Mastigoproctus floridanus
Sold under its hobby name. This guide covers the group or trade name this fella is sold as, so the ranges fit the whole group. Start in the middle and watch how your animal settles in.
Florida Giant Vinegaroon: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: Florida's own vinegaroon: smaller than the desert giants and from humid sand scrub, not desert. Give it deep diggable sand, flat cork cover, a full dish and a dry top, and keep your face clear of its aimed acid spray.
Group: Spiders & Other InvertsDifficulty: Spice 2: BeginnerSetup: Sand burrower, deep substrate + surface corkHandling: Not recommended, catch cup for transfers
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 | 72-82°F, room warmth, no heat mat |
|---|---|
| Humidity | 65-80%: damp bottom third, dry top inch |
| Setup Type | Sand burrower, deep substrate + surface cork |
| Substrate | 6+ in packable sandy soil, not coco alone |
| Feeding | Soft-bodied insects every 4-7 days, fed to condition |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 2: Beginner |
| Handling | Not recommended, catch cup for transfers |
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
- Nymphs: Baby Buddy filled deep for their size, with a pebble-packed dish
- Adults (about 1.5-2 in body, whip excluded): deep Burrow Buddy or custom build, depth and floor over height
- Any size: fit the enclosure to your animal, not to desert giant vinegaroon numbers
Warnings First
- Sprays aimed acid up to about 2 ft. Keep your face out of the enclosure. In eyes, nose or mouth: flush with clean water, get medical advice.
- No venom and no true bite, but a pedipalp pinch can break skin and get infected.
- The whip tail is fragile. Never grab or lift it by the tail. Move it with a catch cup.
- House solo once the young leave the mother's back. Large animals eat small ones.
- Pull uneaten prey within a day so nothing chews a fresh molt. Months sealed underground are normal: do not dig it up.
- Never release it anywhere. Florida law bans releasing any arthropod without a state permit. Check your own state's rules too.
Simple Care
- Give 6+ in of packable sandy soil it can dig. Pure coco fiber collapses.
- Lay a flat piece of cork or bark on the surface.
- Keep the bottom third damp and the top inch dry. Water one area, never over the animal.
- Keep a shallow, pebble-packed water dish full so nymphs cannot drown.
- Keep it at normal room warmth. No heat mat, no hot spot.
- Offer soft-bodied insects every 4-7 days to start and pull uneaten prey within a day.
- House one per enclosure once the young leave the mother.
- Work over a bin, keep your face out, and move it with a catch cup.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Wild habitat is Florida scrub: deep, well-drained, nutrient-poor sand. Copy that with sandy, packable, drained substrate, not a peaty tropical mix.
- It hides both in burrows and under logs and debris, so give both: deep diggable substrate and a flat surface refuge.
- Depth is its temperature and moisture control. Deep soil swings far less than the surface, and a deeper, more packable column settles it better.
- Run moisture as a vertical gradient and check by hand: bottom third holds shape when squeezed with no free water, middle cool and damp, top inch dry.
- Nocturnal and light-shy. Keep it out of bright light and expect to see it after dark.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- Feed soft-bodied insects: roaches, crickets, termites. Wild Florida adults commonly eat Florida woods roaches and also take arachnids, amphibians and millipedes.
- Feed to body condition, not the calendar. Start around every 4-7 days and judge the abdomen.
- Pull uneaten prey within a day so nothing chews on a soft, freshly molted animal.
- A sealed-in animal stops eating going into its buried period and starts again when it comes up. That is normal.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: Only in Florida, across the peninsula to the southern Keys, in subtropical sand scrub and scrubby flatwoods. On the surface in the rainy season, underground in the dry months.
- Habitat translation: Deep, well-drained Florida sand with a flat surface refuge, moisture held low in the column instead of in the air, permanent drinking water, room warmth and darkness. Not a desert setup, not a wet tropical one.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Florida's own species, split from the giant vinegaroon. Most hobby info describes Texas and Arizona desert animals, so don't copy desert care.
- Florida adults run smaller than giant vinegaroons elsewhere, with the sexes closer in size. The largest measured females reach about 2.4 in body length.
- The spray can also mildly burn skin, sting the eyes and cause choking nausea for several minutes. Keep it off skin and out of eyes.
- Expect a slow-growing, long-lived animal. Sealed-in spells run from about 7 months to nearly 2 yrs, and a lost whip tail regrows to about half length after a molt.