Spiderling food

[domesday]

hi guys,
i recently bought a n. chromatus sling around 1-2cm in length. im having problems regarding on what to feed it since pinhead crickets are not readily available here in the philippines. the seller told me that i should give feed it with a half mealworm every 3 days. is this ok? and how would i know if the sling is in good condition and eating? thanx guys. by the way, i attached a pic of the sling.

 

[cheetah13mo]

you can also give it adult cricket pieces. I've heard of people pulling the legs off of crickets and give the legs to the sling. What was recommended should work ok too.

 

[ShadowBlade]

Pre-killed bigger crix, or bigger crix torn in half work as well.

 

[Lilija]

Yeah, I divide up larger crickets, for the babies. Head for one, legs for others, body for one more sling. It's a little grizzly, but it works out well.

 

[Johnny_27]

Same thing, just cut up big crix or use parts of meal worms. Works for me.

 

[demicheru]

one thing to keep in mind about mealworms is that they are primarily sources of fat, and not of protein. this makes them better suited as treats, instead of a mainstay diet, especially for a growing sling.

I have been feeding my avic avic slings either prekilled crickets or cricket pieces, with occasional pinheads.

 

[Mina]

Slightly crush the head of a larger cricket. My second T was a tiny B. vagans sling and when Johnny (creepy exotics) handed her to me, I almost had a fit!!! I remember asking him how I was going to feed such a tiny little thing and he said no problem. Went to a cricket dealer at the next table and said, can I have a cricket, the guy said sure, so he whipped out his tweezers picked out a cricket that was a little more than twice the size of the sling, crushed its head and put it in the vial. That tiny little T latched onto that cricket and ate the whole thing. It took her two days to do it. I was amazed. Crushing really does work.
By the way, you have an adorable little baby there.

 

[Alice]

i use pinheads for my slings, they are way better than mealworms concerning their nutritional value. plus, if you provide them with water crystals and food (corn- and fish flakes) they last for a long time, and grow uo to size when you'll have to chop them up for the slings to eat

 

[Hurley]

Anyone have any feedback on if slings will eat Blatta lateralis nymphs? I've got them in all sizes down to pin-head cricket sizes, so that's not a problem. Just wondering if the roachies are to the little sling's tastes or not.



Good reading, thanks for this thread.

 

[recluse]

Anyone have any feedback on if slings will eat Blatta lateralis nymphs? I've got them in all sizes down to pin-head cricket sizes, so that's not a problem. Just wondering if the roachies are to the little sling's tastes or not.



Good reading, thanks for this thread.

I feed all of my slings and other T's for that matter N. cinerea. I probably have over 220 slings of various species and they will all eat live N. cinerea nymphs. Yes it is a pain in the butt picking out all those small nymphs to suit the size of the sling, but I beleive in feeding live prey items to all of my T's. I have however in the passed like with my A. purpurea whose is by far one of my most skittish spiders, maimed but not completely killed the nymphs, so yeah I think B. lateralis would work fine.

P.S, nice looking aussies, I have three myself, I just found out my black tri female will be having 7 papered pups in the next two weeks.

 

[Hurley]

Thanks for the info!

(And congrats on the litter. I've got a litter planned for 2007 myself.)

 

[ZOKU]

With all of my slings, I've always attempted to feed the "scrap" of a cricket leg, the head or the body of the cricket... and if it wasn't moving, my slings wanted absolutely nothing to do it. I've always had to take more of a drive to get pinheads since they aren't readily available at PetCo or PetSmart... but the slings were much more interested in eating the pinheads that were alive versus the leg I pulled off an adult cricket and dropped in their vial.

 

[Mina]

Anyone have any feedback on if slings will eat Blatta lateralis nymphs? I've got them in all sizes down to pin-head cricket sizes, so that's not a problem. Just wondering if the roachies are to the little sling's tastes or not.



Good reading, thanks for this thread.

Yes, when I don't have small enough crickets or xtra small phoenix worms, I feed small B. latteralis from my colony. They like them. We haven't had any problems. The slings seem to enjoy them.

 

[Bothrops]

I used to feed my spiderlings with mealworms pieces until they reach a size to eat pinhead crickets.

 

[BurrowDweller]

I have had luck feeding sliced up crickets and roaches. Had to slice up B. latteralis before they were producing enough young to feed my slings. Definately does work, but would rather feed live prey as they seem to take it better. As for slings eating B. latteralis nymphs, never had a problem. Every sling I have, as well as adult Ts and scorps, eat them just fine.

 

[Socrates]

When I had wee little ones I offered butchered and hacked up pieces of crickets and mealworms, and always ended up looking like this
--> once I saw how the spiderlings' abdomen had grown overnight. Heck, they resembled ticks (full of blood) rather than itty-bitty spiders for the longest time.

Also, in the summer months I got my hands on maggots, which make terrific spiderling food.

---
Wendy
---

 

[domesday]

thanks guys. great info...

 

[ogershok]

Sling food

Here's a link to a thread I started earlier today on a different forum:
http://atshq.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5312

 

[jharr]

I had good luck with vestigial-winged (flightless) fruit flies. They are easy to breed, although after a few generations, they get their wings working. You can generally find starter cultures at your local herp store or ebay.

Check out this link.

http://www.hylid.clara.co.uk/mel.htm

J--

 

[Aurelia]

Is it possible to immitate live prey by means of moving dead prey with tweezers? I used to have to do that with my baby arboreal toad.