Centruroides vittatus Care

Distribution: North America

Housing: Plastic storage containers, aquariums, etc.

The young are best housed individually in deli containers with a small piece of vertical bark and several small holes for ventilation.

The adults can be housed together, if fed regularly, in plastic storage boxes with holes drilled in them or in aquariums. A water dish should be provided for the adults to drink from. Also there should be an ample number of hides including a few vertical ones. A good rule of thumb is one more hide than the number of scorpions in the enclosure.

Substrate: Peat moss or coco fiber

Place 2-3 in. or 5-7.5 cm of peat moss or coco fiber on the bottom of the enclosure and keep one-third of it moist.

Temperature: 70-85°F or 21-29.5°C

Maintain the temperature at 70-85°F or 21-29.5°C. The higher the temperature (within this range) the faster the scorpions will grow, breed, and give birth. A brief cooling period for the adults at 55°F or 13°C during the fall will encourage breeding.

Humidity: 60-80%

This species seems to tolerate a large variance in humidity, but it should be somewhere in this range. The young should be kept with humidity on the higher end of the scale 65-80%.

Diet: Crickets or roaches

Feed the scorpions crickets or roaches that are smaller than the scorpion itself. Feed the adults once every week and the juveniles twice weekly. Remove prey if it has not been eaten within 24 hours and also remove any remains of eaten prey, such as legs, wings, etc. If the remains are left for an extended period of time an infestation of mites may occur.

Reproduction: Sexual

Sexing: Males have longer, more slender metasomas and females have shorter metasomas with a larger diameter.

Venom level: 2 of 5

The venom toxicity of this scorpion is mild to moderate. When placed on a scale from 1-5, where 1 is mildly toxic venom and 5 is extremely toxic venom, it is a 2.