Should I leave prey with T?

[Professor Zoom]

Sorry if it's a noob question, but it's my first T. Brazilian white knee sling, anyways Im feeding it for what would be the third time however I have noticed on occasion it won't react to the cricket the crickets would even be right next to it and my sling sling wouldn't react. Is this normal and should I leave the prey with my sling until its eaten or dies?

 

[Walker253]

Leave it overnight and pull it the next day. Depending on the size of the sling, I might pinch the head of the cricket. I small sling will scavenge off it. Pull the cricket either way the next day.

 

[G. pulchra]

When I used crickets I never left them with small slings longer than an hour or two.

 

[Kayis]

I prefer to pre-kill the crickets if I need to leave them in with slings unattended.

 

[KezyGLA]

Spiderling are scavengers. Leave prekilled prey in for 24hrs. If it doesnt eat it, its not hungry. Remove it and try again in a week. You dont want any nastyness growing in the tub.

 

[Quixtar]

I try to feed appropriate sized crickets based on the size of the spider's abdomen. If the cricket is bigger than the spider's abdomen, I make sure to watch more closely because there's a chance that the cricket could fight back. That said, I remove the next day or two if prey is uneaten.

 

[Najakeeper]

Sorry if it's a noob question, but it's my first T. Brazilian white knee sling, anyways Im feeding it for what would be the third time however I have noticed on occasion it won't react to the cricket the crickets would even be right next to it and my sling sling wouldn't react. Is this normal and should I leave the prey with my sling until its eaten or dies?

By the way, if your tarantula has no interest in the prey, it will probably molt. Is the abdomen plump and black?

Crickets can surely harm a recently molted tarantula so you should take them out of there.

 

[mistertim]

For small slings I almost always pre-kill just to be safe. And with an A. geniculata if it isn't eating it is very likely in premolt. Those things will generally eat like crazy and very very rarely refuse a meal. Mine once ate 2 days before molting.

 

[dopamine]

Go with the pre killed method with slings. 9 times out of 10 if it doesn't take the prey live, it will eventually take it dead within an hour or so.

 

[viper69]

By the way, if your tarantula has no interest in the prey, it will probably molt. Is the abdomen plump and black?

That's not necessarily true. It depends on the species in some cases, and the size of the sling and size of cricket. If the prey is too large typically the sling will not be interested, they will be scared for lack of a better term. Only a few species off the top of my head will tackle prey larger than itself. H. sp. Columbia Large and H. sp. Columbia Small are two that will.

 

[mistertim]

That's not necessarily true. It depends on the species in some cases, and the size of the sling and size of cricket. If the prey is too large typically the sling will not be interested, they will be scared for lack of a better term. Only a few species off the top of my head will tackle prey larger than itself. H. sp. Columbia Large and H. sp. Columbia Small are two that will.

Agreed. Though I will add C. cyaneopubescens to that list. My juvie GBB is fearless and would probably attack an elephant if it was hungry enough.

 

[viper69]

Agreed. Though I will add C. cyaneopubescens to that list. My juvie GBB is fearless and would probably attack an elephant if it was hungry enough.

I've noticed similar behavior w/the GBBs I raised, until I owned my first H. sp Columbia Large-- makes GBBs look tame.

 

[mistertim]

I've noticed similar behavior w/the GBBs I raised, until I owned my first H. sp Columbia Large-- makes GBBs look tame.

Sounds like a species I'll need to look into picking up then.

 

[viper69]

Sounds like a species I'll need to look into picking up then.

If you like your GBB, then you should love either of those. They are basically a black/orange GBB. The nice thing, they have adult colors as TINY slings even when less than 1/8". They grow very fast too.

 

[KezyGLA]

I have one T that has shocked me with its eating behaviours since it was tiny. My Aphonopelma caniceps. It absolutely destroys anything that tickles the sub, no matter the size.

Young baboon spiders (with exception of Harpactirella/Harpactira) are very impressive when it comes to live feeding with larger prey. Throwing down like Mike Tyson in his glory days.

 

[ledzeppelin]

Throwing down like Mike Tyson in his glory days.

It's a good thing that crix don't have ears

 

[Paiige]

Agreed. Though I will add C. cyaneopubescens to that list. My juvie GBB is fearless and would probably attack an elephant if it was hungry enough.

My juvie GBB is scared of everything and will hide from crickets that are too big until I remove them

OP, depending on the size of your sling, I would either pre-kill or just watch the Ts behavior with the cricket and see what happens. I don't leave living crickets in my slings enclosures for more than an hour or two.

 

[mistertim]

I have one T that has shocked me with its eating behaviours since it was tiny. My Aphonopelma caniceps. It absolutely destroys anything that tickles the sub, no matter the size.

Young baboon spiders (with exception of Harpactirella/Harpactira) are very impressive when it comes to live feeding with larger prey. Throwing down like Mike Tyson in his glory days.

Interesting that you mention that. My H. pulchripes is that way...very tentative with prey and very careful to make sure it isn't a threat.

 

[KezyGLA]

Interesting that you mention that. My H. pulchripes is that way...very tentative with prey and very careful to make sure it isn't a threat.

Yep, my Harpatira pulchripes are all the same. Run and hide then sneak up, fiddle with it then eat.