Can slings be too fat?

Emilylrd

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Jan 25, 2017
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I had posted a photo of my slings who are in premolt (0.0.2 lasiodora parahybana, 0.0.1 brachypelma albopilosum) in a spider and insect page on facebook, and someone had said my slings were too fat and that it would negatively effect their molts. I got my slings August 3rd 2016 and they have all molted 3 times since then (once every 45-48 days). I feed them one small(about 3/4") superworm once every 2-3 days, and they usually eat about half.
The slings' diagonal legspan are
LP#1: 1 3/4"
LP#2: 1 1/2"
BA: 1 1/3"
Am I feeding them too much? 20170111_232711.jpg 20170111_232455.jpg 20170111_232423.jpg
 

YagerManJennsen

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Jan 3, 2016
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They look quite healthy to me. It is normal for abdomens on slings to be that large when they're so tiny, especially when nearing a molt.

My general rule is feed slings as much as they will eat.
 

Venom1080

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lmao people on FB dont know anything. your sling is fine, some of mine are twice that.
seriously though, those idiots are more into trolling than helping.
 
Last edited:

Sana

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They're adorable! And perfectly healthy looking. I always cringe when someone wants to put a tarantula on a diet. I've never heard of one exploding yet.
 

cold blood

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OMG, stop talking to those people...what a stupid comment. They don't even look overly fat, just normal, about to molt fat.

Fact: You cannot over-feed a sling....getting very fat is part of their growth stradegy. A fatter sling is a little plumper after molting, giving it a head start on the next molt cycle...so the only effect it will have on future molts is that they might happen sooner.
 

Trenor

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Most of my slings are plump and they are all molting and doing fine. I wouldn't worry about it.
 

Ddannison

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May 9, 2016
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As people have said already, slings eat and grow. And also as people have said, don't seek advice on Facebook. Last week I said "a fat sling is a happy sling" and a couple people lost their minds about it. Comparing feeding a sling as much as it wants to eat to powerfeeding an infant human...even went as far to say, "I can excuse lack of knowledge or understanding to not provide the best care for your animals, but advocating unhealthy habits, Daniel, is shocking."

You're in the right place now. Keep your slings fat
 

mistertim

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Sep 4, 2015
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548
The biggest worry is that it will be fat shamed by the other slings. Those psychological scars can last a very long time.
 

Andrea82

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As people have said already, slings eat and grow. And also as people have sai, don't seek advice on Facebook. Last week I said "a fat sling is a happy sling" and a couple people lost their minds about it. Comparing feeding a sling as much as it wants to eat to powerfeeding an infant human...even went as far to say, "I can excuse lack of knowledge or understanding to not provide the best care for your animals, but advocating unhealthy habits, Daniel, is shocking."

You're in the right place now. Keep your slings fat
This literally blew my mind.
Agreed, keep em nice and fat. Once
they are out of sling stage, you can feed less, but even then i feed regularly, and pretty much all they can eat, except for species that are known to go on a fast.
 

Crowbi

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Oct 31, 2016
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Not on facebook, but on Reddit I was told that too fat slings can have troubles molting and not to feed my little B. Albo again before he sheds (he's about 1.5").

So there's no truth to this?
 

cold blood

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As people have said already, slings eat and grow. And also as people have said, don't seek advice on Facebook. Last week I said "a fat sling is a happy sling" and a couple people lost their minds about it. Comparing feeding a sling as much as it wants to eat to powerfeeding an infant human...even went as far to say, "I can excuse lack of knowledge or understanding to not provide the best care for your animals, but advocating unhealthy habits, Daniel, is shocking."

You're in the right place now. Keep your slings fat
Funny how online, the ignorant are unbelievably confident in themselves and their incorrect knowledge.:rofl::rofl:
 

cold blood

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Not on facebook, but on Reddit I was told that too fat slings can have troubles molting and not to feed my little B. Albo again before he sheds (he's about 1.5").

So there's no truth to this?
Trouble molting, no. But a t that fat certainly doesn't need to be fed again until after molting, its got plenty in reserve. I have a marshalli that looks like that, since Nov she had one single mealworm....otherwise its been a self imposed fast.
 

Emilylrd

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Jan 25, 2017
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Thanks loads, everyone. The Facebook people always have something negative to say, but thought I would check with yall in the interest of my babies, also they all molted since I posted and are doing well! Tackling food like savages
 

ireleana

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Nov 8, 2015
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lmao people on FB dont know anything. your sling is fine, some of mine are twice that.
seriously though, those idiots are more into trolling than helping.
Completely agree lmao. I had an incident where one of my lividum slings containers got knocked over and fell and cracked. Unfortunately the sling got injured as well and had a small leak above the spinnerets. I got out the liquid band aid and patched it up and had to bring it to work to keep an eye on it. Currently in it's new enclosure doing just fine burrowing to it's heart content. Some guy told me I should have left it alone, not done anything and put in a new container and wait and see.. I'm pretty sure a crack in the abdomen would have been fatal if I didn't fix it... And letting it go back into a burrow where I couldn't monitor it would have been dumb imo.

Anyways, those slings look healthy to me as well. I have some tiny Euathlus slings I've had for almost 2 years that are always fat fat fat. They seem to not get much bigger each molt though lol. But they molt just fine. I prefer my slings plump. Adults can be more prone to injury or problems imo as far as being obese but slings will eat as much as they can to grow as quick as they can. Or so i've heard and seen;)
 

Jeff23

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Jul 27, 2016
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lmao people on FB dont know anything. your sling is fine, some of mine are twice that.
seriously though, those idiots are more into trolling than helping.
^^^ This is exactly why I don't have a FB account and have zero interest in posting or communicating on FB. Maybe it is fine for your family pics to share, but is a complete fail for anything of hobby or technical nature.
 

Jeff23

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Jul 27, 2016
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620
It's fine
My Hapalopus sp. Colombia sling often looks likrle a vinegaroon with it's huge abdomen :p
Of all of my slings I have done less removal of uneaten crickets from my H. sp. Colombia "Large" than any other sling I own. My Pterinopelma sazimai slings aren't far behind that. But my H. sp. Colombia slings have huge abdomens while my P. sazimai don't look near as fat.
 
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