S'ling mortality rates redux.

[Tim Benzedrine]

A debate arose over the mortality rate of spiderlings. This has been covered before, but the info dates back to 2003, so I think a refresh is warranted.

If you have purchased s'lings, how has your success rate been?. We'll limit this to being able to raise them to the juvenile stage, since the period between the s'ling and juvenile is reputed to be the most dicey part. Also, we'll try to keep things equal. Some tarantula species have a bigger reputation of failure rates than others, like some Avics, I believe.
I guess we should avoid deaths due to shipping issues, since that is sort of a different situation, but that's up to you if you want to include such incidents. This isn't a formal poll.

So, overall, how many spiders have you raised to make it past the "fragile" zone?

I'm at a four out of 6 survival rate, but one I received and eventually lost was an adult, and I lost another to a bad moult at the juvie stage, neither of which can be attributed to a s'ling failure to thrive incident.

Also, info on the matter of sac survivor percentages from those who breed tarantulas would be interesting.

 

[KezyGLA]

I think it depends a lot on the species and how inbred they are. I have kept a lot of South African species where have lost a lot of slings for what seems like no reason.

Harpactira guttata for instance. Had terrible luck with these. I believe its as most of specimens in the hobby are from same group imported to Europe eons ago before the bans.

Need new blood.

 

[cold blood]

I'd be willing to bet that my survival rate is over 99%. A sling death is extremely rare...I have raised several sacs almost in their entirety to juvies without a single loss.


The last 3 losses I had, 2 (about a year ago) came from tiny avics and in the week following shipping (sp. kolumbian and purpurea)...which IMO is more a shipping thing than a keeping thing.

The other was an incei sling that ended up behind something and it dried out before I noticed

I raised 4 sacs of avics a year ago...I had some losses at the 1i stage, but once they molted to 2i, every one survived, even the ones mangled in molts that needed to be saved.

 

[EulersK]

I'm with @cold blood on this one. It was considered catastrophic for me to have lost four slings last winter (I simply let them get too dry, entirely my fault). I don't have an exact number, but even 95% seems like a conservative estimate.

 

[Vanessa]

I just did the numbers for me and I came up with an 8% death rate and that was only three individuals - one Caribena versicolor, one Avicularia metallica, and one Cyriocosmus leetzi. I have had two juveniles (whom I had raised from tiny spiderlings) die on me with no apparent cause - one Eupalaestrus campestratus and one Cyriocosmus ritae.
I am not counting the two who died in transit because they were lost by Canada Post for two weeks in the spring - one Theraphosinae sp. Panama and one Ami sp. Panama, or the one spiderling that died the morning after bringing him home from the three day expo - Avicularia sp. Peru Purple.

 

[Tia B]

I would agree with @cold blood and @EulersK. Very low mortality rate.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

My mortality rate so far is 10.7% (3 deaths out of 28 slings).

 

[Moakmeister]

@SingaporeB take notes.

 

[Nightshady]

My experience compared to others here is laughable, but I don’t want to be left out, haha!

I have two slings that have so far both survived under my care.

Baby steps...

 

[JoshDM020]

6 slings, 10 months, no losses. Not the highest numbers, but its just my anecdotal evidence for the moment.

 

[Swoop]

I have 10, no deaths yet. My first slings and I've had them 2-3 months.

Probably have 10 deaths if my roommate keeps turning the heater off and we get another 40 degree (F) night. Time to find a space heater.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I want @SingaporeB in this thread otherwise I'm <-- sad 'South Park Butter' face & 'Avics' SADS

ih ih hope he will chime in

 

[Moakmeister]

I want @SingaporeB in this thread otherwise I'm <-- sad 'South Park Butter' face & 'Avics' SADS

ih ih hope he will chime in

We can all revel in his denial once again

 

[Tia B]

@Swoop Yeah, you really should get a space heater. I have a little ceramic oscillating fan heater only about a foot tall and it works wonders. I just turn it on whenever it's cold and make sure my door is shut.

 

[Nonnack]

I raised 10 slings successfully. I lost only 1 P. regalis. But there was something wrong with it since I got it. It was tiny 1 instar sling, very slim. Was building some strange hides, that he cannot even hide inside;P , never eaten, like it was trying to grab pray then throw it away. After few weeks it died.

 

[SingaporeB]

I want @SingaporeB in this thread otherwise I'm <-- sad 'South Park Butter' face & 'Avics' SADS

ih ih hope he will chime in

This video made me cry. MariLynn wanted a p. metallica for so long and spent her saved up cash on a sling only to have it quickly......

Slings are such heart breakers.
.

 

[Olan]

I can think of 31 slings I've had long enough to grow up. Current slings not counted. Ts I've bought as juvies not counted. I lost one Sphaerobothria hoffmanni. It never ate well, didn't grow much. One day just died. So my record is 96.8%

 

[Garth Vader]

I have 9 tarantulas and all but 2 I purchased as slings. They are all doing fine, as far as I can tell.

 

[MrTwister]

So far out of four slings have had zero deaths.

 

[PidderPeets]

5 out of 6 of my slings have become what I would consider juveniles (2" or more and/or showing adult coloration). The last one didn't die (fingers crossed this doesn't jinx it), it's just still too tiny to not be considered a sling.

Granted these are all NW species, and mostly hardier ones, but I've got at least one that's considered more sensitive to improper husbandry.