When do slings stop accepting pre-killed feeders?

[CJW]

Hi all,
My A. purpurea moulted just over a week ago to about 1" DLS. Prior to this I was feeding it mealworm chunks, which it seemed to be happy enough to eat. Yesterday though, I tried to do the same thing and it simply dragged the mealworm chunk into it's web tube and then just ignored it. Is it now at the point where I'll need to start feeding it live prey or is it just not interested in eating right now?

I have two other slings that have moulted in the last few days and are around the same as the A. purpurea so i'll probably be having the same issues with them in the coming week.

My local pet shop sells tubs of small crickets (2nd moult apparently), would it be worth picking one of these up or are there any other more suitable feeders?

Thanks in advance

 

[Venom1080]

About 4" IME.

 

[N1ghtFire]

If it is hungry it will eat the prekilled food. My A. Purpurea is about 2" and still accepts prekilled prey. I start feeding my avics live prey when they are about 3".

I prefer to feed B. lats to my Ts. I also tong feed dubia to my larger ones.

 

[Olan]

I always start feeding live prey around 1". I just use small crickets (they are about 1/2 or 3/4"). No reason not to let them hunt at that size in my opinion.

 

[Walker253]

I feed live prey when I have small enough prey for the tarantula to eat it.

 

[Ellenantula]

I've only ever fed live prey -- always had pinheads and small larvae I could offer to even the tiniest slings.
It wasn't until I joined here I even learned they would scavenge.
I feel bad now, sorta, that my tiny slings learned to survive the hard way right off the bat.
They grew up to be mighty and fierce!

 

[keks]

I've only ever fed live prey -- always had pinheads and small larvae I could offer to even the tiniest slings.
It wasn't until I joined here I even learned they would scavenge.
I feel bad now, sorta, that my tiny slings learned to survive the hard way right off the bat.
They grew up to be mighty and fierce!

Usually I don't feed pre killed prey, except Monocentropus balfouri as they were tiny dots. My spiders are in the same hard school like yours ^^.

 

[efmp1987]

My 1 inch pet is hunting live crickets on it's own. But I have to "de-leg" them crickets, so they can only walk around.

 

[Philth]

I've had adult tarantula take pre killed if you leave it near them.

Later, Tom

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I have a constant supply of lat nymphs and baby mealworms so I only feed pre-killed if the T is a scaredy cat and won't touch live prey.

 

[Grace Cannell]

Yeah I have never given my sling pre-killed prey, if you can get food that is small enough and obviously do not walk away when you feed your sling, live food shouldn't be an issue to introduce now.

 

[CJW]

Thanks, everyone If I were to feed small crickets, how would I get them out of a top opening arboreal enclosure if the T decided it didn't want to eat?

 

[Ungoliant]

If I were to feed small crickets, how would I get them out of a top opening arboreal enclosure if the T decided it didn't want to eat?

Doing maintenance in a top-opening Avicularia enclosure (without damaging its webbing) can be challenging, as they often web near the top. If the enclosure is taller than it is wide (which it normally is for arboreals), you may also find it difficult to get down to the substrate to collect uneaten feeders.

In short, good luck with that.

If all you have is a top-opening enclosure, I would try to decorate it in a way that would encourage the Avic not to web at the very top.

 

[CJW]

Doing maintenance in a top-opening Avicularia enclosure (without damaging its webbing) can be challenging, as they often web near the top. If the enclosure is taller than it is wide (which it normally is for arboreals), you may also find it difficult to get down to the substrate to collect uneaten feeders.

In short, good luck with that.

If all you have is a top-opening enclosure, I would try to decorate it in a way that would encourage the Avic not to web at the very top.

I have it in a sort of jar that seems to deter them from webbing at the top. So I'm already okay for that issue. But there's pretty much no chance I'll be able to pick out an uneaten cricket.

 

[viper69]

When you stop giving them to it. To be serious, many Ts that are adults will eat pre-killed too. I have a few that will. You have to remember, they are opportunistic predators/eaters.

 

[viper69]

Thanks, everyone If I were to feed small crickets, how would I get them out of a top opening arboreal enclosure if the T decided it didn't want to eat?

Carefully. There's no trick to it. I used long surgical forceps. Also day time is better than night, as Ts are typically nocturnal.

 

[RemyZee]

I've only ever fed live prey -- always had pinheads and small larvae I could offer to even the tiniest slings.
It wasn't until I joined here I even learned they would scavenge.
I feel bad now, sorta, that my tiny slings learned to survive the hard way right off the bat.
They grew up to be mighty and fierce!

School of hard knocks! I did the same until I learned they would scavenge. They always did fine, but I feed prekilled to me newer ones for safety reasons. It removes the chance of a cricket biting one of my tinies.

 

[GreyPsyche]

Idk, I quit feeding mine prekilled once they're large enough to take down a large cricket. I prefer to let them hunt than to scavenge. The meal is fresher that way, plus they're quicker to take it IMO.

 

[StampFan]

Not sure they every stop. A lot of T's will kill an insect, and then snack on it later. I'm not sure they would recognize whether the pre-kill was one that they killed or not. If they're hungry enough they'll find the food.