good for the vinegaroons.

[a.ojala]

Thx for the info, last question

I just uploaded two pictures of the vinagroons pair, can anyone tell me which one is the male and which one is the female?

[Shade of Eclipse]

It appears that one of them is one molt shy of being an adult.

The males have larger pedipalps than the females. The pedipalps in vinegaroons are the first two appendages used for prey capture.

[a.ojala]

Hmm

Are males and females usally the same size, with males just haveing larger pinchers?

[Shade of Eclipse]

Yes, as adults they are roughly the same size and the males have larger pedipalps. There are also a couple other morphological differences, but they aren't as obvious.

[wizentrop]

Let's start by trying to figure out which species of vinegaroon you have (because different species require slightly different conditions). Are yours from North America (Mastigoproctus giganteus) or Asia (Minbosius manilanus, Typopeltis crucifer or Thelyphonus sp.). If Mastigoproctus - they need a little less humidity and higher temperatures.

As for your camel spider (Solifugidae), it is not gravid. Or maybe it is gravid but does not have any developed eggs yet. In gravid females you can see very large white eggs through their abdomen's exoskeleton. They will be very very easy to see. The tiny grey spheres that you see inside your speciemen's abdomen are fat bodies.
I have a lot of experience with those "Egyptian" solifugidae (the quotes are because many of them are not from Egypt at all). High temps, very low humidity and minimum disturbance is the key for keeping and breeding them. Many people are not aware that these animals can live for 4 years as adults, even more. They get stressed very easily, and die quickly as a consequence.

[a.ojala]

My vinagroons are North America (Mastigoproctus giganteus), hardly anybody has the Asian ones in the US hobby. Have you breed the Egyptian ones before? Also Do they need a heat lamp, or would a 80+ degree room would be ok? Oh do you have a picture of a gravid Egyptian, so I can compare them?

[wizentrop]

80 might be a little on the cold side. I think 84-85 is better for the solifugid. No lamp, try to heat the substrate somehow.

I only have an old photo of a gravid female, from the days I used film cameras, and I do not have a digital copy. But if you type "Galeodes" in Google images the first result should give you a gravid female.

[a.ojala]

The circles on mine are like 1/5 that size, so it could be young eggs or just fat cells. Have you had succus at mating and rearing this specie?

[wizentrop]

I had some bad experiences mating these. They need a lot of space to run! In all my breeding attempts one specimen ate the other.

It seems that if you have a gravid female that decides to lays eggs, it is easier to incubate and hatch the slings than to actually try and breed an adult pair.

[a.ojala]

Ya, I've never heard of anybody breeding these guys, that's why I asked. Thanks all who helped out.

[a.ojala]

Oh does anybody here catch giant vinagroons?

[wizentrop]

Actually, there are quite a few people from Denmark and Germany who have bred solifugidae successfully. I am pretty sure their webpages are still available online (in German, though).

[pannaking22]

A deeper substrate is definitely preferred by the vinegaroons. If they don't have a few inches of substrate, provide a hide. A nice sand/coco fiber substrate seems to work pretty well. There are two individuals where I work and we are keeping them differently. One has a substrate that's about 10 cm deep and the other has a substrate that's about 2 cm deep, but with a hide. The one with the deeper substrate went to town and burrowed to the bottom overnight. It seems to be pretty happy.

[Dynastes]

Actually, there are quite a few people from Denmark and Germany who have bred solifugidae successfully. I am pretty sure their webpages are still available online (in German, though).

Plenty of people in the US have hatched out vinegaroons, solifugae on the other hand haven't seen very much success by anyone anywhere so far.