Androcottus magnimanus
Identity confidence: provisional. This is a genus, group, or trade name rather than a confirmed species. Treat it as the closest match we can stand behind, and use the more conservative end of any range.
Magnificent Thick-tailed Scorpion: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Current taxonomy places the Venezuelan trade scorpion long sold as Tityus magnimanus in Androcottus: Androcottus magnimanus (Pocock, 1897), comb. nov. The store has two separate size lots, 0.25-0.5 in and 0.5-0.75 in as supplied, represented in the shared upstream vendor channel as captive bred; neither size establishes an instar. Published successful captive conditions used 22-30 C with moistened lignocel and bark cover, or approximately 70-80% RH with moist soil and cork. Treat those as documented conditions, not an optimum: keep a moisture gradient, functional ventilation and no standing wet substrate. House individually and never handle. Species-specific clinical severity is not established, so Spice 5 is a conservative buthid containment lane. - Big Z
Group: ScorpionsDifficulty: Spice 5: ExtremeSetup: Secure Venezuelan terrestrial buthid setup: moist but not saturated moisture-retentive substrate, cork or bark cover, functional cross-ventilation, open water when safely sized, and individual housing.Handling: Never. No hand contact. Use long tools, a staged catch cup, and secondary containment for every opening or transfer.
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | Published captive reports maintained this taxon within 22-30 C (72-86 F); a separate adult study used about 26.6-29 C by day and 23.8-25 C by night. These are successful study conditions, not a tested optimum. Big Z uses stable ordinary warm-room conditions within that envelope, with a gradient and no direct unregulated heat. |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Published captive reports used moistened lignocel, or approximately 70-80% RH with moist soil. Treat these as documented methods, not a proven threshold. Maintain a damp lower layer or reliably moist retreat with a less-wet surface, functional cross-ventilation, and no saturation or standing water. |
| Setup Type | Secure Venezuelan terrestrial buthid setup: moist but not saturated moisture-retentive substrate, cork or bark cover, functional cross-ventilation, open water when safely sized, and individual housing. |
| Substrate | Use moisture-retentive soil/coir or a stable equivalent, kept moist but not saturated, with cork or bark cover. One published adult study used about 50 mm of moist soil; another used moistened lignocel. Exact mix and depth are Big Z construction choices scaled to the animal. |
| Feeding | Published animals accepted suitably sized crickets, but no validated scorpling cadence was found. For the current small lots, offer very small soft-bodied or pre-killed prey at a cautious recorded house cadence, remove leftovers promptly, and stop live prey around molt. Adjust from intake and body condition. |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 5: Extreme |
| Handling | Never. No hand contact. Use long tools, a staged catch cup, and secondary containment for every opening or transfer. |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- Small scorpling/juvenile (0.25-0.5 in as supplied): exact instar unknown; individual escape-proof micro-enclosure with moist-not-wet substrate, cork cover, and safely delivered water
- Scorpling/juvenile (0.5-0.75 in as supplied): exact instar unknown; individual secure enclosure with a moisture gradient, cover, and appropriately small prey
- Adult (published total length approximately 45-72 mm): secure individual terrestrial enclosure with moist substrate, cork cover, open water, cross-ventilation, and secondary containment
Warnings First
- Current accepted combination is Androcottus magnimanus (Pocock, 1897), comb. nov.; Tityus magnimanus is retained as the original and trade combination.
- The two supplied size-and-cost lots are separate Size variants on one product. SKU, price, unit cost, media, and inventory remain tracked independently by variant.
- Supplier size labels do not establish 3i, 4i, 5i, 6i, or any other exact instar. Record both lots as scorplings/small juveniles, exact instar unknown.
- Published temperature, humidity, substrate, and feeding conditions are successful captive methods, not physiological optima or tolerance limits.
- No species-specific human clinical series was found. Spice 5 and no handling are conservative buthid controls, not a quantified prediction of sting severity.
- A suspected sting is an emergency: seek professional emergency care immediately and contact the appropriate poison service. This guide gives no treatment protocol.
Simple Care
- House one animal per enclosure.
- Keep secure secondary containment ready before opening the enclosure.
- Use moist but not saturated moisture-retentive substrate with cork or bark cover.
- Maintain functional cross-ventilation and a safely sized open water source.
- Keep within published successful warm-room conditions; do not treat 22-30 C as an optimum.
- Offer very small prey at a recorded house cadence and remove leftovers around molt.
- Treat both store size labels as scorpling/small juvenile, exact instar unknown.
- No hand contact. Use long tools and a staged catch cup.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Kovařík et al. maintained Venezuelan magnimanus-group animals at 22-30 C on moistened lignocel with bark cover; newly molted individuals were separated.
- Ross maintained adults at approximately 26.6-29 C by day, 23.8-25 C by night, 70-80% RH, with about 50 mm moist soil and cork cover.
- These are published successful conditions, not tests of an optimum, minimum, maximum, or required ventilation rate.
- Moist does not mean saturated. Big Z translates the studies into a damp lower zone or moist retreat, a less-wet surface, functional cross-ventilation, and no standing water.
- Individual housing is conservative policy for a medically cautious buthid lane and simplifies molt protection and maintenance.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Suitably sized crickets were accepted in published captive work, but no validated schedule for the store's small animals was found.
- Use very small soft-bodied or pre-killed prey at a cautious recorded house cadence and adjust from observed intake and body condition.
- Remove live prey and leftovers around molt. Published work separated newly molted animals.
- Do not map supplier length to an exact instar or turn adult ad-libitum feeding into a scorpling prescription.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Northern to north-central Venezuela. Verified material is from Falcón; Lara records derive principally from populations historically named Tityus falconensis, now treated as a junior synonym. The original 'Brazil' locality is regarded as a labeling error. The store stock is represented only as Venezuelan supplier stock; do not assign Falcón, Lara, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, or Peru as batch provenance.
- Habitat translation: The taxon is Venezuelan, but no batch-linked locality or measured wild microclimate is available. Use the published captive evidence instead: a secure terrestrial buthid enclosure with moist-not-wet moisture-retentive substrate, cork or bark cover, functional cross-ventilation, water, and individual housing. This is a study-backed captive translation, not a claim that one field locality defines the stock.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Prendini (2026) revalidated Androcottus for the former Tityus magnimanus group and placed this species as Androcottus magnimanus, comb. nov.
- Tityus magnimanus remains the original and widely used trade combination. Tityus falconensis is treated as a junior synonym; Androcottus ythieri is separate under the 2026 classification.
- Older databases and retailer pages can lag the genus transfer, so both current and legacy combinations remain searchable.
- Published adult total length is approximately 45-72 mm. Store size labels do not justify exact instar assignments.
- Species-specific clinical severity remains an honest gap. Conservative Spice 5 containment is retained without numerical prognosis or treatment instructions.
- The taxon is absent from CITES Appendices effective 5 March 2026; that does not establish source, possession, sale, export, or import legality.