cyriocosmus elegans sling behavior

[u bada]

I just got a sling almost two weeks ago. I rehoused to give it an inch of sub at least, and within an afternoon had buried itself completely. I figured let it do it's thing, maybe molting, who knows and absolutely no movement whatsoever. I put a baby cricket in there last weekend and nothing happened so I took it out. Looked at enclosure today and thought ok on off chance it's alive and not molting and hungry I'd put another cricket and probably an hour later it was gone. Nothing in the sub looks disturbed whatsoever and no opening... so is this normal behavior? Should I just drop a cricket in every few days and if it vanishes it must be eating?!

I got an I mira with it and for something that's supposed to be a pet hole, it made it's interesting trapdoor and sticks it's feet out all the time so I know it's there, and has a great appetite. Also it's a tad bit bigger and made it's burrow along the enclosure so I can see it all the time... I almost didn't get it, and glad I did to make up for the pet dirt of the cyriocosmus.

 

[Venom1080]

Are you sure they and the spider aren't just escaping?

 

[u bada]

The holes at top are 1/8th inch so doubt it, but maybe the cricket yes lol but I walked away for maybe 20 min doubtful it could figure that out to escape that quickly... ok to dig up the sub a little?

 

[Eva]

ok to dig up the sub a little?

I'd wait a day or two and throw another one in there, but this time watch the enclosure intently - until you either:
a) witness something
b) faint
c) set the enclosure on fire
if none of the above happens after as long as you can take it, peek in - albeit very carefully!

 

[u bada]

The others in my little collection are out all the time and great and wanted some fossorial species so this is a bit eye opening, or closing or whatever... anyway I should clarify, the sub is lifted in a way that it shows it definitely made a burrow and would be in the enclosure in that regard, and it's between 1/2"-3/4".

 

[Eva]

Lots of fossorials come up often - or at least peek out - so don't let it spoil fossorials for you!
I've never owned a Cyriocosmus sp. so for all I know, they might just be little evil midgets, who actively conspire to make themselves as unenjoyable as possible

 

[Olan]

My C. elegans has completely hidden itself lately. It can pull crickets into its web/dirt construction without making a visible hole. I bet yours is in there and eating.

 

[keks]

From my three slings there is only one sometimes on the surface, but bolting in its hide when it notices any movement in the environment. The other two slings I can only see when I look at the bottom of the enclosures.

 

[the sith witch]

I bought a C. elegans as a 3rd instar, it was incredibly tiny, yet when I first opened its mini cup to give it a cricket leg, it threw up a threat posture to let me know what was up Then it promptly webbed around the cup, made tunnels and vanished, only noticed in its tunnels next to the cup sides and by missing cricket legs. Now that it is a massive 1" in leg span, it's pretty much always visible and quite inquisitive when I open the cup, guess it feels all grown up and fearless now XD So you just have to wait a little bit to enjoy looking at it more, worth it!

 

[The Grym Reaper]

The smaller of my 2 was a tiny jar of dirt up until it moulted, now they're both out pretty often.

it threw up a threat posture to let me know what was up

The larger of my 2 did this and started slapping the ground the other day when I stuck a pre-killed red runner outside of its burrow, it was as adorable as it was hilarious.

 

[arachnid.abdomen]

Mines always in a burrow but luckily it used one i started right at the side so i can always see it. Don't worry if it just burrows, but if stuff like that concerns you then when rehousing, make a small start to a burrow at the side of the enclosure. Usually mine take it and i can check on them through the side without disturbance

 

[u bada]

little update... a couple days later I stuck I live crix in there again and watched for 5 min, stepped away for literally second and it was gone.

Then attached is what I saw this morning...

Put another crix in and saw the little one grab it immediately and take it into its burrow.

 

[clive 82]

little update... a couple days later I stuck I live crix in there again and watched for 5 min, stepped away for literally second and it was gone.

Then attached is what I saw this morning...

Put another crix in and saw the little one grab it immediately and take it into its burrow.

Im glad I found this thread as I have also recently bought a small C elegans sling, only around half a cm dls. All was good with mine, was eating pre killed prey. It took to the starter burrow I made at the side of the enclosure so I could see it. I fed it a cricket leg which it dragged in its burrow but after about 4 days I removed ( glad I did as it was starting to go bad).
Ever since that this past week I cant see it in its burrow. The sub looks a little disturbed but no sign of it at all & it didn't eat last time I fed so I hope its just moved & is in pre molt.
Does anyone know that with such small slings can the pre molt period still be as long as more mature Ts?

 

[u bada]

Hoping one others would chime in here as I'm just a newb... but in general yeah slings pre molt and molt period(s) are generally shorter than more mature ones as most likely they have to grow faster and have less to molt into, so to speak. My slings when smaller molted really fast, I was surprised. but the older they've gotten the longer the process has become. One of my mature if not close to mature t's, a euathlus sp tiger, was in pre molt for a month or so, and molting took a couple days to completely finish... but i imagine there are exceptions and some slings may take a while.

 

[clive 82]

Hoping one others would chime in here as I'm just a newb... but in general yeah slings pre molt and molt period(s) are generally shorter than more mature ones as most likely they have to grow faster and have less to molt into, so to speak. My slings when smaller molted really fast, I was surprised. but the older they've gotten the longer the process has become. One of my mature if not close to mature t's, a euathlus sp tiger, was in pre molt for a month or so, and molting took a couple days to completely finish... but i imagine there are exceptions and some slings may take a while.

I thought this was the case, just not sure how long to wait until it has either moulted or I start poking around in the enclosure which I really don't want to do in case the worse has happened.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Ever since that this past week I cant see it in its burrow. The sub looks a little disturbed but no sign of it at all & it didn't eat last time I fed so I hope its just moved & is in pre molt.
Does anyone know that with such small slings can the pre molt period still be as long as more mature Ts?

A week isn't really anything to worry about, I've had some seal themselves off for 2 or 3 weeks at a time and then I check on them one morning to see they've opened back up and chucked an exuvia outside.

My A. musculosa just went from grown-on sling to juvie size and she sealed off her burrow and didn't eat for 31 days before finally moulting.

 

[clive 82]

A week isn't really anything to worry about, I've had some seal themselves off for 2 or 3 weeks at a time and then I check on them one morning to see they've opened back up and chucked an exuvia outside.

My A. musculosa just went from grown-on sling to juvie size and she sealed off her burrow and didn't eat for 31 days before finally moulting.

Cheers dude, Ill wait it out. I just find it so much more frustrating with tiny slings ( not sure if that's the right word to use or not ). But they know what they are doing. This hobby definitely teaches you patience.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Cheers dude, Ill wait it out. I just find it so much more frustrating with tiny slings ( not sure if that's the right word to use or not ). But they know what they are doing. This hobby definitely teaches you patience.

Yeah, it's a bit weird with them being dwarfs that max out at like 2" or so, they'd technically hit the juvie stage between 1cm-1.25cm DLS so the moult cycles are probably going to be weird compared to slings of larger species.

 

[clive 82]

Yeah, it's a bit weird with them being dwarfs that max out at like 2" or so, they'd technically hit the juvie stage between 1cm-1.25cm DLS so the moult cycles are probably going to be weird compared to slings of larger species.

Yeah very true, I hadn't really thought of that. In your experience do dwarf species molt more frequently than larger species?

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Yeah very true, I hadn't really thought of that. In your experience do dwarf species molt more frequently than larger species?

I honestly couldn't tell you as I've only just started getting into dwarf species myself after a little over a year of keeping Ts (I didn't want to waste the small faunariums I use for rearing juvies so a few dwarfs seemed like a good idea), I've raised quite a few slings of larger species though.
I got 2 of these at the end of July, the 0.5cm one sealed itself away for 3 days and then moulted about a fortnight ago, the 1cm one stopped eating about a week ago but is out occasionally.