My T only eats pre-killed prey

[Estein]

I agree with previous posters who have suggested that the mealworms are probably too big for your gal right now.

I did see a couple people recommend avoiding mealworms altogether, so I wanted to throw in my two cents. In the past, I've lived too far from a pet store to get regular crickets and having a mealworm colony was a huge time and money saver. It may be that your T never shows interest, but they may be worth looking into in the future--they provide an inexpensive, low-maintenance, and tasty (for people too!) option.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

This is a bit absurd for me to believe. Try micro-millimeter sized live crickets and see if little buggers wouldn't wrestle & eat those

As far as I remember I've never offered a "dead" prey to mines in all of those (wasted) years :-s

 

[Poec54]

How plump is she, and how long ago did she molt? Given where you live, you could very likely get away with "bone dry" substrate. Regardless, never spray/mist any species. If you need to provide humidity, do it using a syringe (any drug store sells them). Spiders hate misting, and on top of that, it's a terrible way to provide humidity as it dries out far too quickly. I do believe that you're keeping this species a bit too moist. I live in an arid environment, and I water my 2.5" B. albopilosum about once every other week.

I use a squirt bottle to moisten the substrate of my slings, with it set for a single stream. I use that to both fill water bowls and add moisture to the substrate in deli cups. With larger cages I randomly sprinkle water from a water bottle (I keep the caps for sling water bowls, and go thru about a case of water a week).

 

[Vanessa]

I have never had much success feeding the large meal worms or super worms. Even my adults have been wary of them, let alone a juvenile. They are nasty and they bite and the tarantula knows that.
Tarantulas don't understand that you have crushed their heads and they can't bite anymore. All they see is a nasty, biting thing in their enclosure.
As much as I dislike crickets, I would take those any day over super worms. It's too bad because meal worms are so easy to keep.

 

[Poec54]

I have never had much success feeding the large meal worms or super worms. Even my adults have been wary of them, let alone a juvenile. They are nasty and they bite and the tarantula knows that.
Tarantulas don't understand that you have crushed their heads and they can't bite anymore. All they see is a nasty, biting thing in their enclosure.
As much as I dislike crickets, I would take those any day over super worms. It's too bad because meal worms are so easy to keep.

Superworms have vicious jaws and can easily injure a tarantula, even an adult tarantula. I never pre-kill superworms, but I always watch to make sure they have things under control before I move on. Tarantulas instinctively know how to avoid the jaws while subduing prey. They know where to bite it and how to maneuver it.

 

[Vanessa]

Superworms have vicious jaws and can easily injure a tarantula, even an adult tarantula. I never pre-kill superworms, but I always watch to make sure they have things under control before I move on. Tarantulas instinctively know how to avoid the jaws while subduing prey. They know where to bite it and how to maneuver it.

I remember when Evelyn would eat them and she would lift her legs up to avoid their mouths as they swung around. It was actually pretty funny to see her alternately lifting one leg and then another to avoid being bitten. She didn't realize that I had prevented them from biting her.
I can definitely understand a juvenile wanting to avoid them altogether.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I got my B. Albo as 5-6cm juvie and I fed her mini crickets (bigger than pinheads but still smaller than the smallest ones they sell in my local pet shop) with no issues, I'm moving on to B. Dubia roaches (my A. Geniculata is going to have a field day with those once she finally moults and gets her appetite back) as soon as the last half a dozen or so crickets are gone as I hate keeping the things.

I feed my GBB sling mini mealworms and it's really picky about which ones it will take down so I have to fish around in the tub to find the smallest ones possible. My Chaco sling doesn't care and happily wrestles the bigger ones into submission which is quite funny to watch.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

You should be feeding it crickets on a regular basis. I've had thousands of tarantulas over the decades and everyone of them, at every age, readily ate/eats crickets. It's the universal tarantula prey.

Agreed . There is a reason every pet shop sells the darn things , almost everything will eat them . I use to give them to my Oscars and they would practically jump out the aquarium get more .