Mealworm got down H gigas burrow...

[Benson1990]

Bit of a disaster here, a mealworm I was attempting to feed my H. gigas got down the burrow, what happened was I was trying to lure the T out of it's burrow like I always do for it to grab it, but when I went to pick it up it slipped of the tongs and fell down the burrow, the T didn't seem interested so I'm worried it may be premolt, will I just bite the bullet and dig it out, it's not in this enclosure long but I reckon it's the safest thing to do, what ya reckon?

 

[kingshockey]

depends if it was pre killed i would leave it if not then i would dig it out also once that gigas is grown your method of feeding it now could result in possible fang damage to it cause sooner or later it will tag the tongs or end with a dash right to your fingers

 

[Benson1990]

depends if it was pre killed i would leave it if not then i would dig it out also once that gigas is grown your method of feeding it now could result in possible fang damage to it cause sooner or later it will tag the tongs or end with a dash right to your fingers

I don't tong feed, by lure it out I mean I drop the worm near the entrance of the hide/burrow, it usually comes straight out when I do this, my gigas has a small burrow made but usually sits under it's hide most of the time which makes it easy to feed, but it wasn't interested this time which makes me think its in pre molt, when I new it wasn't going to be interested I went to grab the mealworm but it slipped off the tongs and went into the burrow.

Anyway its all good I was lucky, the mealworm didn't actually drop down the burrow it got stuck under the hide so I got it out.

 

[kingshockey]

I don't tong feed, by lure it out I mean I drop the worm near the entrance of the hide/burrow, it usually comes straight out when I do this, my gigas has a small burrow made but usually sits under it's hide most of the time which makes it easy to feed, but it wasn't interested this time which makes me think its in pre molt, when I new it wasn't going to be interested I went to grab the mealworm but it slipped off the tongs and went into the burrow.

Anyway its all good I was lucky, the mealworm didn't actually drop down the burrow it got stuck under the hide so I got it out.
cool i misunderstood your first post

 

[basin79]

Lucky escape, well lucky you didn't have to empty the enclosure. After it happened to me with a morioworm in an arboreal enclosure years ago I ALWAYS prekill morioworms that have a chance of falling down a burrow or hide.

Just not worth the risk of having to completely empty the enclosure to get them out.

 

[liquidfluidity]

I actually found one recently that had gotten away. It was in a N. chromatus enclosure. These guys eat anything so I didn't think much of dropping one in. I lucked out and found it one day during maintenance. It was in a den next to the glass in the stage just before it hardens and turns to beetle. Dug it out and fed it to a L.P. I'll never do that again.... but accidents happen.

 

[Kibosh]

Always crush the head first. As mentioned tong feeding is a bad idea. What's wrong with just placing a large cricket in the enclosure then watching it crawl to it's doom? That's what I do with mine and she is a great hunter and an aggressive eater.

 

[viper69]

Bombs away!