Basic questions on feeding, water and humidity

[Merasari]

Hi. I am new to this hobby. I own mexican fireleg sling about 1cm, and red knee 3cm. My questions are:

#1 can u overfeed a tarantula? I feed my fireleg 1 small roach everyday, and 1 cricket a day for red knee. My fireleg looks ok but my red knee looks bloated with ballooning abdoment but it keep on eating.

#2 is it compulsary to provide water dish for them? I read somewhere that they get enough water from their food.

#3 i use coco peat for their substrate. For fireleg, i keep it a bit damp (as being told by the seller) and it seems ok (although it comes from a dry region??) but for my red knee, it will climb up the container every time after i mist the substrat so i guess it prefer dryer condition. Am i doin the right thing????

 

[EulersK]

Firstly, please use scientific names. Common names vary by region, and could lead to terrible advice. I'm guessing you have the B. boehmei ("fireleg") and B. smithi ("redknee"), but you should really verify this. Also, the most common way of measuring a tarantula is the diagonal leg span (dls) - the distance from the front left leg to the back right leg. For my advice, I will be assuming that the measurements you gave are in the diagonal leg span. If this is wrong, please correct me. On to your questions...

1) Even for a sling, that is quite a bit. Think about where these animals come from; given that they are ambush predators, it could literally be weeks or months before the next meal comes along. They have the metabolism to support this. If you have kept other exotic pets in the past, throw out what you know about them. I feed my smallest slings twice per week, and then go down to once per week once they get a little bigger. However, the abdomen should always override your feeding schedule. For your B. smithi, I'd go down to feeding once per week. As for your B. boehmei, go down to twice per week. But, again, read the abdomen. If they are overly plump or starting to get darker, then you may want to stop feeding. The tarantula darkening is a sure sign that it is getting ready to molt. Around this time, they will begin to deny food, and some feeders can actually kill a molting tarantula. Remember, when they molt, they are never more vulnerable. Luckily, slings can finish molting extremely quickly, so you'll likely not even know when it's happening.

2) Yes, they do get a lot of their water from their food. I wouldn't say they get enough water from their food. I just fed almost all of my specimens last night, and surely enough, I've got a room full of drinking spiders this morning. Many specimens will drink heavily right after a meal. Once your slings are large enough to have a water dish, always supply one and keep it topped off. I personally start providing one when they are about 0.5" dls. While they can last a very long time without food, they are prone to dehydration just like all other arthropods (the scientific term is desiccation). For my slings, I'll just a spray bottle to spray the side of the enclosure to allow them to drink the water droplets. Note that this is not used to supply humidity (more on that in a moment). For that, use a typical syringe to dampen the substrate. You can pick a syringe up at any drug store for very cheap.

3) If you stay in the hobby, you will learn to read your tarantulas. They will tell you if it is too wet or too dry. Right now, your B. boehmei is telling you that it's comfortable. You B. smithi is telling you that it's too humid. I despise giving humidity advice on here, because I can promise that your ambient humidity and temperature are drastically different than mine. Quick anatomy lesson. Tarantulas develop a waxy coating on their bodies to help fight desiccation, but the slings have not yet developed this coating. This is why even desert dwelling species wait until the humid parts of the year to breed. Right now, your slings do not have this waxy coating, although your B. boehmei is at the size that it's starting to develop one. Still provide humidity, but cut it down. The last thing you want is a stuffy, damp cage. As I alluded to earlier, do not mist the cage. Not only is it a terrible way to provide humidity as it dries up so quickly, but tarantulas absolutely hate it. Use a syringe. Again, they're cheap.

I can tell that you're legitimately trying to do the best for your spiders, and I commend you for that. Stick around these forums - some users have literally decades worth of experience to pass on.

A user on here by the name of Storm76 has recently been posting "A closer look at..." threads. Even if you do not own the particular species, I highly recommend that you read them, as they have a lot of great info in them.

Also check out these recent threads on hunting behavior:
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/hunting-behaviour.280578/

And here's another recent thread on how often to feed. It deals with larger specimens, but there is also talk about slings in here as well:
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/chaco-and-gbb-wont-eat.280565/

 

[TomM]

I agree with EulersK. It does seem that you may be feeding them a little too much. EulersK has already given a great response so no need for me to add to that.

For all my small slings, I just use a spray bottle (that has only been used for fresh water) and mist the one corner of their enclosure/vial. Every now and then you'll see them drinking the water droplets. Once they are a little bigger I'll use a cap from a soda bottle or gatorade bottle (thoroughly washed with just hot water). Never use a sponge in their water dish, it just creates more surfaces for bacteria to grow. Just make sure the dish is shallow enough for them to climb out, and if the dish is too big, add some stones for them to climb on so they don't drown.

You're asking great beginner questions so it's obvious that you are trying to do it right. Keep researching, asking questions, and gaining experience with your tarantulas and you'll be just fine.

 

[viper69]

Hi. I am new to this hobby. I own mexican fireleg sling about 1cm, and red knee 3cm. My questions are:

#1 can u overfeed a tarantula? I feed my fireleg 1 small roach everyday, and 1 cricket a day for red knee. My fireleg looks ok but my red knee looks bloated with ballooning abdoment but it keep on eating.

#2 is it compulsary to provide water dish for them? I read somewhere that they get enough water from their food.

#3 i use coco peat for their substrate. For fireleg, i keep it a bit damp (as being told by the seller) and it seems ok (although it comes from a dry region??) but for my red knee, it will climb up the container every time after i mist the substrat so i guess it prefer dryer condition. Am i doin the right thing????

1. No, eventually it stop eating. It won't eat itself to death.
2. Yes
3. Keep both DRY, NOT damp. Seller doesn't know what s/he is talking about.

 

[Poec54]

For all my small slings, I just use a spray bottle (that has only been used for fresh water) and mist the one corner of their enclosure/vial. Every now and then you'll see them drinking the water droplets.

A better method than keeping a corner damp is to lay a little long fiber sphagnum on the substrate, and spray that periodically before it dries out. Some species don't like moist substrate, and with the lower temps of winter, substrate moisture content should be watched carefully for all species. Low 60's and moist substrate can kill some tarantulas.