Feeding the teeny sling

[Binky/Carol]

Okay I got my B. Smithi sling almost a week ago.. I put in a tiny pin head cricket a day or so later.. It has not eaten it.. or anything..

Should I kill the pin head? and see if it will eat that?
I do have some meal worms I could cut up..
Or should I try a leg from a bigger crick?

Let me know!!
THanks
Carol

 

[cheetah13mo]

You can try a freshly killed cricket but if it's not eating a live pinhead now. I doubt it'll eat a dead one. I would say try a live pinhead every couple of days. If the sling doesn't eat it, it's not hungry.

 

[titus]

I recently got a Pt. mammilatus sling that din't eat for about week. Just keep offering pin heads every 2-3 days it will come around when it's hungry or ajust to its new home.

 

[FOOTBALL FAN]

is the pin head small enough??

 

[CedrikG]

For sling I usually cut super worm in 5-6 piece, and offer a piece to each of my spider, I put it in the middle of the environment. If the spider is close, i leave this like that and the spider usually find the piece a couple of min after.

If the spider is far from it, and if the pill bottle is webbed up, like some Pterinochilus murinus, and not P. mamillatus, can do, then I take a stick and fake the move of an insect, to bring the spider to the piece of food, it works 99.9% of the time.

 

[cacoseraph]

tarantulas eat prekilled items fine. i feed most of my tiny babies prekilled items. just grab the pinheads with tweezers and smash their head then drop one it per container.

be aware that even though spiderlings et al. can eat larger items if prekilled you shouldn't give them more than they can finish as this makes mite blooms much more likely (leftovers and "juice" getting in the substrate)

 

[Binky/Carol]

No its still crawling around.. I took it out and re-introduced it yesterday..
I tried a larger one after a few days. i took the legs off so the bigger one couldn't jump..
It wasn't interested in that..
Also I think it needs a bigger container.. I have a vial I will put it in..

Thanks
Carol

 

[Windchaser]

It probably is fasting. I have had small slings go a month without eating. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Unless its abdomen is getting very small don't worry. Also, be careful when feeding live crickets to small slings. I lost a couple of G. rosea slings to hungry crickets. The crickets were actually eating the legs off the slings. I now use prekilled prey for anything smaller than half an inch.

 

[Bothrops]

For sling I usually cut super worm in 5-6 piece, and offer a piece to each of my spider, I put it in the middle of the environment. If the spider is close, i leave this like that and the spider usually find the piece a couple of min after.

Yeah, that's what I do with tiny spiderlings, but I do it with mealworms. It always works.

 

[Mina]

I've done it both ways, given small slings crickets with the head crushed and giving them pinheads. If your little sling isn't eating, its either fasting, or in premoult. With the little guys if they still have live prey in the morning after being fed the evening before I remove it and offer again in 3 days.

 

[Code Monkey]

Draw and quarter a 1st instar B. dubia nymph and I've got food for 4 slings.

 

[arrowhd]

Sounds like your sling maybe in premolt. It will eat if it is hungry. My 1/2 inch B. smithi is kind of a strange eater. It will often ignore pinhead crickets one day and then gobble them up the next. Just don't leave them in there very long in case its getting ready to molt. If it doesn't eat them in say 2-4 hours take them out and wait a day or two. When I first got my B. smithi it didn't eat for two weeks. I started to freak out thinking something was wrong with it. It then molted and was fine. Best of luck.

 

[Binky/Carol]

It's abdomen has been getting a bit darker since last week. I think its in premolt..
I did rehouse it into a vial.. It was in a deli cup, but it could easily get out...when I opened the lid...
The vial is bigger and taller.. I have a fake flower in there for it to hang out on. And some substrate of course.
I had one of my P. Cambridgei slings in it before.
I did put in a pre killed cricket, and will check on it when I get home.
Cute lil bugger I gotta tell ya..
Oh and the pet store may be getting in some new t's today...
Drool

 

[Talkenlate04]

You can try a freshly killed cricket but if it's not eating a live pinhead now. I doubt it'll eat a dead one. I would say try a live pinhead every couple of days. If the sling doesn't eat it, it's not hungry.

Slings will readly eat a adult cricket leg..... or any other pre killed item. I find that with my Smithi slings I throw them a cricket leg every now and then and they eat them right up.