Is my lunula too fat?

[wishbonewarren]

Baby heteropoda lunula. Not sure how many molts in, but they're about 3/4ths inch long.

They had an unusually large (for them) cricket for their last meal, and their abdomen looks like its doubled in size. Are they in danger of impaction?! I'm so anxious.

 

[fcat]

There are many reasons not to overfeed, but I will only touch on a few -

it makes handling much more dangerous. I say that because it looks like this babe is on a paper towel or something. There are plenty of stories here where someone reacted to their fast moving spider's attempt to escape and killed the spider instead. Much slower moving species than a harvestman. I'm mostly pointing at the giant water balloon they will be walking around with until they molt or starve a bit

More molting complications

Larger prey items pose a risk to your spider if they are not prekilled. A cricket can perforate an abdomen with a simple kick of the hind leg

I believe I have read one account of a sling rupturing from eating too much, but I'd have to look for it.

Ambush predator specifically (sorry, I'm a tarantula person, and would consider my harvestmen seekers and destroyers lol) - evolved to eat opportunistically and be able to fast for long periods of time due to natural periods of scarcity, usually due to environmental/weather/elements. I can only speak for my native species though (I live in the desert).

How experienced you are at detecting your spiders signs of hunger and their premolt status. Dead feeders bring parasites and bacteria. Live feeders pose other problems like the baby crickets that I grew on accident, who will turn around and eat your spider when it molts.

Too big live prey items can actually scare your spider into hiding when it needs to eat.

Reasons not to worry:
-people here that I respect say they feed their slings as often as they will eat (not large prey items though)

-likely gets most of its moisture from food and not drinking out of a water dish, at least you are preventing dehydration (which may play a greater role in impaction than volume of food alone)

- I think your harvestman looks fine but again, I am a tarantula person

Edit: I meant hunstman not harvestman, but I am picturing the world's fastest daddy long leg derby

 

[wishbonewarren]

I say that because it looks like this babe is on a paper towel or something.

They're not being handled, don't worry! There's a paper towel in their cup that they're hanging out on. They move very fast indeed and I don't want to risk losing her in my house or worse.

How experienced you are at detecting your spiders signs of hunger and their premolt status.

Not very. I've only kept jumpers before. I usually keep an eye on their abdomen size to track hunger. I have no idea how huntsmen behave when prepping to molt; I need to research that.

Dead feeders bring parasites and bacteria. Live feeders pose other problems like the baby crickets that I grew on accident, who will turn around and eat your spider when it molts.

I don't leave any feeders (dead or alive) in enclosures if they aren't interested in them. (So far she's been a ravenous eater, so that hasn't happened yet.)

Thank you for the reply and tips I'm inexperienced with this species. It feels like my first spider all over again... constantly worried about her. (It was still an extra small cricket, but the largest one out of the batch that I picked up. I started second-guessing myself when I saw how full she got.)

 

[fcat]

I am sure more experienced people will chime in but in the interim there should be plenty to glean off this site. For more in depth searches it's usually recommended to go to Google first and filter the results from arachnoboards.com

The premolt signs you basically have covered, in just not familiar with that species in particular. The Olios build a good sized cocoon that you can't miss, same when they prepare to drop an egg sac, they stay in until the slings are ready to eat! I'm mentioning this in case you come across posts about a harvestmen making an "egg sac," it's usually worth a click to see if someone clarified what it actually was.

I just had to catch a sling that ran up and down my entire body a few times. I just had to wait until I could see it again, because it was too small to feel lmao (1/8")

Also I'm dumb Im updating my original post got the spider type wrong I think lol I meant hunstman