First of all, I apologize for starting another sling feeding thread....it's not rocket science and you'd think we'd all have grasped it by now. I generally get all my info from selectively reading and searching the posts of people who seem like they know what they're talking about, but alas I have a question.
I've had 3 B. boehmei since the end of 9/06 that were under 1/2" at purchase. One has molted twice in my care, the others just once..sizes are about 3/4" and 2/3" x2 respectively. All look very normal, healthy and well fed. In fact, that's the problem, I haven't even offered any of them food for 2+ months now. They all have appropriately proportioned abdomens (abdomen approx. 2x the size of the carapace) and look as if they'd eaten yesterday. Even the one that molted a 2nd time for me, did so about a month ago and came out of it without losing much, if any, abdomen size. All my other T's (they're listed in my profile) have come through molts with noticeably smaller abdomens and looking ready to eat, even though I wait till it's ok to feed them. I also haven't gone much more than two weeks without feeding any of my other T's (excluding a couple premolt/postmolt fasts), and they look like they need it by then, so these boehmei are the anomaly.
I know boehmei are slower growing and wouldn't be surprised if these were adult or small adult spiders, but given they're small size I'm quite astounded by the slow speed of their metabolism. Even after all this time they look like they're one good meal away from being over fed. You know, one of those slings people post a picture of and everyone says, "that sling is way to fat". For this reason I've held off food offers. (BTW, they are in the small baby food jars, on dry peat, and have of course gotten a few water droplets per week.)
So.... I know I need to fed them and will probably offer them something small when I next get crix. My question is, how safe is it to go by abdomen size as the main indicater of when to offer food? Am I lucky they haven't dropped over dead or could I just keep withholding food until they 'burn off' some of what they have in their tummies?
I'm really looking for thoughts by a more experienced keeper, one who has raised slower growing species like this from sling to adult. Not someone with several months of experience, like me, who'd just be guessing. Thanks very much for your time.
I've had 3 B. boehmei since the end of 9/06 that were under 1/2" at purchase. One has molted twice in my care, the others just once..sizes are about 3/4" and 2/3" x2 respectively. All look very normal, healthy and well fed. In fact, that's the problem, I haven't even offered any of them food for 2+ months now. They all have appropriately proportioned abdomens (abdomen approx. 2x the size of the carapace) and look as if they'd eaten yesterday. Even the one that molted a 2nd time for me, did so about a month ago and came out of it without losing much, if any, abdomen size. All my other T's (they're listed in my profile) have come through molts with noticeably smaller abdomens and looking ready to eat, even though I wait till it's ok to feed them. I also haven't gone much more than two weeks without feeding any of my other T's (excluding a couple premolt/postmolt fasts), and they look like they need it by then, so these boehmei are the anomaly.
I know boehmei are slower growing and wouldn't be surprised if these were adult or small adult spiders, but given they're small size I'm quite astounded by the slow speed of their metabolism. Even after all this time they look like they're one good meal away from being over fed. You know, one of those slings people post a picture of and everyone says, "that sling is way to fat". For this reason I've held off food offers. (BTW, they are in the small baby food jars, on dry peat, and have of course gotten a few water droplets per week.)
So.... I know I need to fed them and will probably offer them something small when I next get crix. My question is, how safe is it to go by abdomen size as the main indicater of when to offer food? Am I lucky they haven't dropped over dead or could I just keep withholding food until they 'burn off' some of what they have in their tummies?
I'm really looking for thoughts by a more experienced keeper, one who has raised slower growing species like this from sling to adult. Not someone with several months of experience, like me, who'd just be guessing. Thanks very much for your time.
