Red knee

Flm85

Arachnopeon
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Aug 13, 2016
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Hey, I picked up a juvenile red knee just over a week ago. First night I had it, came down in morning and was on its back to molt! Molt went fine, this was last weekend. Left it alone completely since apart from making sure there is water. Just put in a cricket now and spider seems to be hiding from it. Should I take it out straight away or leave overnight do you think? I've kept tarantulas before, but always mature. Don't want to stress it out by leaving cricket in if its not interested
 

Flexzone

Arachnodemon
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Mar 1, 2015
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721
Prekill it and leave it in front of its hide, if it still hasn't attempted to consume it within 24hrs then remove it and try again the following week. Most important thing is to make sure there's fresh water available for it.
 

Flm85

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Aug 13, 2016
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Ok thanks. It was wandering around in front for a while and I thought it might go for it, but came back half hour later and cricket was still in same place but spider on other side of tank hidden under leaves. Never pre killed before, will give it a try now. Seemed to be really active last couple of days so thought might be ready
 

cold blood

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Slow grow can take a long time to recover following a molt, a week's not long enough...its clearly not ready to eat yet...give it another week before you try to feed it again.
 

magicmed

Arachnobaron
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Jun 4, 2016
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Its fangs also may not be ready, I recently had a young A. Versicolor go almost 3 weeks after molting to eat before taking a prekilled, it's safer just to wait and not risk a damaged fang or exo
 

viper69

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Dec 8, 2006
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Hey, I picked up a juvenile red knee just over a week ago. First night I had it, came down in morning and was on its back to molt! Molt went fine, this was last weekend. Left it alone completely since apart from making sure there is water. Just put in a cricket now and spider seems to be hiding from it. Should I take it out straight away or leave overnight do you think? I've kept tarantulas before, but always mature. Don't want to stress it out by leaving cricket in if its not interested
The only accurate method of determining if it's safe to provide food for a molted T is to know its fangs' colors. Molted Ts have white fangs, then red, then black. You feed on black only, otherwise fangs get lost or damaged. 2 lost fangs often result in death by starvation.
 

Flm85

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So...after a couple of weeks of adding and removing crickets...decided to try an average-large locust and barely had time to drop it before it was grabbed! Just a fussy spider
 

johnny quango

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May 17, 2013
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So...after a couple of weeks of adding and removing crickets...decided to try an average-large locust and barely had time to drop it before it was grabbed! Just a fussy spider
I've found this with a few of mine they sometimes refuse crickets (especially black crickets) even if they aren't in premoult or post moult but if I replace that cricket with a locust bang it's gone.
I tend to buy a batch of locusts every 4-6 weeks as a change from the norm and about every 2-3 months I get waxworm and mealworm as a treat for my Avics and other small slings.
I know it probably makes no difference to the tarantula but I like to think that giving them a varied diet is something they would experience in the wild as to whether they taste any different to a tarantula I don't know but if it suits them I'll continue doing it
 

Andrea82

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Jan 12, 2016
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I recently switched to locusts, even though I get the shivers when unboxing them. (The only feeder that creeps me out )
But I switched to them because they are feeders that everyone likes. Avicularia, Brachypelma, Psalmopoeus, Gbb, Tapinauchenius, they all take them quite aggressively down.
And as an added bonus, they don't smell, don't make a sound, and are easy to feed. I don't feed adult locusts though, too creepy for me, and they can possibly hurt my T's
 
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johnny quango

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@Andrea82 I actually think they are the best feeders but even the tiny little locust are just a little too large for my tiny slings so unfortunately any sling under 1" as to wait to experience a locust meal
 

Alana

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Jun 26, 2016
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Locusts are definitely one of my favourite feeders. Easy to keep, don't smell, don't chirp, and if they escape then they don't make a beeline for cracks in the floorboards or under the furniture. They don't hide in the enclosures, so they're easy for the Ts to catch, especially arboreals. My 5 year old thinks they're cool too (he also loves the roaches). Nobody likes the crickets.
 

antinous

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For especially slow growers, I prefer feeding mealworms for the slings/juvies and superworms for the adults. I've had the fastest growth when feeding them. However, my tarantula room jumps for 70-87 throughout the day.
 

johnny quango

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For especially slow growers, I prefer feeding mealworms for the slings/juvies and superworms for the adults. I've had the fastest growth when feeding them. However, my tarantula room jumps for 70-87 throughout the day.
I prefer to use waxworm to fatten up any slow growers and a plus is they don't bite back at the tarantulas
 

antinous

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I prefer to use waxworm to fatten up any slow growers and a plus is they don't bite back at the tarantulas
Only thing is, waxworms are just for fattening them up as they don't have much nutrition in them. Mealworms and superworms contain fat as well as other nutrients, making them quite a bit better than just wax worms.
 

johnny quango

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Only thing is, waxworms are just for fattening them up as they don't have much nutrition in them. Mealworms and superworms contain fat as well as other nutrients, making them quite a bit better than just wax worms.
I still feed small crickets along with waxworm and the reason I do it like that is because I only have 5 arboreals Avicularia sp Colombia, Avicularia metallica, Avicularia braunshauseni Psalmopoeus cambridgei and Pachistopelma bromelicola and out of those 5 only my Sp Colombia and metallica will eat mealworm and only about 4-5 of the rest of my collection will eat them so in the end the wild birds get them
 

antinous

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I still feed small crickets along with waxworm and the reason I do it like that is because I only have 5 arboreals Avicularia sp Colombia, Avicularia metallica, Avicularia braunshauseni Psalmopoeus cambridgei and Pachistopelma bromelicola and out of those 5 only my Sp Colombia and metallica will eat mealworm and only about 4-5 of the rest of my collection will eat them so in the end the wild birds get them
That's a bit interesting, I've never had a T out of my 34+ refuse one, heck it's what the main thing they get fed.
 

Andrea82

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@Andrea82 I actually think they are the best feeders but even the tiny little locust are just a little too large for my tiny slings so unfortunately any sling under 1" as to wait to experience a locust meal
True, for slings i use diced up mealworms or micro crickets.
If i remember correctly, locusts aren't welcome in the US, because it is a risk for a plague.
It's hard to imagine these relatively slow and gentle creatures swarming in the millions, leaving nothing behind....
 
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