# How long do you leave feeders with slings before removing?



## Sharno (Mar 10, 2017)

An oldie but goodie question....

When feeding your slings that are less than one inch, how long do you leave a feeder with them before removing the feeder from the deli cup?  I tend to feed 50+ slings then come back to the start when I get to the finish and start putting away the ones that have captured the prey, then repeat in a line again and again until I have the final holdouts.

Unfortunately I think some tarantulas are just moody and won't eat right away.  If they don't look particularly fat, I hesitate about removing food overnight.  

What is your process?  For those that refuse food, I put a small sticker on the cage with the date they refused food.  Then I can keep track.  Once I see a molt, I remove or cross out the sticker and wait a few days before feeding next time.

Interested to hear processes of others.  Do you ever leave live food overnight with a sling?


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## petkokc (Mar 10, 2017)

I know which tarantulas eat good and which need some time. When I'm feeding, I first feed those that take their time, give them B. lateralis and leave them be. Then I proceed feeding the rest and once I'm done I go back to those, if they still didn't eat, I would remove the roach. So it is usually and hour or so.

I don't keep any data for feeding, I believe that tarantula will take the food when it really needs to.


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## chanda (Mar 10, 2017)

I leave live food in with my spiders all the time - including my slings - and I've never had any problem with it. I don't usually remove uneaten feeders until they've been ignored for several days. (The only exception is those rare occasions when I've just dropped the crickets in and suddenly realize that the spider is preparing to molt. Those get fished out right away.) If I am dropping in multiple feeders (like in communal cages, for example) or if I have a spider that I know is a shy eater who prefers to wait and eat when no-one is watching, I'll just toss a couple of Total Bites food/water cubes for the crickets to munch on until the spider gets around to eating them.


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## SausageinaNet (Mar 10, 2017)

Depends how long it takes until I notice. Never had any problems so far. Just take a look a few hours after you put them in and if they are still alive just remove them.


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## Ungoliant (Mar 10, 2017)

It might be different if I had 50 slings, but with just a couple, I wait to see that the prey is eaten. 99% of the time, they take it within minutes if not instantly. For sanitary reasons, if it's still there a day later, I remove it.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## Rittdk01 (Mar 10, 2017)

Slings that small I toss in tiny meal worms and see If they jump on it.  If not, I pull it out and crush the head.  I then check the next day and pull out uneaten worms.


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## The Grym Reaper (Mar 10, 2017)

For small slings (up to an inch) I usually partially crush the heads of any prey I leave in with them so I just remove any leftovers/uneaten the next morning, I use the Tarantulas app for android to keep track of who's eating and who's not.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Paiige (Mar 10, 2017)

Most of my slings will eat immediately if they're hungry. With some of them, I worry because they're very small and I hate having to fish live prey out of their little burrows so if they haven't eaten or shown interest within an hour I'll remove it, or kill it and leave it for them in case they're feeling shy. I've been very fortunate though and have good eaters.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Goodlukwitthat (Mar 10, 2017)

until yesterday, all my roaches were too big to just drop in the sling enclosures, so I'd take 1 big roach and crush the head and use my needle nose mini tongs to break it into 3-4 "sections" and put it in with them.  One of my LP slings is rather feisty and jumped onto the tongs and started eating.  Had a bit of a time trying to get it off so I could continue feedings lol.  With my feedings, even with the roaches I just recieved (small enough to let them 'hunt' down live prey with no worries), I'll leave them in overnight then if there's any that have not been eaten I'll remove the next day.  The 2nd day, if they're still eating/carrying it around, I'll wait till they no longer have an interest then remove it.


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## Jeff23 (Mar 10, 2017)

For slings:

Burrowing: I only provide pre-kill crickets in this case.  I like to remove it within 24 hours to prevent chances of mold since slings also have moisture in the substrate.  Sometimes I am a little late in which case some of the substrate comes up with the prey.  I hate this and sometimes wish I had made a different substrate mix.

Arboreal or Terrestrial (not burrowing): I provide live crickets.  If the T has refused prey on the prior attempt, I am very careful to remove it as soon as I realize it isn't going to eat the prey.  Otherwise I will sometimes leave it in the container for 24-48 hours.


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## Trenor (Mar 10, 2017)

I primarily use dubias with their heads crushed. I leave them in overnight to the next evening and take them out if they haven't been eaten. Most of my T room is already eating by the time I'm done feeding the others.

Reactions: Like 1


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## cold blood (Mar 10, 2017)

Sharno said:


> I tend to feed 50+ slings then come back to the start when I get to the finish and start putting away the ones that have captured the prey, then repeat in a line again and again until I have the final holdouts.
> 
> Unfortunately I think some tarantulas are just moody and won't eat right away.  If they don't look particularly fat, I hesitate about removing food overnight.
> 
> ...


I'm very similar.

What I do is have my slings separated by species obviously, but within the species, I have 2 seperated groups.   Ones that are eating, and ones that refused that I suspect to be pre-molt.   When feeding a lot of individuals, I really only use either cut up mealies or small dubia with crunched heads.  So as I put the pre kill in, they are moved to another area, and as they are eaten, they are put back up in their previous position.    By the next morning, any that haven't eaten get the prey removed and get put into either the pre-molt area or back to the active feeders if the t isn't plump.

Daily I go through and move any that are obvious pre-molt from the "eating" section, to the "pre-molt" section.   When one molts, it goes on top of one of the adult enclosures to the right, and every day its moved one enclosure to the left, and by the end, its been 5 days and it gets fed and added to the "eating" section and the cycle continues.

Because I feed pre-kill, I see no issue with leaving prey...occasionally with certain picky specimens I practically leave it till it molds.

I'd do things much differently dealing with a smaller number of slings...just paired Nhandu, I could be in for a busy summer.

Reactions: Like 1 | Useful 2


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## Trenor (Mar 10, 2017)

cold blood said:


> I'm very similar.
> 
> What I do is have my slings separated by species obviously, but within the species, I have 2 seperated groups.   Ones that are eating, and ones that refused that I suspect to be pre-molt.   When feeding a lot of individuals, I really only use either cut up mealies or small dubia with crunched heads.  So as I put the pre kill in, they are moved to another area, and as they are eaten, they are put back up in their previous position.    By the next morning, any that haven't eaten get the prey removed and get put into either the pre-molt area or back to the active feeders if the t isn't plump.
> 
> ...


I've always left my Ts in their spot. I'd not thought of having sections for what stages they were in. Interesting idea.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Lollipop 1


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## Kayis (Mar 11, 2017)

I leave prey in over night for slings but most are either pre-killed or fatally injured so they can't harm the slings. I toss out anything that was not taken the next day. The only time I monitor is when i feed crickets. Any slings that refuse food get moved to a different part of the shelf so I can try again in a couple of days.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Matttoadman (Mar 12, 2017)

Perhaps another thought to consider is how much nutritional value does the feeder lose by lingering in the slings container? I use hisser nymphs to feed my slings. If they don't take them they just run back out the top for me to collect or hang out on the lid until I run it back down the next night.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Charlottesweb17 (Mar 13, 2017)

My slings are a little bigger than a quarter inch, I put in half a small cricket in with each of them just before I go to bed as right now they tend to eat at night and remove what's left (if anything) in the morning.
My l.parahybanas are little piggies right now.   One of them is actually starting to drag its food into its lair.   Greedy piglet lol.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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