I've just got this Red Knee spiderling and it's tini!!! I can see little bristles but it just looks like a house spider if you just glance at it!! Anyway, my problem is there's no hydrometer on the vial so i wondered how often i should dampen the substrate? Also, every time i open the lid it legs (pardon the pun) it to the top so if i take the lid off it would get out. Are they ok to handle this young? And are there any tips on how to keep it in when im trying to fed it? I would rather not handle it yet as it's so small.
Red Knee Spiderling advice
- Thread starter wollywoo
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- Feb 13, 2006
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Ok #1 they are very fragile at that stage....
#2 they do fine with very lightly damp soil add water drops once a week or so. The T will drink from the soil. But when your T gets bigger no damp soil they like it dry.
#3 NO DONT HANDLE........ NO NO AND NO. THEY ARE WAY TO SMALL AT THAT STAGE.
#4 Feed them well and they will grow like nature intended. Try once a week feedings of pin head crickets. Or you can pinch off a cricket leg and spiderlings will eat a prey item like that.
#5 Do those things and it gets easier and easier.... the bigger a brachy gets the easier it gets.
#6 no hydrometer needed.....
#2 they do fine with very lightly damp soil add water drops once a week or so. The T will drink from the soil. But when your T gets bigger no damp soil they like it dry.
#3 NO DONT HANDLE........ NO NO AND NO. THEY ARE WAY TO SMALL AT THAT STAGE.
#4 Feed them well and they will grow like nature intended. Try once a week feedings of pin head crickets. Or you can pinch off a cricket leg and spiderlings will eat a prey item like that.
#5 Do those things and it gets easier and easier.... the bigger a brachy gets the easier it gets.
#6 no hydrometer needed.....
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- Oct 14, 2005
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- 4,588
I had the same problem with my 1/2" L. parahybana. Basically, the sling feels threatened and runs in the only possible direction, even if that's straight out of the enclosure.
I worked around this by getting a deli cup a couple inches deep and 4-5" across. Got it from the deli at a Bi-Lo, it was what they sold fudge in (mmm, fudge). Used a needle to put in a lot of tiny airholes, filled it HIGH with peat moss (to about .75" below the lip of the cup), instant enclosure. The sling made a burrow and stayed there; but even before it burrowed, it had plenty of room to get away from me when I opened the cup.
When it was time to feed, I'd put a dead cricket by the little hole--and if it wasn't gone in 24 hours, I'd take it out with tweezers. Watering was done by just misting the cup twice a week. When it molted, it'd shove it out of the burrow on its own.