Captive Bred Vinegaroon

The captive bred vinegaroon sold through this listing is a young juvenile around 2nd instar and with a body length under 1 inch long (not counting whip and antenniform legs). With the extra appendages they appear far larger. They are available unsexed only. Please do not ask. They are not easily sexed until they grow much larger.

We only breed these Mastigoproctus tohono once each year. $19.99 each. Limit 3 per customer.

Care for these young ones is a bit more specific. Humidity is important in the substrate. Something to hide under is good. A couple inches of soil is recommended although they are happy with less. For a specimen this size an 8 ounce deli cup is large enough although you can go up to a five gallon. I’d say a 5 gallon tank is unnecessarily large and will require more spraying, etc. I would not recommend a tall enclosure since lots of air above the substrate will cause dryness and maybe desiccation of the specimen, and a highly ventilated lid should definitely be avoided. A container that is no more than 3 inches tall is recommended for these young vinegaroons so that the air to substrate ratio is more balanced.

They prefer living foods that are smaller than them like small crickets, roaches, mealworms or house flies. They will also scavenge on larger items like crickets that are pre-killed and sort of squished, etc.

Giant Vinegaroons Mastigoproctus tohono are non-venomous arachnids that look like scorpions (if they look like anything on this planet at all). The scorpion’s “tail” and “stinger” are replaced by a whip tail. Not counting the tail and whips, adults grow to reach about 2.75 to 3 inches (body length with pedipalps/claws). Amazingly, and despite their rather intimidating appearance, these large animals are completely harmless to humans. They do however emit a spray that smells like vinegar (hence the name) and I’d recommend not putting the bug in your mouth or near your eyes and face. Unlike scorpions, their “pincers” consist of three parts instead of two. They use these to catch live prey like crickets or roaches.

Small crickets or roaches or mealworms are typically offered though they’ll eat bugs from your porch light too. They may stop feeding for a period of time once their abdomen gets full. If you offer a deep substrate they will burrow. Some care should be taken that the substrate is not so loose that it will fall in on them (cave in). If you offer a substrate that is shallow then you will probably see them more, but they are probably happier with a deeper substrate. In this case a piece of bark or something else for them to hide under is recommended (see related products below). Room temperature is fine and warmer is fine too.

Tank/soil humidity can be added and maintained by pouring a little water into one side of the substrate. A small, shallow water dish can be offered too for larger ones, though they get most of the moisture they need through eating their prey and the slightly moist substrate.

If you get table vinegar in your eyes it would probably be worse than spray from vinegaroons because it is more of a liquid, but of course it depends on how much of each you actually got in your eyes. Their spray is a liquid too but finer, more like a misting than a stream in most cases. Even when they spray your hand you can hardly feel it unless you happen to be unusually sensitive to vinegar (or vinegaroons). A lot of times they won’t even spray if you bother them. Different individuals are more or less likely to spray. Different people have a different sensitivity to it. I should recommend that you wash your hands if you are sprayed, but I don’t worry about it personally, at all.

Video of larger/older specimens of darker sister species, M. giganteus.