Poecilotheria metallica Sling Related Question

[Najakeeper]

Hey Guys,

I can be considered new to the Tarantula hobby. Back in the day I had a couple that I kept for a while but a few months ago I got into it deeper.

I have 9 so far and one is a P.metallica sling, which is about as big as my thumbnail if not slightly bigger.

Anyway, I got him from a reputable breeder in addition to my other Ts. Everything I got from this guy is 100% healthy, eating etc and I trust him 100%. He let me choose the P.metallica from a bunch he had and I choose the healthiest looking sling so no problems there.

Now after this lengthy intro, the problem I have is that the little sucker does not like to eat. For a month it ignored food (S.lateralis, which is also what it used to eat at the breeder`s place) and finally he ate 1. And it has been more than another month since he took that down. He doesn`t seem to be particularly in a bad shape as far as I can tell but still I am scared for a little sling eating one small bug for two months.

He is kept in a small plastic container with slightly moist turf/dirt, a small vertical bark. Night time temperature is around 24 degrees C and day time is around 27-28 degrees C. There is no water source since the T is very small.

So should I be worried? Am I doing something wrong? How long can a sling wait before eating, knowing that they get most of their moisture from their food?

Here are a couple pictures:

Thanks

 

[Hobo]

You might want to dry it out a little, it looks soaked in there, even for a sling. I've read that they will refuse food if it's too wet (under "climate"), though I've yet to experience that myself with mine, since I've kept them relatively dry.

As for eating, I wouldn't worry too much, unless several months go by and the abdomen starts shrinking or something. When my male was a little(er) one, he fasted for one month and a few weeks. I thought he was in premolt, but nope, just full.

Remember also that usually the prey they recieve is usually much larger in comparison to what an adult gets (feeding a small sling a pinhead would be like feeding an adult a rat sized bug!) so a single meal can last a small sling a really long time.

As long as it's acting normally and not displaying any alarming symtoms (curling, DKS, etc) then it shoud be ok.

Nice looking spider, btw.

 

[Najakeeper]

You might want to dry it out a little, it looks soaked in there, even for a sling. I've read that they will refuse food if it's too wet (under "climate"), though I've yet to experience that myself with mine, since I've kept them relatively dry.

As for eating, I wouldn't worry too much, unless several months go by and the abdomen starts shrinking or something. When my male was a little(er) one, he fasted for one month and a few weeks. I thought he was in premolt, but nope, just full.

Remember also that usually the prey they recieve is usually much larger in comparison to what an adult gets (feeding a small sling a pinhead would be like feeding an adult a rat sized bug!) so a single meal can last a small sling a really long time.

As long as it's acting normally and not displaying any alarming symtoms (curling, DKS, etc) then it shoud be ok.

Nice looking spider, btw.

Well it just molted . I feel like a little stupid now.

Let`s see what does to its food in a week ,

 

[KoriTamashii]

Well you should take some post-molt pics! I bet it looks pretty snazzy!