1/2 inch G. pulchra sling buried for weeks now.

[Aviculture1]

I purchased a G. pulchra sling back in February and it stayed out for the first couple of weeks and then it began to burrow. I saw it a few times for about the first week and now I have not seen it in about a month. I have left pre killed roaches for it and they have remained untouched. Should I be concerned or is this normal behavior for such a young sling? The only comparison I have are a 1/2" B. hamorii and my GBB sling, who are both great eaters.

 

[DanBsTs]

I purchased a G. pulchra sling back in February and it stayed out for the first couple of weeks and then it began to burrow. I saw it a few times for about the first week and now I have not seen it in about a month. I have left pre killed roaches for it and they have remained untouched. Should I be concerned or is this normal behavior for such a young sling? The only comparison I have are a 1/2" B. hamorii and my GBB sling, who are both great eaters.

That sounds like normal pre-molt behavior to me. Most likely it had its fill to eat and is getting ready to (or has already) molted.

 

[Little Grey Spider]

Completely normal! My G. pulchripes always burrows to molt. This most recent time, he has been in hiding since November 2nd. He's still in there. Resist the urge to check on it- it'll be out in it's own time. I wish the little one luck!

 

[viper69]

Could be normal, could be dead based on info provided.

 

[cold blood]

Pics of housing....sounds like a nice well appointed enclosure...exactly what I avoid with slings for this very reason...excessive hiding, which makes a sling impossible to monitor, and significantly decreases their food aggression and feeding response...which leads directly to significantly slower growth.

I house slings simply in condiment cups, giving them a little room to burrow, but not excessively...the smaller enclosure also allows them to adapt the entire enclosure as their burrow essentially, which makes for a sling that sits out in the open more, eats more readily and grows faster as well as being easily monitored.

IMG_0472

• cold blood
• Feb 7, 2017

Keep your small terrestrial slings like this.

 

[Nightshady]

I wouldn’t worry too much. My G. pulchra sling has barricaded itself in its hide for a couple weeks now. Fortunately, the substrate on one side up against the acrylic has fallen a bit so I can peek in and see that it’s doing just fine... sitting in its enclosed hide doing nothing haha.

 

[Aviculture1]

Could be normal, could be dead based on info provided.

A case of Schrodinger's sling?

Pics of housing....sounds like a nice well appointed enclosure...exactly what I avoid with slings for this very reason...excessive hiding, which makes a sling impossible to monitor, and significantly decreases their food aggression and feeding response...which leads directly to significantly slower growth.

I house slings simply n condiment cups, giving them a little room to burrow, but not excessively...the smaller enclosure also allows them to adapt the entire enclosure as their burrow essentially, which makes for a sling that sits out in the open more, eats more readily and grows faster as well as being easily monitored.

IMG_0472

• cold blood
• Feb 7, 2017

Keep your small terrestrial slings like this.

I definitely have over housed my sling. I have it in a baseball sized display cube. I asked about this on a Facebook forum and was told that size was fine. You live and you learn. Would you dig it up and rehouse it?

 

[Lokee85]

I definitely have over housed my sling. I have it in a baseball sized display cube. I asked about this on a Facebook forum and was told that size was fine. You live and you learn. Would you dig it up and rehouse it?

I have had several 0.5" slings housed in baseball display enclosures and they've done just fine. Yeah, some of the smaller ones burrowed quite a bit, but after one or two molts, they started adapting the entire enclosure as their burrow and were out in the open all the time, even letting their dug-out burrows collapse. However, these were faster growing species (B. albo, B. vagans, G. pulchripes), and from what I understand, G. pulchra is a pretty slow grower (I have no personal experience with the species).

It would be up to you on whether to rehouse or not, especially since G. pulchra grows so slowly. It may be beneficial to it's growth to be in a smaller enclosure for a while.

If you choose to rehouse, I'd recommend waiting until you know for sure if it's in premolt or molted (like waiting til you see it poking it's toes out of it's burrow or are able to observe it through a "window" in it's burrow) so you don't accidentally disturb a molt-in-progress or something.

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

I have had several 0.5" slings housed in baseball display enclosures and they've done just fine. Yeah, some of the smaller ones burrowed quite a bit, but after one or two molts, they started adapting the entire enclosure as their burrow and were out in the open all the time, even letting their dug-out burrows collapse. However, these were faster growing species (B. albo, B. vagans, G. pulchripes), and from what I understand, G. pulchra is a pretty slow grower (I have no personal experience with the species).

It would be up to you on whether to rehouse or not, especially since G. pulchra grows so slowly. It may be beneficial to it's growth to be in a smaller enclosure for a while.

If you choose to rehouse, I'd recommend waiting until you know for sure if it's in premolt or molted (like waiting til you see it poking it's toes out of it's burrow or are able to observe it through a "window" in it's burrow) so you don't accidentally disturb a molt-in-progress or something.

Interesting seeing someone put G. pulchripes on the list for fast growers, I haven't gotten the chance to keep one yet but I've heard they can be extremely slow a lot of the time.

 

[Little Grey Spider]

Interesting seeing someone put G. pulchripes on the list for fast growers, I haven't gotten the chance to keep one yet but I've heard they can be extremely slow a lot of the time.

Hey, I agree with you for once! My G. pulchripes grows slow as molasses. I believe he came into the world October 2015 and he's still only about (possibly less than) 4 inches. I do believe pulchras go even slower though.

 

[Goopyguy56]

Mine has burried itselt for over 90 days and is just fine. I know because I can still see him/her

 

[Aviculture1]

Mine has burried itselt for over 90 days and is just fine. I know because I can still see him/her

Well, being the worrier that I am when I fed this morning I took a paintbrush and gently moved the dirt curtain that it erected in the opening of the den it dug. I couldn't see the G. pulchra but it has dug a large den beneath it's hide. I left a pre killed roach and said a prayer. When I got home this evening the roach was gone and the door was slammed shut so now I know it is alive and well and will stop worrying.

 

[Lokee85]

Interesting seeing someone put G. pulchripes on the list for fast growers, I haven't gotten the chance to keep one yet but I've heard they can be extremely slow a lot of the time.

I've actually had mixed results with my slings, two grew from 0.5" to 2"+ in a year, whereas one (which, incidentally, DID burrow excessively for around 5 months in it's current enclosure) just recently passed the 1" mark. The two with the faster growth rates were in baseball displays and the one that is/was growing slower (just doubled in size with the most recent molt) is in a 16oz deli. Their enclosures probably play a part in how they've grown, because the deli has more floor space than the baseball enclosures.

 

[Aviculture1]

That is a very interesting observation. I have often heard of slings from the same egg sack kept in the same conditions growing at different rates.

 

[Lokee85]

That is a very interesting observation. I have often heard of slings from the same egg sack kept in the same conditions growing at different rates.

Absolutely. I have 5 B. vagans slings that were all 0.25" when I got them, and they were all kept exactly the same. One of them showed IMMENSE growth compared to the others and in one year has grown to around 2.5." The second fastest grower just hit around 1.75," the third is around 1," and the two smallest are only around 0.5"-0.75."

A lot could also have to do with their individual personalities as well, because shy or skittish slings may have less of a feeding response than the bolder slings. The two smallest I mentioned above are the most timid of the five, and even though they are in golf ball size enclosures like the rest were (the others have been rehoused, of course) they were extremely reclusive until recently. I expect to rehouse them (finally!) after their upcoming molts.

 

[TreebeardGoddess]

@Aviculture1 Did you get yours from FearNotTarantulas? I got a G. pulchra on March 31 and he's been buried in his tunnel/burrow the entire time I've had him. I was curious if anyone else got one that was in premolt too?

 

[Aviculture1]

@Aviculture1 Did you get yours from FearNotTarantulas? I got a G. pulchra on March 31 and he's been buried in his tunnel/burrow the entire time I've had him. I was curious if anyone else got one that was in premolt too?

Yes, mine is from Fear Not. I have removed the dirt curtain from the burrow twice now and it has been put back during the course of the night so I know it's alive but it has not eaten the entire time I have had it.

 

[NineDigits]

Yes, mine is from Fear Not. I have removed the dirt curtain from the burrow twice now and it has been put back during the course of the night so I know it's alive but it has not eaten the entire time I have had it.

Sounds just like my sling. It hung out on it’s cork bark for a couple days then the very next day it had burrowed. I haven’t seen it since and it hasn’t eaten once. I’ve only had my sling for 5 days tho. I can’t complain if my sling is in pre molt I’m excited to see the new clothes.

 

[aphono]

@cold blood speaks the gospel.

I actually got to observe this first hand with two G. pulchripes, acquired at the same size(1/4") but not related. One came in and stayed in condiment cup exactly as pictured by cold blood. The other came with an AMAC box(narrow n' tall) with deep substrate.

At one year of age, guess which one just molted yet again and is over twice the size of the other...

 

[cold blood]

@cold blood speaks the gospel.

I actually got to observe this first hand with two G. pulchripes, acquired at the same size(1/4") but not related. One came in and stayed in condiment cup exactly as pictured by cold blood. The other came with an AMAC box(narrow n' tall) with deep substrate.

At one year of age, guess which one just molted yet again and is over twice the size of the other...

For me, it plays out that way every single time.