# How to Feed a Sling?



## Raye Humphries (Feb 6, 2016)

Hello,
So I just got my Greenbottle Blue sling and he's pretty neato.  I tried feeding him a small cricket with tongs but he seemed uninterested, so I left some dead crickets in his terrarium (I read that slings will eat dead insects to grow faster).  I wanted to know if they're was a specific way to feed slings.  

Thanks!
(P.S. also are Tarantulas referred to by their _Genus species _name?  I've just been seeing a lot of people talking about them like that.)


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## viper69 (Feb 6, 2016)

Raye give it some time to settle in, like a few days. You didn't do anything wrong by trying to feed it mind you. I'm not sure how you used tongs, but I hope you didn't hold the cricket by the tongs and wait for the T to take the cricket??

What size is your T? GBBs have one of THE best feeding responses of Ts. So either your T is satiated or its settling in. Otherwise they will nail a crix the moment it hits webbing.

Slings will scavenge feed. Eating dead crix doesn't make them grow faster per se. Feeding them makes them grow faster. Live food is better too.

Reactions: Agree 3 | Helpful 1


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## beaker41 (Feb 6, 2016)

I find and especially with small slings, they eat more often with live flies than scavenged cricket legs. Imho many small meals is better for the sling than one occasional large one that they may not take. Nutrition wise you want to get them up to pinheads as soon as you can, the difficulty is getting them by the abdomen rather than their oh so squishable head with the tweezers.
It helps to refrigerate them to slow them down or catch them in a drop of water and fish them out by the realr with the tweezers. In any case i love watching them hunt live prey just like my large t's

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Rogerpoco (Feb 6, 2016)

Yeah,you dont want to tong feed. I had kept a couple years,got the guts to start trying,talked about it here,was given good reasons not to do so,breaking fangs,etc.
Frankly-if you are leaving an opening in a GBB sling enclosure long enough to stick tongs into and wait-you are underestimating the sprint speed of a GBB sling,be careful!

Reactions: Agree 3


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## Cavedweller (Feb 6, 2016)

I just drop live pinhead crickets into my sling's cages. Never had any problems.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Raye Humphries (Feb 6, 2016)

Ok thanks.  I usually feed my reptiles with tongs so I thought I could do it with spiders (now that I think of it, I don't know why I thought that).  My crickets are pinheads too.  

Also, how often should I feed my sling (he's about 3/4inch to 1inch long)?  And if I leave my ceiling fan on at night, will it hurt him?  (I have these really thick sheets that I burn up in)


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## assidreemz (Feb 6, 2016)

Raye Humphries said:


> Also, how often should I feed my sling


please utilize the search function for beginner questions, its very useful trust me.

anyways, with a spider that tiny you can feed once a week or bi-weekly max. IMO. 

water is far more neccessary to the little guy. provide a small water dish and consistently keep it topped off, not overflowing but dont allow it to become dry. if hydration is properly provided then eating is much less pertinent. 

if the spider has a full, rounded, non-wrinkled abdomen then all is well in the little bub's world.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Helpful 3


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## Cavedweller (Feb 7, 2016)

Raye Humphries said:


> Ok thanks.  I usually feed my reptiles with tongs so I thought I could do it with spiders (now that I think of it, I don't know why I thought that).  My crickets are pinheads too.
> 
> Also, how often should I feed my sling (he's about 3/4inch to 1inch long)?  And if I leave my ceiling fan on at night, will it hurt him?  (I have these really thick sheets that I burn up in)


I generally feed my slings a big meal once a week, sometimes I wait for them to slim down a little if they're really fat. 

Assuming your spider cage isn't right next to the ceiling fan (I can't really comprehend any situation in which it would be), it shouldn't be any problem. I leave my fan on in the spider room (livingroom) all summer long. 

You're worrying a lot more than you need to, Ts are easy peasy to keep. Like assidreemz said, just make sure your little guy's got a full water bowl and you're golden.

Reactions: Like 2


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## mmfh (Feb 7, 2016)

I'll just chime in and say that it depends on your sling too, as to how you feed it. Some of mine will take live and some won't. If one of mine just seems too stressed out at live crickets jumping around, I just crush their heads or, like some have mentioned, use the legs off big crickets, had luck both ways.


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## Tman86 (Feb 9, 2016)

Mini meal worms work for me. And if they are to big even as minis you can cut them in half and like mentioned they will usually scavange and find it.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Helpful 1


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## cold blood (Feb 9, 2016)

My #1 feeder for a large amount of slings is a mealie....I can make 3-4 meals out of each one by just dicing them into pieces.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Helpful 1


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## Arachno Keeper (Nov 28, 2018)

Raye Humphries said:


> Hello,
> So I just got my Greenbottle Blue sling and he's pretty neato.  I tried feeding him a small cricket with tongs but he seemed uninterested, so I left some dead crickets in his terrarium (I read that slings will eat dead insects to grow faster).  I wanted to know if they're was a specific way to feed slings.
> 
> Thanks!
> (P.S. also are Tarantulas referred to by their _Genus species _name?  I've just been seeing a lot of people talking about them like that.)


How about cutting a head of a superoworm and give it to the sling, then the rest is for the larger T. I haven't tried it but I'll try it next time


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## Asmiro (Nov 28, 2018)

When I got my GBB sling about that size, I fed it small red runners.  She was a voracious eater and loves hunting.  Just dropped one in and she went to town.


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## Luka98 (Nov 30, 2018)

Arachno Keeper said:


> How about cutting a head of a superoworm and give it to the sling, then the rest is for the larger T. I haven't tried it but I'll try it next time


I don't think there's a lot of juice in the head also this is a 2 year old thread lol, i'm gonna take a wild guess and say his gbb isn't a sling anymore


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## Chris LXXIX (Nov 30, 2018)

Luka98 said:


> I don't think there's a lot of juice in the head also this is a 2 year old thread lol, i'm gonna take a wild guess and say his gbb isn't a sling anymore


Have you never heard of 'Spider Dwarfism'?

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Kaffee (Nov 7, 2021)

beaker41 said:


> I find and especially with small slings, they eat more often with live flies than scavenged cricket legs. Imho many small meals is better for the sling than one occasional large one that they may not take. Nutrition wise you want to get them up to pinheads as soon as you can, the difficulty is getting them by the abdomen rather than their oh so squishable head with the tweezers.
> It helps to refrigerate them to slow them down or catch them in a drop of water and fish them out by the realr with the tweezers. In any case i love watching them hunt live prey just like my large t's


This is an awesome answer because it even includes how to remove small feeders from enclosures. It's easy enough to use a brush to direct the feeder into the tarantulas and closure. But how to get them out of there I did not know. Thank you so much for helping newbies like me


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