Feedings Between Molts

GreyPsyche

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What's the least amount of feedings your Ts have ever taken in between a molt? I ask because I had my OBT recently molt and I've fed her twice since then and she looks like a giant pumpkin or a shiny new basketball. I kinda think maybe she better go onto a mandatory fast. Keep in mind that she's super young and crickets are large prey to her. But wow, I can't believe how plump she's gotten in two feedings. I'm really gonna hold off on her feeding for a few weeks.
 

darkness975

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The sole purpose of slings is to eat and grow.
I feed them well.

Sub adults and adults get much fewer feedings.
 

Venom1080

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i think i heard from @cold blood that the faster they get plump after a molt, the longer the premolt period is. its quicker to slowly fatten them up.
 

GreyPsyche

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i think i heard from @cold blood that the faster they get plump after a molt, the longer the premolt period is. its quicker to slowly fatten them up.
I'm still a beginner but I have experienced that somewhat as well and I kind of agree with it. I kinda underestimated the size of that prey in comparison to my T, now she's fat fat fat. Oh well, she'll molt and be in shape again, bet some humans wish it worked like that for us. ;) I wouldn't mind dropping my little beer belly after a nice molt, haha.
 

Venom1080

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I'm still a beginner but I have experienced that somewhat as well and I kind of agree with it. I kinda underestimated the size of that prey in comparison to my T, now she's fat fat fat. Oh well, she'll molt and be in shape again, bet some humans wish it worked like that for us. ;) I wouldn't mind dropping my little beer belly after a nice molt, haha.
one large meal a week or a few smaller ones is what i do.
 

cold blood

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What's the least amount of feedings your Ts have ever taken in between a molt?
zero...I've had a couple slings go through an entiremolt period without eating...its rare though.

But generally it totally depends on prey offered. You could give a 1" chromatus for example, probably 30 fruit flies, or 10 crickets, or 8 mealworms or 2 nice sized roaches and basically be providing the same amount of food. (keeping in mind that FFF should not be a main part of the diet, it was just for the example)
i think i heard from @cold blood that the faster they get plump after a molt, the longer the premolt period is. its quicker to slowly fatten them up.
There's certainly a point where slower feedings will slow growth, no doubt, but it also doesn't take a daily or even every 3 day feeding schedule to maximize growth. Feed faster than the t can biologically be ready to molt, and you just get a longer pre-molt fasting period....You could slow that pace to basically coincide with the amount of time it takes to prepare to molt (yeah, there's no way to know that number for sure) and still be maximizing growth rates (provided your temps were also ideal).

Then there are the ravenous ts that just eat and eat...fatten them early or quickly after a molt and you will either need to mandate a fasting period or you will end up with a spectacularly obese adult....some species like N. chromatus for example, just don't know when to say when...its so easy to get them fat and much harder to move away from this obesity as they come through molts already fat and its hard to not feed them cause they're still ravenously hungry.
 

GreyPsyche

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So @cold blood the Ts that didn't eat between molts, did they look malnourished after successive molts or I'm curious if it is possible that a T could molt out smaller than its previous size because of lack of food source. Just speculating...
 

cold blood

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So @cold blood the Ts that didn't eat between molts, did they look malnourished after successive molts or I'm curious if it is possible that a T could molt out smaller than its previous size because of lack of food source. Just speculating...
Virtually no growth was apparent (but it certainly didn't shrink), and they came through really thin, but nothing out of the ordinary as slings always do. One was a 1/2" B. albiceps...didn't eat for 177 days....glad that changed when it got over an inch.


 

nicodimus22

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My L. klugi was 1 inch, and it molted...still 1 inch. No eating. Almost 8 weeks later, another molt, and now 1.25 inches. I don't know how this works, but it happened.
 
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