My I. mira sling

[Stella Maris]

My I. mira sling, "Scooter" hasn't eaten in almost 3 weeks now. I know it's not unusual for tarantulas to go on fasting periods or just not eat while in pre-molt. However I don't really know if he is currently in pre-molt or not?

He will not eat any of the pre-killed crickets or mealworms I lay there for him. Not sure if I should be concerned or just keep offering him pre-killed prey?

 

[KezyGLA]

It looks to have moulted recently. There is probably an exuviae in its burrow that you havent seen yet. Halt feeding for a few days then try again.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Could be recently molted, have you noticed a size increase? It looks about the size where you could begin offering live feeders, could just be picky and refuse pre killed, try feeding a live prey item, the sling looks plenty large enough to eat small crickets.

 

[Venom1080]

Three weeks? My adults eat after three weeks, slings eat after at most one week.

Try smaller prey items.

 

[cold blood]

Live prey items. Being trapdoor spiders, their feeding instinct is even more strongly guided by prey movement, as often they don't open the trap door unless they feel something moving above.

 

[Stella Maris]

Live prey items. Being trapdoor spiders, their feeding instinct is even more strongly guided by prey movement, as often they don't open the trap door unless they feel something moving above.

I've tried a mixture of live prey (small mealworms with crushed heads and small crickets) and pre-killed prey when trying to feed live prey doesn't work out.

Scooter will run laps around his enclosure at even the smallest cricket or mealworm. If a cricket/mealworm approaches the entrance to his "burrow," he will immediately flee or pop into his burrow. Keep in mind he doesn't build trap doors yet, and hasn't. I'm not sure when he will begin to do so. He is extremely shy, which is what I expect from this genus/species I guess?

I tried looking for an exuvium but to no avail, so I don't think he has molted at all since I received him. He ate shortly after I got him but hasn't eaten for almost 3 weeks now. I feed my slings more often to try to get them into the juvenile stage, but I'm not sure why Scooter isn't hungry. Most of my baboons tend to be voracious eaters, but not Scooter.

Edit: well never mind, I split a medium sized cricket in half earlier, and just found Scooter dragging one half of the carcass around. So he appears to be feeding off of it at this point.

My slings can't resist giant cricket innards, so I think I'm going to feed him large pre-killed crickets for the time being. It's like magic!

 

[Stella Maris]

Today I found a molt that I hadn't seen the day before, so I'm not sure when Scooter molted? He did eat half of a small cricket, but I can't tell if he's any bigger or not.

 

[viper69]

Do you have a bowl of water in there..if you don't, that's not wise. I've always provided water for my I mira, and always provided live food. It's a trap-door species after all.

 

[Andrea82]

Keep in mind he doesn't build trap doors yet, and hasn't. I'm not sure when he will begin to do so.

From pic nr 2 in your original post it looks to have built a trapdoor, albeit a small one

 

[ErinM31]

Glad you got them eating! It's such a cute little T!