I hate crickets...

Deolok

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Jul 24, 2006
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449
Alright to get straight to the point, I was told it was ok to place live feed in with slings. And I was also told that the food could be slightly larger then the T. Ok well I through a medium size cricket (about 3cm) in with the T. Immediatly the T climbs up the side and sits. Well the next day I go to check on the two and they are both gone...The cricket is still there and looking unusally plump... I dumped out the containers and found nothing... Lids were sealed and there was no way they could have gotten out.... My assumption, crickets ate them...
 

ShadowBlade

Planeswalker
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Apr 1, 2006
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2,591
Do you only have two slings? That's awful to hear.
This is why petstore advice is not usually the best to follow.

If slings are that small, don't feed prey items bigger then them. Pinheads, or pre-killed is the way to go if you're gonna feed crix.

-Sean
 

bigo

Arachnosquire
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Aug 1, 2006
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92
I say that there is high chance that the crix ate your slings. first you never ever feed your sling crix that are bigger then it unless you prekill the crix. You should be using pin heads or rip up a body part of a crix like a leg some T would eat others would not. you could also try fruit flys. but what kind of tarantula was it b/c if it was a G.rose and you are fellow IL i have hundreds of them and i could spare some to you and you could try again
 

verry_sweet

Arachnobaron
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Jul 22, 2006
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Oh I’m sorry to hear that Deolok. Pre killed is definitely the way to go. Actually I read in a post here recently that you can freeze crix and then give em to the spiderling….I haven’t tried it yet but I will.

As for bigo that was very nice of you to offer Deolok some of your babies….you have some good karma coming your way ;)

Steph
 

RottweilExpress

Arachnoprince
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Apr 3, 2006
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I feed with baby S. tartara roaches. They DON'T bite, so they are perfect. I can experiment all I want with sizes.
 

Never_2_Old

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 3, 2005
Messages
36
Sorry for your loss. Damn.:( I have raised slings from 0.20" to 0.75" using pre-killed crickets with very good results. My Lasiodora parahybana sling would run from live prey until she was 1.0".:confused: She is now a chubby 5" live prey killing machine!:eek:
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
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Oct 14, 2005
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4,588
OActually I read in a post here recently that you can freeze crix and then give em to the spiderling….I haven’t tried it yet but I will.
That was probably one of my posts, as it's my favorite sling-feeding strategy. You don't have to look for pinheads, you don't have to try recapturing a moving target if it doesn't get eaten.

And it's amazing what an L. parahybana can put away if the prey is too dead to fight back. I once watched a teeny sling make a cricket bigger than its whole legspan vanish entirely. Man oh man, that butt was huge. :eek:

OP, whoever told you to feed live prey as big as/bigger than the T is a huge flaming moron and owes you some spiders.
 

Ando55

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
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488
OP, whoever told you to feed live prey as big as/bigger than the T is a huge flaming moron and owes you some spiders.
Bingo! Sad to hear about your loss, just sad! What two sp's were they? Those darn cricks! Pre-killed or adult legs is the way to go for small small slings, hope you have replacement Ts soon and please give a good knock on the head of who told you to feed bigger prey to smaller Ts.
 

Selenops

Arachnoangel
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Dec 13, 2006
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844
Sorry to hear about your losses, crickets are actually nasty customers especially towards their own kind like sharks when encountering an injured or molting and freshly molted one.

Pre-killed is pertinent except for like a Cyclosternum fasciatum which genuinely fills the description you gave in your initial post. These are s'lings that tenaciously kill crickets larger than themselves.
 

Deolok

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
449
Alright, well I am going to look for the post that I made when asking on how to feed them. Hopefully it is still on here. This is where I was told it was ok to feed them prey bigger/big as them.
 

Selenops

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
844
Alright, well I am going to look for the post that I made when asking on how to feed them. Hopefully it is still on here. This is where I was told it was ok to feed them prey bigger/big as them.
There is only one species I would feel safe suggesting doing this with, C. fasciatum. 100% guaranteed.

And even than, under direct supervision however I have never seen C. fasciatum fail to make short and very quick work of the cricket.
 

moricollins

Arachno search engine
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
3,687
OP, whoever told you to feed live prey as big as/bigger than the T is a huge flaming moron and owes you some spiders.
I routinely feed my 1/2" tarantulas 1/2" (or thereabouts) crickets and mealworms that are even longer than the tarantula is; it just takes watching the tarantula to ensure it eats :rolleyes:, probably why it takes me an hour to feed my ~100 tarantulas :rolleyes: , granted what works for one person won't work for all.

Mori
 

Selenops

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
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Dec 13, 2006
Messages
844
Why is this? What makes the C. Fasciatum so special?
Ah Kodak moment. In the earlier days of my invert collecting, on a Arachnid mailing list numbering in the surplus of 700-800 members. Several members were presenting photos of the tenacious nature of C. fasciatum s'lings even those without color attacking and consuming crickets larger than themselves.

Photo after photo after photo of proof, than I bought some myself from Swift's Inverts and mine were doing the same thing.

I've never seen anything like the C. fasciatum, as soon as cricket at the same body size or greater were in the vicinity, instant massacre, by these pitbulls of the T world.

Hey, I challenge the folks here to do the same and post the pics! But yes under direct supervision of course.

TENACIOUS! CHOMP!
 

Ruby

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 29, 2006
Messages
32
Thats awful to hear im so sorry for you ! The evil wicked crickets must be tought a lesson !
 
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