How big is 3” for tarantulas? And should I feed my A. Avic sling live food in sling stage?

[ArachnoDancer]

Should I feed live food or pre killed?
And how big is 3” i read how people start feeding live food 3” or some start readily reject pre killed?

 

[ladyratri]

My A. purpurea happily took live crickets when it was just under an inch in diagonal leg span. They take live food long before they get to 3".

 

[ArachnoDancer]

My A. purpurea happily took live crickets when it was just under an inch in diagonal leg span. They take live food long before they get to 3".

Thank you it wont be dangerous? I have seen a couple avicularias even run from live crickets?

 

[ladyratri]

Thank you it wont be dangerous? I have seen a couple avicularias even run from live crickets?

Shouldn't be, especially if you can find smaller crickets than I could... But your best bet if you are concerned is to supervise until it catches the cricket. If it's a sling, it should be in a fairly small enclosure where it did not take long for a cricket to blunder into it.

No one gives them pre-killed food in the wild... If you find feeders the right size, they'll take them.

Mine happened to believe "the right size" was "anything marginally smaller than my entire legspan"

 

[viper69]

Should I feed live food or pre killed?
And how big is 3” i read how people start feeding live food 3” or some start readily reject pre killed?

3”is 3”

Ive always fed live - down to Ts that were 1/8”

You have to feed appropriate sized prey.

You think dead food walks up to them in the wild????

 

[Wolfram1]

Thank you it wont be dangerous? I have seen a couple avicularias even run from live crickets?

when they run from them, or react otherwhise in a defensive manner then it is a clear sign as any to prekill or at least heavily damage them
(or use smaller pray, but that is not always possible)

if they don't, feeding live prey is absolutely fine

i always partially crush the prey, usually roaches or Zophobas, that way it is much simpler to see if they will eat right away or if they dont, in which case you can still give them some time with zero risk should the spider start molting out of the blue
my 0.2c

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

My <1" D sp panama takes 2 week old crickets. 1 week would be better sized for her, but not readily available in my area. She tackles them like a champ. Great to watch. Both my Avics were hunting live prey at around an inch.

 

[Smotzer]

You can absolutely feed live prey at any size as long as the prey is appropriately sized to the tarantula! This includes very small sling sizes like 1/8” as @viper69 said!

 

[ArachnoDancer]

Thank you I really appreciate this :> imma try to feed live crickets now and they are appropriately sized so thank you!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Should I feed live food or pre killed?
And how big is 3” i read how people start feeding live food 3” or some start readily reject pre killed?

live .
I’d say yes tarantulas of any size attack live prey. But because people are afraid the cricket might munch on the t people often feed pre killed . This is a non factor for 3” t you can remove the crickets if it’s not hungry.

 

[ArachnoDancer]

Has anybody had their T death by crickets? I read up on it a while back. And thank you I shall do the live

 

[ArachnoDancer]

Update:

The cricket from last night was pre killed. I was going to place live cricket in today but he readily jumped at the prekill and hungrily went after it. I may feed him again but live very soon today or tomorrow since I finally gotten crickets and he had rejected the mealworms for entire whole week since his last feeding. Just wondering if it that is okay and it will be live.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Update:

The cricket from last night was pre killed. I was going to place live cricket in today but he readily jumped at the prekill and hungrily went after it. I may feed him again but live very soon today or tomorrow since I finally gotten crickets and he had rejected the mealworms for entire whole week since his last feeding. Just wondering if it that is okay and it will be live.

I only use pre killed if the prey item looks to big for the t or if it refuses live feeders mostly mealworms I pre kill . These ambush predators love eating mobile prey. I’ve never had a super worm attack a t but beware they burrow . And don’t have too many hiding spots for prey , I’ve got a roach that burrowed away . I prefer live prey like I said already..

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

At 3” he won’t need to eat that frequently

 

[ArachnoDancer]

He is about 2” or 1” 1/2? You can see pictures in one of the photos I have posted. I only thought 3” because I read someone only fed 3” starting live feeders and no more pre killed. So I had that question of what is 3” to see if he will accept but he is still pretty small.
he was just very picky and would not accept mealworms for the life of him and finally jumped onto a cricket. I fed him last monday. And he finally ate today.
Its been a week.

I only use pre killed if the prey item looks to big for the t or if it refuses live feeders mostly mealworms I pre kill . These ambush predators love eating mobile prey. I’ve never had a super worm attack a t but beware they burrow . And don’t have too many hiding spots for prey , I’ve got a roach that burrowed away . I prefer live prey like I said already..

And yea. It just happen how the pre killed was still in there. From thus point on Im going to do live prey. I wanted to test the live prey but i was in a rush to finally get him something to eat after so long since he rejected mealworms. He is so picky! But i cant wait to start seeing him hunt and jump onto live moving prey.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

He is about 2” or 1” 1/2? You can see pictures in one of the photos I have posted. I only thought 3” because I read someone only fed 3” starting live feeders and no more pre killed. So I had that question of what is 3” to see if he will accept but he is still pretty small.
he was just very picky and would not accept mealworms for the life of him and finally jumped onto a cricket. I fed him last monday. And he finally ate today.
Its been a week.

At that size once a week or two is enough for feeding , and live prey should be fine . I’ve fed slings under 1” live meals , although prefer pre killed for anything under 3/4”.

And yea. It just happen how the pre killed was still in there. From thus point on Im going to do live prey. I wanted to test the live prey but i was in a rush to finally get him something to eat after so long since he rejected mealworms. He is so picky! But i cant wait to start seeing him hunt and jump onto live moving prey.

Picky yes , not all mine will eat supers . I had to phase over to mostly roaches . My smallest few eat mealworms when they were smaller , and still could .

 

[ArachnoDancer]

At that size once a week or two is enough for feeding , and live prey should be fine . I’ve fed slings under 1” live meals , although prefer pre killed for anything under 3/4”.

Picky yes , not all mine will eat supers . I had to phase over to mostly roaches . My smallest few eat mealworms when they were smaller , and still could .

In the beginning he ate two crickets when i first got him that week. The second week he ate a mealworm but after that because I had no more crickets he highly refused mealworms. Would not touch a sliver and avoid no matter how much he looked like he was scavenging. He jumped onto this cricket like it was the end of his life. I suppose I do have to again wait 2-3 days to feed him which will be a live cricket?
he rejected until he saw a cricket which was funny. And thank you all for your help. And thank god I finally got crickets .
I didnt want them to suffocate and die in the bag as they did last time so i moved them to an old critter case and just leaving the crickets there for whenever Tarantula sling is hungry

Meanwhile as I have read and seen from crickets long time ago I had try to drown themselves and read how crickets go suicide in the waterbowl..gotta make sure they dont go suicide. Just watched one drowning instead of dipping his head into it like the others..fml

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Meanwhile as I have read and seen from crickets long time ago I had try to drown themselves and read how crickets go suicide in the waterbowl..gotta make sure they dont go suicide. Just watched one drowning instead of dipping his head into it like the others..fml

haha yeah
Crickets& roaches , water dishes are the enemy of stupid feeders .. smart roaches burrow they don’t drown . I got an escaped orange head roach that burrowed. I gotta thwack them Next time or crush it’s head .

 

[ArachnoDancer]

haha yeah
Crickets& roaches , water dishes are the enemy of stupid feeders .. smart roaches burrow they don’t drown . I got an escaped orange head roach that burrowed. I gotta thwack them Next time or crush it’s head .

I just read up how suicidal crickets have hairworms that makes crickets drown in the water and the hairworm will escape

Horse Hair Worms

Help my tarantula isn't eating, it's been three days, I think it might have worms!!!!!!! :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry: Just kidding, don't bite my head off. No, I was at that.. dreaded PetsOne again, mainly because they unfortunately carry some specialty other stores...

arachnoboards.com

they said let it rest from this old forum for it is apparently does not affect Ts. When they did find a hair worm from after their cricket drowning.
Still damn. Lol
Still going to make sure to do more research. Stupid crickets but..actually poor crickets…maybe i should kill that one cricket just in case..though it did say that let it rest these crickets do not harm Ts despite hairworms. Question mark? I suppose? Good thing but dun dun dunnn
Horse hairworms apparently do not parasitize any other animals and have had no problems research states

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I just read up how suicidal crickets have hairworms that makes crickets drown in the water and the hairworm will escape

Horse Hair Worms

Help my tarantula isn't eating, it's been three days, I think it might have worms!!!!!!! :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry: Just kidding, don't bite my head off. No, I was at that.. dreaded PetsOne again, mainly because they unfortunately carry some specialty other stores...

arachnoboards.com

they said let it rest from this old forum for it is apparently does not affect Ts. When they did find a hair worm from after their cricket drowning.
Still damn. Lol
Still going to make sure to do more research. Stupid crickets but..actually poor crickets…maybe i should kill that one cricket just in case..though it did say that let it rest these crickets do not harm Ts despite hairworms. Question mark? I suppose? Good thing but dun dun dunnn
Horse hairworms apparently do not parasitize any other animals and have had no problems research states

It’s very rare to find captive feeders with horse hairworms .. if you do I’d get A refund if possible . You can tell because worms 🪱 will leave the dead crickets . crickets and roaches drown because they cannot swim. I’ve never had infected crickets .