First Week With Spiderlings

Robotic Cook

Arachnopeon
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Feb 3, 2016
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Hello. I am brand new to the hobby having only gotten my first ever tarantulas last week. They are all tiny slings. Euathlus sp red (Esmeralda), Grammostola pulchripes (Magrat) and Brachypelma albopilosum. (Ridcully)

It has been interesting watching the differences in their behaviors over the week. Esme tends to wander around before bolting for the burrow when I try to Look at her. Ridcully has locked him self in a burrow at the bottom of the pill vile, but I can see him since he has scraped away all the soil away from the plastic. Magrat is extremely sluggish with a abdomen that looks like a dark swollen grape. She tends to sulk in a small depression in the soil. I wondering if she is in premolt...

Tried feeding them last Friday. Gave each a third of a cut up meal worm. Esme ate hers before wearing the hollowed husk on top of her head like a hat inside the burrow. I did not see Ridcully eat his but the food vanished from sight. I don't see it in his burrow so I dont know what he did with it. And as far as I know Magrat plain ignored it. Going to try feeding Esme and Ridcully again tonight. Not sure if I should try feeding Magrat again or just leave her alone until I can get some fruit flies and micro meal-worms for them to nom.
 

EulersK

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Kudos to you for the scientific names :)

Your G. pulchripes is likely in premolt, yes. You'll see slings that look like they're about to pop. You should skip feeding for a week, your spider is likely due for a molt. Be sure to keep it slightly humid and you'll have a bigger, hungry spider in no time. You seem to have done your research. People in this hobby will respect you for that, it's an unfortunately uncommon trait.

Welcome to the hobby. You'll want to buy some shelves.
 

Robotic Cook

Arachnopeon
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Feb 3, 2016
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Kudos to you for the scientific names :)

Your G. pulchripes is likely in premolt, yes. You'll see slings that look like they're about to pop. You should skip feeding for a week, your spider is likely due for a molt. Be sure to keep it slightly humid and you'll have a bigger, hungry spider in no time. You seem to have done your research. People in this hobby will respect you for that, it's an unfortunately uncommon trait.

Welcome to the hobby. You'll want to buy some shelves.
Thank you for the greeting. Checked out your you-tube videos. Will have to look into finding some rubber dipped tongs once trio get larger.

Its a good thing I did two months of research or else I would be panicking about having not seen Ridcully above ground for since I got him.

The food from last night looks untouched so Ill try feeding them again in two days. Hopefully by then I will have some smaller prey items for them.
 

EulersK

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Watch the video on feeding - slings will scavenge and eat dead prey. I'd continue doing what you've been doing, personally.
 

Trenor

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The food from last night looks untouched so Ill try feeding them again in two days. Hopefully by then I will have some smaller prey items for them.
I second keeping on with the pre-killed cut up food. I've had good luck with that and slings. Remember they will settle in at different rates and are less likely to eat till they do so. If it goes one for a extended period of time then you can try other food types and see if that sparks some interest. Keep them a good water supply and give them some time.
 

Sana

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Oct 26, 2014
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Welcome and wow with the great species to start with. All beauties IMO. Heck I've got two of the three. You sound like you've got everything under control. Good spotting the premolt and awesome leaving the little burrower in peace. Happy keeping!
 

Robotic Cook

Arachnopeon
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Feb 3, 2016
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Watch the video on feeding - slings will scavenge and eat dead prey. I'd continue doing what you've been doing, personally.
Yea Ive seen Esme scavenge. I'm just worried that they are loosing out on a lot of nutrients. The worm's guts tend to spill out when I use a knife to cut them in three.

Bit confused on the moisture requirements for the E. SP.Red sling though. Some people say half dry half wet others say bone dry. Haven't added any water to her tube since mixing up the substrate. I did add some damp beaked moss but am still unsure if I should add any more water.

Welcome and wow with the great species to start with. All beauties IMO. Heck I've got two of the three. You sound like you've got everything under control. Good spotting the premolt and awesome leaving the little burrower in peace. Happy keeping!
Thank you for the welcome. When I first started researching looked around for docile species. I did not want to end up with a hyper aggressive species that would go bananas on me as soon as I looked at it.

The B. Albopilosum caught my eye first because of its docile reputation and exuberance of hair, hair that my sling has yet to develop. Then I heard about G. pulchripes, them yellow knees are really attractive. But I fell in love with videos of E. Sp Red and how calm they where even to the point of crawling into the hands of owners that are usually hands off keepers. Luckily the online breeder had all three in stock as slings and I bought the Sp. Red and the Pulchripes. Hilariously, when I opened the box I found they had giving me a Albopilosum sling as a freebie. Had to scramble to find a third pill vile.
 

EulersK

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No sling should be kept on bone dry substrate - they just can't handle that environment. The adults can handle it just fine, though. Humidity is very hard to advise, unfortunately. It all depends on your climate. What works for me out here in the desert may not work for you up in Canada :p Learn to read your tarantulas. If they're incessantly wandering, then it's too damp. If they're hovering over the water dish, it's not humid enough. For slings, I just keep mildly damp substrate at all times. You don't want it getting stuffy in there, so cross ventilation helps.
 

Trenor

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Yea Ive seen Esme scavenge. I'm just worried that they are loosing out on a lot of nutrients. The worm's guts tend to spill out when I use a knife to cut them in three.
In the wild they grab pieces all the time as slings. If some leaks out this time, at the rate we feed, they will catch up on the next feeding. If you have room you can always use a cap to put the cut food on though I doubt it'll make too much of a difference. Don't worry on it too much, they will get plenty of food.
 

Sana

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It is truly difficult to starve a tarantula. Dehydrate on the other hand... With slings I keep a shallow bottle cap of water in the enclosure and moisten about a third of the substrate once a week or so. I think that the easiest way to describe the level of moisture that I look for is that the bottom of the substrate is a darker brown and gradually lightens to dry at the top. Don't know if that made any sense but it was worth a try.
 

Robotic Cook

Arachnopeon
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Feb 3, 2016
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No sling should be kept on bone dry substrate - they just can't handle that environment. The adults can handle it just fine, though. Humidity is very hard to advise, unfortunately. It all depends on your climate. What works for me out here in the desert may not work for you up in Canada :p Learn to read your tarantulas. If they're incessantly wandering, then it's too damp. If they're hovering over the water dish, it's not humid enough. For slings, I just keep mildly damp substrate at all times. You don't want it getting stuffy in there, so cross ventilation helps.
Time to find the spray bottle then. Huh Magrat just came out of her corner that's odd for her.

In the wild they grab pieces all the time as slings. If some leaks out this time, at the rate we feed, they will catch up on the next feeding. If you have room you can always use a cap to put the cut food on though I doubt it'll make too much of a difference. Don't worry on it too much, they will get plenty of food.
Understood, but now I'm getting suspicious of the meal worms I got from pet-land last week. Nearly a quarter of the hundred worms I bought where black, shriveled and dead. The remaining ones are starting to crawl to the surface of the oat meal and are lying on their sides and barley moving. Not sure if the worms are dying or molting. Its ironic that I'm more worried about the feeders than the spiders themselves.
 

cold blood

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Time to find the spray bottle then. Huh Magrat just came out of her corner that's odd for her.



Understood, but now I'm getting suspicious of the meal worms I got from pet-land last week. Nearly a quarter of the hundred worms I bought where black, shriveled and dead. The remaining ones are starting to crawl to the surface of the oat meal and are lying on their sides and barley moving. Not sure if the worms are dying or molting. Its ironic that I'm more worried about the feeders than the spiders themselves.
Do not buy a spray bottle! Get a syringe, it makes life much easier as 1. it allows you to water through the ventilation 2. it allows for precision watering, allowing you to leave single drops on webbing or on the wall or fill an entire dish 3. its great for prey that has frozen for an extended period of time....it either gets them moving, or if the t is ready to pounce, a well placed shot generally gets the prey hammered instantly.

For the mealworms, just check them before you buy them....sounds like those have been around for a while...lol.
 

Trenor

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Time to find the spray bottle then. Huh Magrat just came out of her corner that's odd for her.
I wouldn't spray, I use a medicine dropper to lightly moisten the substrate for slings. If you go in spraying they will freak out on you. :D

Understood, but now I'm getting suspicious of the meal worms I got from pet-land last week. Nearly a quarter of the hundred worms I bought where black, shriveled and dead. The remaining ones are starting to crawl to the surface of the oat meal and are lying on their sides and barley moving. Not sure if the worms are dying or molting. Its ironic that I'm more worried about the feeders than the spiders themselves.
Yeah, when I used to buy the meal worms for other pets I'd always check them before I bought them. Sometime they have been in there a while and are not good. You can keep them in the fridge when your not feeding with them and they last a lot longer. Just don't let them freeze. Take out one or two and let them warm up before feeding with them.
 

Trenor

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Do not buy a spray bottle! Get a syringe, it makes life much easier as 1. it allows you to water through the ventilation 2. it allows for precision watering, allowing you to leave single drops on webbing or on the wall or fill an entire dish 3. its great for prey that has frozen for an extended period of time....it either gets them moving, or if the t is ready to pounce, a well placed shot generally gets the prey hammered instantly.

For the mealworms, just check them before you buy them....sounds like those have been around for a while...lol.
Drat, you beat me to it again. :)
 

Sana

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I remember spray bottles. Those are the things that the idiot newbie had and took the pet store advice literally to mist the spider. It was darn hard to get the avic back off the ceiling.
 

Vanessa

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Mar 12, 2016
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I have all the same tarantulas - my guess is that you got them from Tarantula Canada?
The two Euathlus sp Red are extremely tiny. I have to cut up mealworms for them as well - one has eaten, but the other hasn't.
You will LOVE your G. pulchripes when they reach juveniles because their markings are stunning. And the B. albopilosum will always be at the top of my favourites - forgiving, lovely to look at, and eat everything in sight! They are never a disappointment.
You're doing great and have obviously done your homework. Keep asking questions and everything will be fine.
:)
 

Trenor

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I remember spray bottles. Those are the things that the idiot newbie had and took the pet store advice literally to mist the spider. It was darn hard to get the avic back off the ceiling.
Hey, don't feel bad. I saw a dude working a vendor booth at a reptile show (with Ts) use a spray bottle on a T. Then chase it around on the floor of the booth when it bailed. He was a "breeder" he said. :)
 

BobBarley

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I remember spray bottles. Those are the things that the idiot newbie had and took the pet store advice literally to mist the spider. It was darn hard to get the avic back off the ceiling.
"Yeah, the spider, loves it, look, it's reaching up and trying to hug you! Oh look, now it looks like it wants a high-five, it's slapping the air, don't leave it hanging!"
 

EulersK

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Y'all ready for Eulers to get jumped? I have a spray bottle in my arsenal of tools! I actually use it fairly often. Not for moisten in substrate, no, that's a terrible idea. I use it to give the itty bitty slings water to drink from the side of the enclosure. I've found refilling tiny water dishes is much, much more work.
 
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