new to the hobby

[Seamus Gillespie]

Hi Guys, i am probably going to be slammed for this but i kinda went nuts, never kept Tarantulas before but keep lizards, scorpions, dart frogs and tree frogs.. so i was at an expo recently and now have 14 slings between red rumps, fire legs, red legs, red knees and chilean rose.. i have them nicely set up in small litre containers with mosses, shelters and sling water dishes on peat and cocofibre substrate. have them all 3 weeks now and was wondering on the best foods for them, they eat the fruit flys i have for my frogs but seem to run from hatchling crickets.. is there any other foods you'd reccommend.. and i know going for bigger tarantulas would have been easier for a complete novice but i want to watch them grow on by my hand.. hopefully i will eventually breed them but thats a long way off yet.. all advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Ungoliant]

they eat the fruit flys i have for my frogs but seem to run from hatchling crickets.. is there any other foods you'd reccommend..

Don't bother with fruit flies. They are a hassle, and they don't have much meat on them.

Slings will scavenge on freshly killed prey. If your tarantulas are scared of live crickets, try giving them pre-killed crickets (or pieces of crickets, such as cricket drumsticks). Tiny feeder roaches (or pieces of a larger roach) will also work.

I feed my slings baby mealworms. If you only have larger mealworms, you can cut them up and leave a piece for each sling. When feeding mealworms, always crush the head to prevent the mealworm from biting your tarantula or burrowing.

You may not see the sling eat a pre-killed item right away, but leave it where the sling will find it, and it will feed. (If the prey item has been moved, the sling likely fed on it and dragged the rest away.)

Remove any uneaten prey the next day.

If you haven't already seen these, Tom Moran posted a comprehensive guide on raising slings:

 

[Venom1080]

Post pics of their cages please.

I feed near exclusively prekilled mealworms.

Don't feed fruit flies. They don't have the nutritients for spiders from what I hear.just prekill small crickets or mealworms

But yeah, very poor choice.

 

[Seamus Gillespie]

thanks Ungoliant will watch them now, so fruit flies are a no then, pity as i breed them in bulk for my frogs, will get bulk mealworms then and try to breed them on for a solid supply of food.. my baby dubia roaches are too big for them at the minute so they will be grown on for future breeding stock, would they eat bean weevils??. and thanks Venom1080 will try prekilling them and see if that works.. and yep know it was a poor choice but i can resist everything except temptation.. will post pictures of the enclosures tomorrow

 

[Tenevanica]

Would you mind posting a list of everything you got? I just want to make sure there's nothing that could overwhelm you or that has special care requirements you should be aware of. (Post with scientific names too, unless you want a bunch of people asking you what the hell a "red rump" is, lol.)

 

[Seamus Gillespie]

Would you mind posting a list of everything you got? I just want to make sure there's nothing that could overwhelm you or that has special care requirements you should be aware of. (Post with scientific names too, unless you want a bunch of people asking you what the hell a "red rump" is, lol.)

ok Tenevanica so what i have in slings is
3x Brachypelma vagans {mexican red rump}
3x Brachypelma smithi {mexican red knee}
3x Brachypelma emilia {mexican red leg}
3x Brachypelma boehmei {mexican fire leg}
2x Grammostola rosea
am out at the moment so will post pictures of their enclosures when i get home

 

[Tenevanica]

ok Tenevanica so what i have in slings is
3x Brachypelma vagans {mexican red rump}
3x Brachypelma smithi {mexican red knee}
3x Brachypelma emilia {mexican red leg}
3x Brachypelma boehmei {mexican fire leg}
2x Grammostola rosea
am out at the moment so will post pictures of their enclosures when i get home

I thought B. albiceps was the "mexican red rump." Oh well. Just a tip, you can forget about common names. No experienced hobbyist on these boards uses them, and they're not standardized. There is literally no use for common names on these boards. Also, Brachypelma smithi isn't valid anymore. It's now called Brachypelma hamorii, but some people are writing it Brachypelma hamorii (smithi) which is fine as far as I'm concerned.

Fortunately those are all beginner friendly species. You really can't go wrong with Brachypelma, it's my favorite genus!

 

[Ellenantula]

ok Tenevanica so what i have in slings is
3x Brachypelma vagans {mexican red rump}
3x Brachypelma smithi {mexican red knee}
3x Brachypelma emilia {mexican red leg}
3x Brachypelma boehmei {mexican fire leg}
2x Grammostola rosea
am out at the moment so will post pictures of their enclosures when i get home

Nice haul.

 

[darkness975]

ok Tenevanica so what i have in slings is
3x Brachypelma vagans {mexican red rump}
3x Brachypelma smithi {mexican red knee}
3x Brachypelma emilia {mexican red leg}
3x Brachypelma boehmei {mexican fire leg}
2x Grammostola rosea
am out at the moment so will post pictures of their enclosures when i get home

That is a good list of species to start with as a beginner @Seamus Gillespie

Also, something to keep in mind. When you find one or more of them on their back, they are 99% not dead. Tarantulas molt on their backs. If you see one on it's back leave it alone so as not to disturb it.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I like your username.

Seamus Gillespie reminds me the name of an old sailor of once that traveled the borders of the know world, or the name of a Erin go Bragh man that, at sunshine, while having a good smoke of tobacco, try to explain to an annoyed yankee tourist pissed off by the lack of fast food, shopping mall and Pay per View TV, the amazingness of Clochán an Aifir... something obviously said tourist can't understand.

High Five man

 

[mconnachan]

Hi Guys, i am probably going to be slammed for this but i kinda went nuts, never kept Tarantulas before but keep lizards, scorpions, dart frogs and tree frogs.. so i was at an expo recently and now have 14 slings between red rumps, fire legs, red legs, red knees and chilean rose.. i have them nicely set up in small litre containers with mosses, shelters and sling water dishes on peat and cocofibre substrate. have them all 3 weeks now and was wondering on the best foods for them, they eat the fruit flys i have for my frogs but seem to run from hatchling crickets.. is there any other foods you'd reccommend.. and i know going for bigger tarantulas would have been easier for a complete novice but i want to watch them grow on by my hand.. hopefully i will eventually breed them but thats a long way off yet.. all advice would be greatly appreciated

Offer pre-killed prey, crickets, roaches, red runners, they take them down no problem, they must be quite small, usually when they refuse food it's pre-molt, also another theory, give them time - they will take live prey when they realise they're actually eating machines, I wouldn't worry, just another day in the life of the tarantula.

 

[MetalMan2004]

My 1/4" B hamoriis love cricket drumsticks!

 

[Seamus Gillespie]

as requested a few pics first is my red rump sling and its home, next is the fire leg slings home

 

[Tenevanica]

View attachment 248989 as requested a few pics first is my red rump sling and its home, next is the fire leg slings home

View attachment 248986
View attachment 248988

It is waaaaaay too moist in there, dude. Slings do prefer a bit of moisture in their substrate, but it shouldn't be soaked like that. Damp at the very most. There should be no water accumulating on the sides. Honestly, so long as they have access to water dishes like I see they do they'd probably be OK on dry substrate with frequent feedings. Honestly, these are species that like dry conditions as adults. Increase the ventilation of those enclosures and let them dry out a bit.

 

[miss moxie]

Uh yes that is WAY to wet and it also looks like you're misting. Misting is worthless. People do it to add humidity but it evaporates too quickly to really affect the humidity levels. Just overflow the water dish a little bit, that's all those species of slings need for humidity.

 

[Seamus Gillespie]

had just misted it a little, substrate is very dry a mm under what you see

 

[boina]

had just misted it a little, substrate is very dry a mm under what you see

Do not mist and definitely not to that amount, they aren't the frogs you are used to .

That much misting creates a very high humidity at least for a short time and tarantulas from an arid environment, as are all yours (except maybe the vagans) don't deal well with that. It's better to just dribble a bit of water on part of their (very nice!) enclosures.

 

[mconnachan]

had just misted it a little, substrate is very dry a mm under what you see

Yeah with all your specie, apart from the vagans all you'll need to do is dribble a few drops at one side of the enclosure, provide a water dish to your enclosures, and that is all that's required, as for the vagans I can't give advice on the species - having never owned any. Dry sub with a weekly dribble and you're good to go....

 

[Seamus Gillespie]

ok will keep the moisture down, have an opportunity to get some slings of Brazilian white knee tarantula(a.genic), Chaco golden knee tarantula(G.pulchripes), True curly hair tarantula(b.albopilosum), and Trinidad olive tarantula (neoholothele incei) what do you think of them for a beginner?

 

[Seamus Gillespie]

oh ya a few of the slings have molted, and now eating again, seeming to love bean weevils and fruitflies, and the odd little bit of chopped up meal worm, one or two of the bigger slings are tackling large meal worms with a vengance