Spiderling Food, Need Help

[NewToIt]

Well, what should I feed my spiderling (.5" Chromatopelma)? I'm going to buy crickets for a little and feed them (Pieces, I'm thinking about only the legs) to him/her unless I get a better idea. I'd like to avoid fruit flies and pinheads if possible, because I imagine catching a tiny bouncing cricket sounds like a pain in the you-know-what and I don't think they've got them at PetSmart.

Another thing that interested me...
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753950
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752614
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753949

Could I use any of these? I'd rather chop up a dead than a live cricket.

Aaaand finally... I need to name my T! I'd like some suggestions for what to name my GBB.

 

[k2power]

I just got a .25" Brazilian white knee (or so I am told that is what it is) and have been prekilling slightly larger than pinheads and placing them in the small cage with it. It seems to eat them many times though can't usually finish it. That is OK and seems to work for me. I would try pinheads for awhile til it outgrows them. I have heard of using the large thighs of medium sized crickets also but haven't tried that yet. good luck.

 

[ruca49]

I wouldn't suggest using the freeze dried crickets/mealworms. I wouldn't think that they would be interested. They eat by sucking up the insides of their prey. Now imagine sucking up freeze dried milk thur a straw.

 

[Quazgar]

Just prekill until the sling is big enough to handle the cricket itself

 

[High_Rolling_T]

I wouldn't suggest using the freeze dried crickets/mealworms. I wouldn't think that they would be interested. They eat by sucking up the insides of their prey. Now imagine sucking up freeze dried milk thur a straw.

Also, are they using any preservatives with the freeze dried food? If so, what preservatives and how will that affect your tarantula.

If you don't want to deal with killing crickets, then a cricket drumstick is a good alternative. Just grab the cricket's jumping leg and pull it right off, makes a yummy snack for a sling and then you still have the rest of the cricket to feed to any other Ts. However, in my experience, I have never found the need to pre-kill the prey. My slings have always been able to handle the small crickets I've fed them(thats not even pin heads, just the small crickets from my lps, and I select the smaller ones for the smaller slings). This even includes .25" dwarf species slings.

 

[Quazgar]

That, of course, all depends on how small the small crickets from your lps are. Often, the smallest I bring home are still twice the size of my tiny slings, which is much too big for me to risk. Same size, fine, but not double.

 

[High_Rolling_T]

That, of course, all depends on how small the small crickets from your lps are. Often, the smallest I bring home are still twice the size of my tiny slings, which is much too big for me to risk. Same size, fine, but not double.

Very true and good point. I noticed my lps has smaller smalls than the local Petsmart. I'm willing to feed up to 1/4 the size bigger than the sling, but after that is when I go for the cricket drumstick. Its easy, clean, sufficient, and allows meals for 2(3 if you use both legs) tarantulas while not leaving any to waste.

 

[killy]

My rosie sling, which is so far the smallest sling I've had, thrived on flightless fruit flies - why do you want to avoid them?

 

[Amoeba]

I get crickets gutload them until they star pooping all over everything then put them in the freezer and chop them up into pieces hind legs for my smaller Ts and thirds for my bigger sling. Works with mealworms and superworms too I would suggest just buying live and gutloading them with what you feed them.

 

[captmarga]

The smalls I can get range so in size, I get a dozen of those, and then 6 doz large crix (I'm feeding 111 arachnids, and some are always in premolt...). I ripped legs off big crix for the smallest slings, and watched one of them drag the drumstick down into the burrow the other day. Nom, nom, nom. I haven't gotten to chopping up mealworms or anything for them, but they either ignore it or grab it. At least with the leg, I don't have to worry about it munching on a tiny sling if they don't eat it.

Marga

 

[Mina]

I have done both pre killed and just cricket parts and both have worked well. I have used flightless fruit flies but found them harder to manage. I seem to remember reading somewhere that someone did an experiment and tested feeding only fruit flies versus only crickets, and the slings fed only fruit flies ended up with a large percentage of them having deformed legs.
Does anyone else remember anything like that? I'm going to do some searching and see if I can find it.

 

[hassman789]

I remember a thread a while back where someone fed their sling a ball of fish food and water. I'm not sure if this is reccomended or how it turned out for that person, just thought it was interesting!

 

[T Enthusiast]

My LP slings are still ~.5" maybe smaller. I just buy small crickets at petsmart, then throw them in the vial. The T's feel it out and then strike. If they don't take it at first, wait about ten minutes, they will.

 

[BQC123]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that someone did an experiment and tested feeding only fruit flies versus only crickets, and the slings fed only fruit flies ended up with a large percentage of them having deformed legs.
Does anyone else remember anything like that? I'm going to do some searching and see if I can find it.

I did some reading on that. Others have fed them without having the same results, but I was never willintg to take the chance.
Fruitflies, even D. hydei, seem aweful small for a 1/2" sling. I have always fed cricket drumsticks or cut up crickets if they were too large. Chopping them up is not very practical for a single animal though. My 1/2" slings readily take whole small crickets and baby B. dubia. Prekill if you need to.

 

[HawtDawg]

first of all, those packed bugs look pretty disgusting. especially the first one.

Live or pre killed always works best. I have a Nhandu Chromatus sling about the same size as your chromatopelma.
It loves it when the Dubia legs twitch a little. And with live prey, you can always be sure that it is free of chemicals.

 

[1hughjazzspider]

If you're able to get pinheads I highly recommend them for slings. As far as not wanting to have to deal with the hassle of catching them I've found an easy solution. Once I get them home I take a small plastic vial(not sure of the dram size) with holes pokes in the lid for breathing of course and shake them into the vial. I also put a tiny piece of fruit or potato inside to feed them. Once I'm ready to feed my T's I take a clear straw(I got mine from a 99 cent spray bottle that walmart sells) and turn the vial sideways and as I put the straw inside I just wait for a pinhead to crawl inside the straw. Then while making sure the cricket doesn't crawl out of the straw I just dump it inside my T's enclosure with no problems at all. Works very well for me.

 

[deathkorps]

thats a really good idea, im gonna have to use that when i get my B. lateralis nymphs in next week.

 

[1hughjazzspider]

thats a really good idea, im gonna have to use that when i get my B. lateralis nymphs in next week.

Hope it works for you deathkorps. I've had zero problems with it since I've started trying it. Also makes it easier to catch the pinheads if they happen to get loose v

 

[Tu Nyce]

I am also looking for what type of prey to feed my versicolor and GBB slings.

I bought a 36 pack of small crickets but since my slings were in premolt and wouldn't eat, all of the crickets ended up eating themselves.

Is there something that would be an alternative for crickets? I saw mealworms at Petco, can I try these? I'm not talking about the frozen ones that the OP linked.

 

[BQC123]

Mealworms work. Very easy to cut up as well. You can feed several slings with one mealworm.

Depending on the number of slings, a small roach colony may be worth doing.