A couple of questions? Help please.

[KirbyStyle]

Ok, so I was wondering:

Is it ok to use those small bags of aquarium gravel in a tarantula tank as the substrate? I have an adult female Mexican red knee and I am gonna set up a nice tank for her and I was wondering if small colored gravel is fine. I have already prepared some peat moss already by freezing it over night then I poured boiling water over it to shock any mites or bugs. So what do you think?

My next question is, I bought a sling, but Im not exactly sure what is the best meal for it to eat. Im trying to find really tiny crickets when I get food and i kill the cricket and set it in the tank but the sling is terrified of it so that doesn't work. Any help here? What kind of foods can I offer, and where can I get it?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Aurelia]

Nope, gravel will hurt them. Use peat moss, coco fiber, or potting soil.

If you don't have access to pinhead (baby) crickets, you can feed a small sling either a cricket cut in half or cricket legs (the ones they jump with). Don't feed anything larger than the spider. Also you can try flightless fruit flies, Petsmart sells them. If the sling doesn't seem interested, it's probably either full or in premolt.

 

[Newyork]

Stick with the peat moss.

I've heard that they eat pinhead crickets or wingless fruit flies but i have no idea where you get them.

 

[gvfarns]

Aquarium gravel is not well regarded on arachnoboards, but in the words of Schultz and Schultz,

"Aquarium sand/gravel is generally frowned on by the tarantula keeping community although we have kept many species for long periods of time on it with few or no problems. The most telling argument is that it's too abrasive. In defense of aquarium gravel it must be pointed out that tarantulas customarily live in soil that may have a large admixture of gravel of all qualities in it, and these tarantulas seem to do quite well in spite of it. We suspect that the bias against aquarium gravel is merely just that: a bias. In fact it probably seldom makes a difference."

It doesn't hold moisture, which is a bad thing for some species, but it shouldn't be a problem in your case. It can't be burrowed in, which is a problem for some species, but not in your case.

People also worry about it being abrasive or heavy, but I'm not one of those.

The main reason not to use it is so you don't get criticized if you ever post a picture on arachnoboards.

 

[Aurelia]

Well...why do you want to use gravel if you've already prepared peat moss? :?

 

[testdasi]

I would think the problem isn't with the gravels being abrasive. Coco fibre or peat moss is soft so it can provide a soft landing spot should the T fall down and T's can climb, especially if your enclosure is high. Just think of falling down 2m onto a concrete floor. It will hurt more. But a few gravels here and there for deco, I personally don't think it's a problem. I stick with coco fibre though.

Wood chips in my opinion is another (worse) story because they are pointed (so it's more like falling into a booby trap), but I digress.

 

[jeepinwu2]

I think you got enough answers on substrate.
As far as feeding it you don't need to go hunting for pin-heads or fruit flies just kill a small cricket leave it over night if it's hungry it will eat. It's okay even if the cricket is slightly bigger or the same size as the sling as long as you kill it first.