# How do yall feed slings baby dubia roaches



## Travis21v4 (Dec 5, 2015)

Tried to feed slings baby dubias for the first time and pretty much had to feed each 1 a dead dubia baby because little punks burrow. How do yall do it?


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## cold blood (Dec 5, 2015)

crush their heads first....same drill for superworms and mealworms.


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## 14pokies (Dec 5, 2015)

Squish the dubias head with tweezers.


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## Travis21v4 (Dec 5, 2015)

Thank you loves! Trying to give my babies some different types of food so they dont get bored lol

---------- Post added 12-05-2015 at 01:22 AM ----------

What about feeding these to baby versis. If they chill at the top should i just
Place the dubia in the web?





cold blood said:


> crush their heads first....same drill for superworms and mealworms.


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## pyro fiend (Dec 5, 2015)

Travis21v4 said:


> Thank you loves! Trying to give my babies some different types of food so they dont get bored lol
> 
> ---------- Post added 12-05-2015 at 01:22 AM ----------
> 
> ...


Even my heavy webber psalmos who get food on their web i crush heads.. Iv crushed males heads and droped them down the main shaft only to find them on the other side of the cage later strictly from leg twitchings (head cut in 2 and no burrowing) Better safe then sorry and i dont want it to burrow

Reactions: Like 1


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## ratluvr76 (Dec 5, 2015)

personally I crush the head of every single prey item I offer whether it's a full size Dubia to one of my MM's or an itty bitty mealworm to one of my 1/4 inch B. smithis. 

This takes care of a couple of  problems I am fearful of or annoyed by:
1.) burrowing. I HATE it when the dubia burrow's because then, if my spider doesn't take it, it can;
2.) surface in the middle of my spiders molt and eat my poor helpless spider
       (this goes for meal worms AND roaches)

The only prey item I offer without crushing it's head first is waxworms.


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## SpiderDad61 (Dec 5, 2015)

Always crush dubia heads.  It's just easier because they'll dig and the T will never get to it. Superworms get their heads cut off w scissors, then cut in 1/2 for slings. They can then slurp away on em. Only time I don't pretty kill a dubia or superworm is 
when I'm feeding either stirmi. They annihilate them before they get a chance to dig n disappear. Crickets just get thrown in 
so the T can hunt and kill it, just like in nature.  Unless the T is in heavy pre molt, or very recently molted


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## soundsmith (Dec 5, 2015)

I once had a superworm get away from me and burrow down before I could retrieve it. Made it's way down under the tarantula's burrow and ended up against the enclosure wall, where I watched it transform into a beetle over the next week or two. Neat experience but that's when I learned to crush the head of anything other than crickets.


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## EulersK (Dec 5, 2015)

Just because it hasn't been mentioned - dubias play dead for quite a long time, and personally, I like to watch the takedown. Even for my adults, I crush the head so they keep kicking!

EDIT: Unless I'm feeding a mature male dubia. Those guys are runners and don't hold still very long.


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## SpiderDad61 (Dec 5, 2015)

EulersK said:


> Just because it hasn't been mentioned - dubias play dead for quite a long time, and personally, I like to watch the takedown. Even for my adults, I crush the head so they keep kicking!
> 
> EDIT: Unless I'm feeding a mature male dubia. Those guys are runners and don't hold still very long.


haha. Exactly. I grip em up with tweezers and drop em in, and they lay still and play dead. 
True tho, the adds are speedy, especially the males. I love watching my stirmi crush them and u can hear it crackling.


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## Nosiris (Dec 6, 2015)

Over the past year I've become more and more in favour of Lobster roaches as a feeder over Dubias, one of the major reasons being they rarely if ever burrow or play dead - if they survive the first couple of seconds in the T's enclosure they'll just happily wander about, and the babies are particularly keen on climbing up stuff - ideal. 

I should add that the major downside to Lobsters is that they are faster than Dubias and able to climb smooth surfaces, so escape attempts are slightly more of an issue.

Reactions: Like 1


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## EulersK (Dec 6, 2015)

Nosiris said:


> I should add that the major downside to Lobsters is that they are faster than Dubias and able to climb smooth surfaces, so escape attempts are slightly more of an issue.


This is a huge reason why I went away from lobsters. That, and they "look" more like roaches - I still despise roaches, quite honestly. Makes my skin crawl every time I have to catch one.


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## Chainsaw Reptiles (Dec 6, 2015)

I personally prefer Cricket's for Avicularia Sp. Sling's


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## EulersK (Dec 6, 2015)

Chainsaw Reptiles said:


> I personally prefer Cricket's for Avicularia Sp. Sling's


I despise crickets on the whole. They're convenient when you've only got a few tarantulas, but when you're in bulk, it's just not practical. From the (just under) 40 T's I've owned, not a single one refused to eat a dubia in the long run. Yes, there were a few that didn't want them at first, but an animal won't starve itself. The longest stalemate I had was with a juvie B. albopilosum over the course of two months. She eventually gave in and took down a dubia, and I haven't had an issue since. They all eventually eat one, even if I have to prekill it.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Blinx (Jan 1, 2016)

I prefer crickets also, but the roaches are supposed to be nutritious. This Chilean rose sling took down a cricket a couple of days after molting. I read two days was all they really needed. Well, whatever,
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
 it's eating now. Chilean rose and tropical banded cricket.


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## Chris11 (Jan 1, 2016)

soundsmith said:


> I once had a superworm get away from me and burrow down before I could retrieve it. Made it's way down under the tarantula's burrow and ended up against the enclosure wall, where I watched it transform into a beetle over the next week or two. Neat experience but that's when I learned to crush the head of anything other than crickets.


Did the spider ever get the beetle?


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## Pociemon (Jan 2, 2016)

I try first to feed it directly to the T before i throw it in, if they dont take it i just throw them in, the T´s can dig them up, no problem. I only have tree living T´s and they thrive on dubia as their main diet.


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## Succuwitch (Jul 31, 2020)

Chris11 said:


> Did the spider ever get the beetle?


I was raising a curly hair sling for my bf she was doing so well... then when he started taking care of it we had a few of the meal worm beetles. He tried to feed her that despite my warning. He was like “it can handle it.” The next day her legs were ripped off and the poor sling was dead. No it couldn’t fight that tank, I was upset lol because she had molted 3 times since I had taken care of it and the curly hair was doing so well. Rip


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