How often and much to feed a b.vagan. and avic avics slings ?

[Animalia]

Got my first T a b.vagan from zues9699 as a freebie and im hooked
well i got my b.laterlis today from jmiller (both of who i recommend to anyone)
and fed him a small nymph in the cage it is currently eating it.

so my questions are,
how often should i feed it ?
and what about avics (getting like 20 soon.)

both around 1/2"

 

[mickey66]

how often

I feed my B.Vagans about three or four crickets per week depending on the size of the crickets and she is about 2 1/2" in size and just finished a molt....she will pig-out for about two weeks then go into pre-molt and stop eating until she does her molt....your mileage may vary though. Edit:On a 1/2 sling I would give one or two pin-head or baby crickets per week and your B.Vagans will be hungry most likely as they are very good eaters and may molt every month for awhile....mine did and so did my B.Smithi. When they get to the size of 2" they start to slow down a bit on the molting but are eating full size crickets....In fact at the size of 1" they were eating adult crickets. PS,PS: After a molt your B.Vagans will be one of the best looking spiders out there IMHO

 

[Satellite Rob]

You can feed it as much as you want.It's totally up to you.You can feed it
once a week or 3 times a day.The more you feed it.The quicker it will grow
and molt.The only problem with power feeding is your T is more open to in
to injury if it falls.Thats only because of the extra weight it's carrying.So you
can feed till it will not eat anymore.But a few proportional sized crickets or
roaches once a week is all she needs.It's totally up to you.

 

[mickey66]

You can feed it as much as you want.It's totally up to you.You can feed it
once a week or 3 times a day.The more you feed it.The quicker it will grow
and molt.The only problem with power feeding is your T is more open to in
to injury if it falls.Thats only because of the extra weight it's carrying.So you
can feed till it will not eat anymore.But a few proportional sized crickets or
roaches once a week is all she needs.It's totally up to you.

This is right on the money so to speak....My B.vagans well,....I don't see her much these days stays in her hide and only comes out to eat then back in the hide.

 

[Ariel]

Mines a ferocious eater, she usually eats 2-3 crickets a week, usually more.

 

[Steve Calceatum]

Generally, I feed my T's twice a week. I'm not too stoked on the idea of powerfeeding, but haven't tried it yet. My T's seem to eat when they want to anyways.

 

[x Mr Awesome x]

I've power fed my vagans and albiceps with great results. Yes, they got huge and ugly, but it's only temporary and until they reach a desirable size. My albiceps was horrifically huge. She at one point ate 5 crickets in a single day at only about 2 1/2" in size. She got enormous and molted a while later, not as often as the vagans, and had some really nice size on her. Now that I feel like I can show her off I'm going to slow down and enjoy a reasonable pace. Like everyone on here is telling you; feed at the pace you think is best. If you want color and you want it now then feed that sucker until it quits and then do it all over again after a molt. You'll have a beautiful black vagans instead of a little pink thing running around. Just my $.02
-ben

 

[spiderfield]

To toss in my experience here, I obtained a small B. vagans (~1-1.5" total length) last Aug'08 and had fed him often and kept him warm/humid early on and he just matured this past Sept. The increased warmth and humidity, i'm sure, had to have been a factor in increasing its appetite by increasing its metabolism.

 

[Bill S]

When I have tiny slings, I tend to feed them whatever they will eat. I like to get them up to an easier-to-deal with size. But by the time they're approaching 2" I tend to watch and see how fat they are. If they look thin, I feed them. If they're getting too plump, they skip a feeding.

 

[WARPIG]

When I have tiny slings, I tend to feed them whatever they will eat. I like to get them up to an easier-to-deal with size. But by the time they're approaching 2" I tend to watch and see how fat they are. If they look thin, I feed them. If they're getting too plump, they skip a feeding.

This is what I do.

PIG-

 

[maitre]

I feed my slings twice a week so every 3-4 days, they get a meal.

My communes, however, are fed more. They are fed on the same schedule but they receive more prey items. Rather keep them well fed so they won't prey on each other : P

 

[jayefbe]

I offer my slings at least a couple pinheads every other day. They don't eat them all, as quite a few will escape out of the screening (which is very annoying), but I like having food available for them. I'll also throw in cricket legs when I have them available (read, they've been torn off a larger cricket when trying to catch it) and just remove it the next day if it hasn't been munched on yet.