Hard time figuring if cricket can be dangerous or not

[Violins77]

I'm a new owner here, got two slings last week, and amongst it is a B. Albopylosum of 1". It eats extremely well most of the time, to the point where I fed her almost every day (and before you tell me I shouldn't, Tom Moran amongst other says you can't overfeed a sling, and I decided to give them as much as they want, but I'm always supervising in real time until they eat).

The problem is that, sometimes, the cricket will wander off and end up in the T burrow, and I can't see if it catches it properly. And sure enough, just 10 min ago, the small cricket ended up in there, and since I wasn't sure she was hungry, I gently pulled her out of her burrow with a brush and sure enough, the cricket also got out.

Basically, I'm afraid the cricket might hurt her if she is in pre-molt. I heard they can be deadly for molting spiders, and since I can't see it properly, I have no idea of what could happen in that hole. Will she kill him if she suspect he might be a threat to her? Why does she accept this uninvited guess in her burrow?

 

[basin79]

I'm a new owner here, got two slings last week, and amongst it is a B. Albopylosum of 1". It eats extremely well most of the time, to the point where I fed her almost every day (and before you tell me I shouldn't, Tom Moran amongst other says you can't overfeed a sling, and I decided to give them as much as they want, but I'm always supervising in real time until they eat).

The problem is that, sometimes, the cricket will wander off and end up in the T burrow, and I can't see if it catches it properly. And sure enough, just 10 min ago, the small cricket ended up in there, and since I wasn't sure she was hungry, I gently pulled her out of her burrow with a brush and sure enough, the cricket also got out.

Basically, I'm afraid the cricket might hurt her if she is in pre-molt. I heard they can be deadly for molting spiders, and since I can't see it properly, I have no idea of what could happen in that hole. Will she kill him if she suspect he might be a threat to her? Why does she accept this uninvited guess in her burrow?

You can feed pre killed food to a sling. That way you can absolutely take any danger away.

Or feed live after a moult and then a little later feed pre killed.

@cold blood had a phenomenal pic of a sling eating part of a previous killed meal worm.

 

[BoyFromLA]

It’s true. You can’t over feed slings. They will stop eating at some point near pre molting. The more often you feed, the sooner and the longer it will be. To sum it all, it’s better to feed less often, than feed all at once and wait longer pre molting time. That’s just my opinion.

 

[cold blood]

It eats extremely well most of the time, to the point where I fed her almost every day (and before you tell me I shouldn't, Tom Moran amongst other says you can't overfeed a sling, and I decided to give them as much as they want, but I'm always supervising in real time until they eat).

True...but the reason you want to spread those feeding out is simply because no one wants to feed for a week and then watch their little grape just sit there for several weeks, or worse, several months on end.....it can get old watching a t in pre-molt await its body to catch up to its food intake and finally molt. There's really no hurry to fatten them that quickly.

In fact, if you feed pre-kill, you can feed larger items and still maintain super fast growth rates with just a few feedings spread way out. But if you like feeding every day....feed the smallest prey you can, so they fatten slower. But you are right, excessive feeding ultimately won't hurt anything with a sling.

Basically, I'm afraid the cricket might hurt her if she is in pre-molt.

The problem is if the t molts...and being in pre-molt, you know that is imminent. Its not just crickets, a freshly molted t can be killed and eaten by most of the common feeders.

Pre-killed, especially at the back end of the cycle, is greatly advantageous, and IMO is just a smart way to feed slings.

nom nom (Nhandu chromatus)

• cold blood
• Aug 17, 2017
• 7
• brazilian red and white tarantula chromatus feeding nhandu nhandu chromatus sling white striped birdeater

chromatus 2i

I can guarantee a piece of a mealworm will never kill and eat a molting sling.

 

[Violins77]

Thanks a lot for all your answers! I understand better how this works now. So basically, there is nothing wrong to overfeed it in terms of danger for it's health, it just takes all the pleasure of doing so at once instead of spreading it. Makes sense!

@cold blood That's a wonderful advice. I thought at one point (at about 1 inch) I had to switch to live prey or they wouldn't touch it. Obviously, it takes the fun of watching it catch the prey, but if I see any signs of pre-molt, that's the way to go. I'm planning to do this hobby the safest way possible for the animals and myself.

 

[Toddydog]

@cold blood had a phenomenal pic of a sling eating part of a previous killed meal worm.

Alright then, guess this isn't cute enough

 

[Rinfish]

True...but the reason you want to spread those feeding out is simply because no one wants to feed for a week and then watch their little grape just sit there for several weeks, or worse, several months on end.....it can get old watching a t in pre-molt await its body to catch up to its food intake

This exactly! Referring to them as a grape is...such a perfect analogy hahaha. I chose to quickly feed my slings to get them out of the danger zone, but its so frustrating watching my NEAR bursting GBB sit there at the edge of its cavern as if I've never fed it a day in its life. Then, 3 weeks later its molted and doing its "sad spaghetti" pose as it drapes itself across the corkbark haha.

As for crickets...yes, they can be dangerous. I had a similar situation recently; my little pumpkin patch sling burrowed down and molted in its cavern while a tiny cricket was alive in its relatively large (in comparison) enclosure. I decided since the sling sealed off its cave, i'd throw a few bits of cricket food in there to distract it until my sling was ready to eat again. Crickets are most dangerous when they are hungry, so if you can't get yours out (i didn't want to risk caving in the burrow) then keep it plump.

You can also be smarter and do pre-killed until they are older. I hated doing that though, I have too much of a soft spot for insects to murder them in cold blood.

 

[Rinfish]

Alright then, guess this isn't cute enough View attachment 269574

Are those legs...up in the air? That is pretty adorable.

 

[Toddydog]

Are those legs...up in the air? That is pretty adorable.

Yess and the best part is you could even see it's little legs moving ever sip it took.

 

[Wolfspidurguy]

You can feed pre killed food to a sling. That way you can absolutely take any danger away.

Or feed live after a moult and then a little later feed pre killed.

@cold blood had a phenomenal pic of a sling eating part of a previous killed meal worm.

what i also found is if you crush a crickets head right before you put it in it takes them a while to die so they end up still createing movements which will sometimes alert the T to its presence

 

[Wolfspidurguy]

True...but the reason you want to spread those feeding out is simply because no one wants to feed for a week and then watch their little grape just sit there for several weeks, or worse, several months on end.....it can get old watching a t in pre-molt await its body to catch up to its food intake and finally molt. There's really no hurry to fatten them that quickly.

In fact, if you feed pre-kill, you can feed larger items and still maintain super fast growth rates with just a few feedings spread way out. But if you like feeding every day....feed the smallest prey you can, so they fatten slower. But you are right, excessive feeding ultimately won't hurt anything with a sling.


The problem is if the t molts...and being in pre-molt, you know that is imminent. Its not just crickets, a freshly molted t can be killed and eaten by most of the common feeders.

Pre-killed, especially at the back end of the cycle, is greatly advantageous, and IMO is just a smart way to feed slings.

nom nom (Nhandu chromatus)

• cold blood
• Aug 17, 2017
• 7
• brazilian red and white tarantula chromatus feeding nhandu nhandu chromatus sling white striped birdeater

chromatus 2i

I can guarantee a piece of a mealworm will never kill and eat a molting sling.

i heard that feeding a sling too much can complicate molts and cause molting issues

 

[cold blood]

i heard that feeding a sling too much can complicate molts and cause molting issues

myth