How To Feed A G. Pulchripes Sling?

[TheBroCave Tarantulas YT]

Soooo I just got my G. Pulchripes sling. Yaaay. Anyways, I was curious about how to feed them as of course I just got him/her tonight, so I haven’t tried feeding him/her yet because I want him/her to get settled in first. But I’m curious on how I should go about feeding the sling. He/She is about 3/4 inch.

 

[Spaceman]

Drop in a pre-killed cricket and remove it 24 hours later

 

[SicSemperTyrannosaurus]

I feed my slings mealworms and they all like them. Just gotta be sure to crush the head first.

 

[Colorado Ts]

Soooo I just got my G. Pulchripes sling. Yaaay. Anyways, I was curious about how to feed them as of course I just got him/her tonight, so I haven’t tried feeding him/her yet because I want him/her to get settled in first. But I’m curious on how I should go about feeding the sling. He/She is about 3/4 inch.

I love my little G. pulchripes, good choice. With one sling, 3/4 inch, get small crickets.

You can try feeding the crickets alive to the sling to see how the sling responds. If the sling is a go getter and tackles the prey item, then great, continue feeding live small crickets. If the sling refuses the cricket, carefully catch it, kill it, then put the dead cricket back into the enclosure. Put the cricket in a specific location, so that if the sling feeds and you are not around...you'll be able to see that the prey item has been moved. Slings tend to drag things around when feeding.

To maintain your crickets, get a plastic container with a tight fitting lid. I got one at WalMart for around $1.98 or so.

Take an egg carton and cut it up into sections to provide habitat. Use bottle caps for food and water. Get water crystals as a water source, I got mine from Amazon for a couple bucks. I feed my crickets with flake fish food. I've heard of people feeding their crickets fresh food, I've never seen them eat much fresh food. They will gobble the fish food.

Crickets kept under these conditions will grow and survive to adulthood, so if they get so big that the sling refuses, kill the cricket and place it again in a specific location...you may need to cut the cricket into sections, if it really starts getting sizable.

If your sling ever decides to burrow for like a month or so...your crickets could/might go through their entire life cycle before the sling decides to come back and see what's up. I advise just giving in to the disease and get more slings; with the cost of crickets, it’s actually cheaper to have more slings if you are buying crickets.

...if your tarantula collection really starts to go to town, look into raising roaches. B. lateralis are my personal favorites.

 

[Feral]

Tom Moran of Tom's Big Spiders is an excellent source of information on care. His two-part video on sling husbandry is phenomenal. I'd advise watching the whole thing (both parts), but the section about feeding specifically is at the beginning of the second video.

Besides YouTube, he also has a website and does podcasts. Always excellent, reliable information!

And congrats on your new little fuzzbutt friend!

 

[Thekla]

I feed my slings mealworms and they all like them. Just gotta be sure to crush the head first.

I second this. Mealworms are the easiest for slings. They are nutritious and easily distributed and removed again in case your little one doesn't want to eat. And they last for months in the fridge.

And I would strongly recommend watching Tom's slings care guide as well. It has all the info you need to know.

 

[TheBroCave Tarantulas YT]

I second this. Mealworms are the easiest for slings. They are nutritious and easily distributed and removed again in case your little one doesn't want to eat. And they last for months in the fridge.

And I would strongly recommend watching Tom's slings care guide as well. It has all the info you need to know.

I will watch both videos and look into buying crickets and mealworms as soon as possible!

 

[sschind]

Good advice. I second (or is it third) the suggestion of mealworms. Most slings I have dealt with are excellent scavengers of pre killed prey. I don't know how many T's the OP has or how many crickets they go through and I don't want to hijack the thread but my comments may be pertinent to the OP as well. The advice on keeping crickets is all well and good but what about people with very small collections, like 1 or 2 T's. Buying even a dozen crickets can seem like a lot if they only have 1 or 2 slings that eat 1 or 2 crickets a week. Has anyone ever frozen crickets and then fed them to your T's after they thawed. I tried it with a bunch of very tiny slings (we are talking maybe 1/8 inch) I was raising and it seemed to work but the only thing is that thawed prey seems to decompose VERY quickly. It seemed that the size crickets I used were pretty much gone after 8 hours even if the sling didn't eat it. Maybe with bigger prey they will last a bit longer but if you do try it I wouldn't leave it for 24 hours. Feed at night and remove any leftovers in the morning. I know there may be the possibility that freezing will destroy some of the nutrients but it may be a partial solution for those who have small collections or those who want to add a bit of variety and don't want to deal with live crickets. I would also suggest getting banded crickets rather than house crickets if you want to go the live route. Much hardier and much less smell.

 

[Ungoliant]

Has anyone ever frozen crickets and then fed them to your T's after they thawed. I tried it with a bunch of very tiny slings (we are talking maybe 1/8 inch) I was raising and it seemed to work but the only thing is that thawed prey seems to decompose VERY quickly. It seemed that the size crickets I used were pretty much gone after 8 hours even if the sling didn't eat it. Maybe with bigger prey they will last a bit longer but if you do try it I wouldn't leave it for 24 hours. Feed at night and remove any leftovers in the morning. I know there may be the possibility that freezing will destroy some of the nutrients but it may be a partial solution for those who have small collections or those who want to add a bit of variety and don't want to deal with live crickets.

If you're thinking of freezing prey because it doesn't last long enough or you don't want to deal with live crickets, you're better off buying mealworms and keeping them in the refrigerator.

 

[sschind]

If you're thinking of freezing prey because it doesn't last long enough or don't want to deal with live crickets, you're better off buying mealworms and keeping them in the refrigerator.

I agree to a point. T keepers are not as concerned with a variety of food items as reptile keepers are. Frozen items may be more convenient though in some cases although I don't consider crushing the head of a live mealworm or two to be a significant inconvenience. When you are feeding a couple of hundred slings though it might be. I may try to freeze some mealworms myself. At least half of my feeding time involves picking out the mealworms and cutting off the heads or cutting them in half (for very tiny slings) My biggest concern, like I said in the other post, is that thawed prey decomposes very quickly and turns to mush.

 

[Jesse607]

A 3/4" G. pulchripes can catch appropriately sized (same size as body of T or smaller) crickets and roaches with no problems at all, no need to prekill. These are natural born predators and prekilling is by no means necessary, although popular nowadays. Crushing the heads of mealworms and digging roaches like B. dubia is always a good idea though, as they can quickly burrow into the substrate and be an issue later if not disabled.

 

[asunshinefix]

I raised my G. pulchripes from a 1/2" sling and it's always been a great eater. I started with pinhead crickets because I love watching them catch their prey, but if suitably-sized prey isn't available they will take pre-killed too. I like to feed pre-killed when I have reason to suspect a spider may not eat - for example the first meal in a new enclosure, or during premolt. Otherwise though a G. pulchripes in an appropriately-sized enclosure should have no problem with live prey.

 

[cold blood]

I will watch both videos and look into buying crickets and mealworms as soon as possible!

It shouldn't take a video...just dice and put in the enclosure, its literally that simple.

nom nom (Nhandu chromatus)

• cold blood
• Jun 8, 2018
• 1
• brazilian red and white tarantula chromatus feeding nhandu nhandu chromatus sling

I don't consider crushing the head of a live mealworm or two to be a significant inconvenience. When you are feeding a couple of hundred slings though it might be

Its not. Its WAY easier than feeding live prey I have to catch, or even having to thaw pieces I may have froze.

A 3/4" G. pulchripes can catch appropriately sized (same size as body of T or smaller) crickets and roaches with no problems at all, no need to prekill

The species does have a great feeding response, even as slings, I totally agree.

Some people just have issues finding appropriately sized prey...or don't want to deal with it, or just have a lot of ts to feed....so pre killed can be a significant convenience.

 

[Colorado Ts]

My little G. pulchripes is no pushing a bit over 2”. It is a feeding machine. And the adult coloring is just starting to become visible.

I've never cut up meal worms, but I have cut up large crickets. It works, it really does. I don't feed crickets much anymore, I feed roaches, I have red runners going beautifully, and I have a Dubia colony that should come online in the next couple of months.

G. pulchripes is a Great species, in my opinion.