Small Slings Feeding

[Autumist]

Just got my 2cm slings, can i feed them prey with the same size as them? Or should I prekill it then chop into 2? If I prekilled then they ignored it, how long should I wait before

 

[SuzukiSwift]

What species?

If you’re going to give live prey for a sling that size then something smaller than them would be safer, even though they can take down things their own size.

 

[Autumist]

What species?

If you’re going to give live prey for a sling that size then something smaller than them would be safer, even though they can take down things their own size.

B. Hamorii

 

[moricollins]

I used to always prekill food for my slings. You can cut up mealworms, or prekill crickets.

Why risk a live feeder deciding to feed on your sling ?

If they don't eat the prekilled food then remove it the next day.

 

[Ungoliant]

Just got my 2cm slings, can i feed them prey with the same size as them? Or should I prekill it then chop into 2? If I prekilled then they ignored it, how long should I wait before

Try giving them each half a mealworm.

They may not grab it immediately, but they will likely scavenge. Remove any uneaten leftovers the next day.

 

[Autumist]

Try giving them each half a mealworm.

They may not grab it immediately, but they will likely scavenge. Remove any uneaten leftovers the next day.

One is already eating a FF. However, the other two slings are not eating, they ignore their meals for about 3 hours now, they are staying in their burrows. The seller told me that the last time they have eaten is 13 days ago, so now Im worrying about them

 

[Zevil]

I always believe in getting them live prey as soon as they are big enough for it. And of course removing the pretty item if they aren't interested.

 

[Jayvicularia]

Good advice everyone. I have 5 P. Cambrigei slings currently and they have the habit of burying themself in a ball of substrate and web. When feeding them i will carefully use tweezers to seperate an opening in the clump of web and place the feeder at the opening. Is this the preffered method or do you choose to drop the feeder in the enclosure to minimize disturbance to the animal?

 

[Ungoliant]

Good advice everyone. I have 5 P. Cambrigei slings currently and they have the habit of burying themself in a ball of substrate and web. When feeding them i will carefully use tweezers to seperate an opening in the clump of web and place the feeder at the opening. Is this the preffered method or do you choose to drop the feeder in the enclosure to minimize disturbance to the animal?

I generally try not to mess with their webbing or dirt curtains. I just drop the food near the cam and watch it hunt.

 

[Goopyguy56]

I used to crush a crickets head for my hamori sling till it grew up a little. I give even smaller slings cricket pieces.

If you had a p cancerides sling you could offer it small children already but b Hamori are sissies when they are small

 

[Andrea82]

One is already eating a FF. However, the other two slings are not eating, they ignore their meals for about 3 hours now, they are staying in their burrows. The seller told me that the last time they have eaten is 13 days ago, so now Im worrying about them

I wouldn't feed them fruitflies, they're not nutrient efficient enough for spiders.

 

[Jayvicularia]

I have been feeding fruit flies to my slings and they have molted once. You just raised a concern Andrea82. I have mealworm cricket and dubia colonies but was feeding fruitflies out of convenience because thats what i was feeding my geckos. I have to do more reaearch on this topic. I dont want my slings malnourished.

 

[Asgiliath]

I used to crush a crickets head for my hamori sling till it grew up a little. I give even smaller slings cricket pieces.

If you had a p cancerides sling you could offer it small children already but b Hamori are sissies when they are small

Small children

 

[Andrea82]

I have been feeding fruit flies to my slings and they have molted once. You just raised a concern Andrea82. I have mealworm cricket and dubia colonies but was feeding fruitflies out of convenience because thats what i was feeding my geckos. I have to do more reaearch on this topic. I dont want my slings malnourished.

Some slings are so small that the only way to feed them live prey is with fruitflies. But I prefer to give pieces of pre-killed food over feeding live. It's not like they'll die because of getting only fruitflies, but if you want them to grow at a decent pace, bigger/more nutrient food works better.

Just cut a mealworm-segment up, place it in the sling-tub and remove uneaten stuff the next day. Saves you a lot of hassle too. I had to deal with fruitflies for my mantids...even the flightless ones are a menace.
Just a heads up, with bigger chunks of food it may seem the sling hasn't eaten much, but that's just because they don't need a lot at this stage.

 

[Jayvicularia]

All my P. Cambrigei slings took the mealworm halves. Thats great because i have a small mealworm colony ive had for a year for no reason other than mutiplying them to a larger colony. Thanks. During my feeding just now I found that i have a mess of red jumper spiderlings. I dumped in a few springtails and placed a mealworm half by the egg sac.

 

[cold blood]

It's not like they'll die because of getting only fruitflies, b

Sure it can. Diets too high in fruit flies are known to cause curled legs and molting problems.

All my P. Cambrigei slings took the mealworm halv

No need to pre kill or do anything special for cams....probably some of the best eating slings on the planet...if it moves, cams will eat it.

 

[Gogyeng]

Refers to a previous thread
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/fruit-fly-myth.269716/

 

[Andrea82]

Refers to a previous thread
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/fruit-fly-myth.269716/

Thanks for posting, I've bookmarked it.
Maybe an idea to add the thread to the beginnersinfo sticky? @cold blood @Ungoliant

 

[Ungoliant]

Maybe an idea to add the thread to the beginnersinfo sticky? @cold blood @Ungoliant

The OP of that thread implies that it is a myth, but it seems to be commonly accepted that fruit flies alone are not adequate feeders. This is later discussed in more detail in the thread, but is there a potential for the thread title to mislead?

 

[Andrea82]

The OP of that thread implies that it is a myth, but it seems to be commonly accepted that fruit flies alone are not adequate feeders. This is later discussed in more detail in the thread, but is there a potential for the thread title to mislead?

Hadn't thought of that... Yes, there is a big chance that people are going to take it the wrong way.
Maybe make a post or a new thread with @cold blood info in it?