Getting a sling

SpiderGirl-13

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
Messages
16
I'm getting a sling and I was wondering if I should just feed it pinhead crickets, or is there something else I should try.:rolleyes:
 

DrGigglez666

Arachnoknight
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May 19, 2007
Messages
259
yea

Yea try pinheads or small ones depending on how big it is. Some will suprise you and take down prey bigger than them!! :razz:
 

SpiderGirl-13

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
Messages
16
Re-Getting a sling

Thanks he/she is probably a little over 1" and the other sling is a little over a 1/4:rolleyes:
 

arrowhd

Arachnolord
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Dec 22, 2006
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656
Pinheads or small crickets with the head crushed should work fine.
 

Derek W.

Arachnosquire
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Nov 5, 2006
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Personally, I only feed my slings tiny crickets (not as small as pinheads since i can't get them at the local petco) that have been prekilled by being frozen. Unlike most adults the slings will readily accept the prekilled stuff. You're actually better off because it removes any chance of a hungry cricket hurting your delicate little sling, and their will be PLENTY of time to feed them live prey when they are older.
 

Sheazy

Arachnoknight
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Unlike most adults the slings will readily accept the prekilled stuff. You're actually better off because it removes any chance of a hungry cricket hurting your delicate little sling, and their will be PLENTY of time to feed them live prey when they are older.
First, I would try live pinheads. Some people say theirs will take pre-killed, but most of mine wont. Of course, I found this out after trying it and had to fish dead crickets out of each lil sling's habitat.

Second...if you feed your crickets before you feed them to your T you should have no worries of "a hungry cricket hurting your delicate little sling". Unless your T is slow to eat, and they stay in there for awhile, and a molt is upcoming.

My T's 0.75" and larger get small (1/8"-1/4") crix, and the ones smaller than 0.75" get pinheads. No head crush, or pre-killing for mine. They love to stalk and hunt, and I love to sit and watch. It's a nice arrangement we have. I feed, they eat.
 

Derek W.

Arachnosquire
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First, I would try live pinheads. Some people say theirs will take pre-killed, but most of mine wont. Of course, I found this out after trying it and had to fish dead crickets out of each lil sling's habitat.

Second...if you feed your crickets before you feed them to your T you should have no worries of "a hungry cricket hurting your delicate little sling". Unless your T is slow to eat, and they stay in there for awhile, and a molt is upcoming.

My T's 0.75" and larger get small (1/8"-1/4") crix, and the ones smaller than 0.75" get pinheads. No head crush, or pre-killing for mine. They love to stalk and hunt, and I love to sit and watch. It's a nice arrangement we have. I feed, they eat.
The bottom line is that either method works. Most slings will scavenge prekilled prey, although some will refuse it like Sheazy's. The whole reasoning behind the prekilled method though is why risk anything when they are that tiny. Can they handle killing live prey at that size? Of course, but they are much more likely to get hurt than when they are juvies or adults. That's why T's have so many spiderlings, there is a high deathrate among them. And even though this deathrate is astronomically smaller in captive situations, I've still seen quite a few posts from people who had their slings injured or killed by prey items.
 

Sequin

Arachnobaron
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I've lost an A. avicularia to live prey, so now all my sling's crickets are maimed. Better safe then sorry.
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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For my widdle babies (1/4"-3/4") i take the smallest crik i can catch (i can't get pinheads here either), cut or pinch the legs off so it can't escape as easily then cut the head with these little scissors. My goal being not to kill it but maim it badly enough that it just sort of thrashes around. I know this is cruel and gross but if the crik is moving it should attract the sling and trigger more predatory behavior. Like most of us i really enjoy watching my T's catch their prey. It's pretty cute watching this teeny spider stalk an almost dead cricket and attacking it as viciously as if it were in prime health.
 

Sheazy

Arachnoknight
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The bottom line is that either method works. Most slings will scavenge prekilled prey, although some will refuse it like Sheazy's. The whole reasoning behind the prekilled method though is why risk anything when they are that tiny. Can they handle killing live prey at that size? Of course, but they are much more likely to get hurt than when they are juvies or adults. That's why T's have so many spiderlings, there is a high deathrate among them. And even though this deathrate is astronomically smaller in captive situations, I've still seen quite a few posts from people who had their slings injured or killed by prey items.
True, but I believe if you are responsible in feeding (ie,..not overfeeding, or giving it hungry/venemous prey) and dont give it something larger than it can handle it will be okay. Tarantula's dont have an assistant in the wild catching and pinching heads for them before they eat. I am not saying not to pre-kill, I just dont benefit from it so thought I would share. I understand the "better safe than sorry" methods, however I also understand what is okay and not okay to feed my T's according to size and aggression. Besides, if you give crickets gut load of any type and throw them in with a hungry T...odds are they wont last long enough to be hungry a second time. At least...that's how all of mine are. If you notice your T hasn't eaten them after 24 hours...just remove them and then you dont have to worry about vigilante crickets running rampant. Whatever works for you and your T's, just wait until you get it and see how it hunts and eats.
 

Shayna

Arachnosquire
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My sling is a tad smaller than that, usually when I feed my other Ts large crickets I rip a leg off and put it in for my sling, those dissapear fast.
I also have mealworms and I cut them in half so they wont burrow away, and my sling ate that.
The mealworms also molted into a gross white beetle head/worm body thing that didn't move and stayed on it's back. So I put one of those in and it was gone in the morning.
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
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Tarantula's dont have an assistant in the wild catching and pinching heads for them before they eat.
Tarantulas in the wild die all the time. I do not think we want to replicate wild conditions in captivity THAT accurately. :D

Furthermore, there's been all kinds of threads on this forum where people lost their slings to live prey, so it's not like it's an incredibly rare freak occurence either. Prey animals *really* don't want to be eaten, and that's not counting the fact that many insects are omnivorous and might just see your spider as food.

Heck, I don't feed my snake live prey either. Nobody kills prey for them in the wild, but wild snakes also get scarred up, lose eyes, and die. It happens to a fair portion of those captive snakes fed live prey as well, there are some pretty nasty images available.
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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beetle!

The mealworms also molted into a gross white beetle head/worm body thing that didn't move and stayed on it's back. So I put one of those in and it was gone in the morning.
That was a chrysalis which would have later turned into a beetle. Out of curiosity i once kept a superworm aside until it chrysalized (is that a word?) then later hatched out as a bright red beetle which later turned black as the shell hardened. I understand this to be a darkling beetle...? My juvenile rosie would have nothing to do with it. I later read that they have a mild chemical deterrent which is probably why she turned up her nose at it. I've since heard that people on here have had success using darklings as feeders so i guess my Gammy is just picky.
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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Are fruitflies okay to feed to slings?
I've heard them recommended as feeders for small slings but when i bought a vial I had no success. For each fruitfly i got into the sling's cup 3 got away. Once i got them into the cup they crawled to the top and stayed there so the T wasn't eating them anyway. I did get to watch the fly culture grow and grow until i had a vial full of maggots and flies. Yummy!

In the end i froze the vial and threw it away. I didn't know what else to do with it. Maybe i should have reared a sac of mantids to feed them to. They would have appreciated such fine cuisine.
 

Sheazy

Arachnoknight
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No sissy T's here...

Tarantulas in the wild die all the time. I do not think we want to replicate wild conditions in captivity THAT accurately. :D

Furthermore, there's been all kinds of threads on this forum where people lost their slings to live prey, so it's not like it's an incredibly rare freak occurence either. Prey animals *really* don't want to be eaten, and that's not counting the fact that many insects are omnivorous and might just see your spider as food.

Heck, I don't feed my snake live prey either. Nobody kills prey for them in the wild, but wild snakes also get scarred up, lose eyes, and die. It happens to a fair portion of those captive snakes fed live prey as well, there are some pretty nasty images available.
I am not saying they dont, and I am not saying it is rare. I am simply saying if you are smart about it, you should have no problems feeding your sling live pinheads. Slings are usually very good eaters. I dont know about some of you guys...but mine eat them as soon as they are dropped in...sometimes they dont even hit the ground first. As for the people that have prey kill and start eating their T's...maybe they should be more observant and use common sense. Dont stick a bunch of prey in there if you just fed it, dont leave prey in there any longer than necessary, and dont feed it anything that can bite and envenomize it. That being said, common sense goes a long way...use it. I have seen lots of threads too about slings having the unfortunate happen, and it is usually the result of someone saying "Oh, well they said it was okay to feed it that..." or "My spider wouldn't eat it, so I left it in there and now he killed my T during molt." ...all of which could have been avoided with a little common sense. I dont know about your T's, but a pinhead would be hard pressed to injure even my smallest 0.5" T...let alone kill it. He is vicious and snatches two or three off the ground, and even out from hiding under moss easily.
 

Sequin

Arachnobaron
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Apr 18, 2004
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I am simply saying if you are smart about it, you should have no problems feeding your sling live pinheads. Slings are usually very good eaters.
Why take the chance as there are no guarantees?

As for the people that have prey kill and start eating their T's...maybe they should be more observant and use common sense.
Common sense only takes you so far. The prey item that killed my avic sling was a small mealworm. I dropped it at the entrance of his web, where he usually grabs them. The mealie must of wiggled its way out of the web, because in a few weeks my avic got munched during a molt. Now, usually my aboreals molt inside the protection of their web, but for whatever reason s/he didn't. It's impossible for a keeper to control everything, even some of the most cautious enthusiasts have had bad experiences with feeders.
 

lunixweb

Arachnobaron
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Apr 15, 2007
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I will answer the question of this thread, yeah the pinhead cricks are a good option even some little bigger could work.. and you can try with mealworms, little roaches (b dubia) or tenebrio molitor.. those are good feeders and could be great a variety diet some times.. :D
 

Sheazy

Arachnoknight
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Why take the chance as there are no guarantees?



Common sense only takes you so far. The prey item that killed my avic sling was a small mealworm. I dropped it at the entrance of his web, where he usually grabs them. The mealie must of wiggled its way out of the web, because in a few weeks my avic got munched during a molt.
Well, if it was me, I would have checked on it and saw that is was no longer in the web, and it wasn't eating it, soo.....common sense would have told me to find it...not wait weeks, or even a week. Dont you check on your T's regularly? That totally could have been avoided. I dont think I would feed a small sling a mealworm anyway...not at the size we are talking about...but that's just me. :?
 
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