Spiderlings help needed!

bokgrasul

Arachnosquire
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Feb 4, 2006
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102
Please, tell me what you feed slings when they are so small??
I received today around 60 slings, and honestly, I don't know what to feed them.....
I am able to get to the forest every day, and I can find meal worms but no crickets...
In my country are no specialized stores and breeders, so I imported them (slings) from Hungary . But I did't realized they are so small.
I have now meal worms, giant worms and super worms. These I feed to my geckos and my older tarantulas... Can I improvise something??
To be more specific and honest, I don't have experience with slings.... I know I should it prepare myself prior ordering them , but....
These is one of them, just arrived 2 hours ago.. :
 

bokgrasul

Arachnosquire
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This is a list of species that I actually received today... :
Avicularia avicularia 3-4. molts,---------- 3pieces
Acanthoscurria geniculata 2-3. molts,----10 pieces
Aphonopelma bicoloratum 1-2. molts,-----3 pieces
Brachypelma vagans 3-4. molts,-----------5 pieces
Brachypelma smithi 6-7 cm,-------------2 pieces
Citharischius crawshayi 2-3. molts,--------3 pieces
Grammostola rosea 3-4. molts,------------10 pieces
Grammostola aureostriata 2-3. molts,-----8 pieces
Lasiodora parahybana 4-5. molts ,--------10 pieces
Lasiodora cristatus 5-6. molts ,-------------3 pieces
Nhandu coloratovillosus 5-6 cm ,- --------5 pieces
Holothele incei 2-4. molts ,-----------------2 pieces
Poecilotheria ornata 7-8 cm ----------------1 pieces
Cyclosternum fasciatum 1-2. molts 5€,----3 pieces
 

Gigas

Arachnoprince
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If the prey items are too big you can just crush their heads and feed the spiderlings dead food.
 

bokgrasul

Arachnosquire
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:wall: Thanks! They're all so nice....
I also have some older ones, and two breeding projects, but I am not prepared to take care of the slings....what should I do??
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Feb 13, 2006
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Well you can take those meal worms and cut them into sections and drop pieces in with the slings. Slings are not to picky and they will eat things that are already killed for them. Typically with slings that small if you get them to eat one big meal that will give them enough food to make it to the next molt. And every molt you get the easier it is to feed them because then they start to kill things on their own and you can offer bigger prey...........

Are all the slings of one species? And what species is it that you have?

As for your breeding projects, if you are not ready to take care of the offspring that could result from your breedings then I recommend not breeding at all. That or you should sell them all at once to someone else so they can take care of them and its not a burden to you.
 

bokgrasul

Arachnosquire
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Thank you!
But no way I am not going to drop my breeding project! Nobody was born with knowledges, you get them in time with experience.....


Taking care of these spiderlings will be my....OJT (on job training) :D
I just need some help..
 

bonesmama

Arachnoprince
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That is a great list of species you got! It is not recommended that you feed WC prey because they could either have parasites or have been exposed to pesticides. What you could do is start your own cricket colony-as long as they are parasite-free, you could start using them after the first generation. That way you will have crix of every size for your T's. Until then, just pre-kill their food.
 

bokgrasul

Arachnosquire
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Acanthoscuria geniculata and B. smithi....
Geniculata is almost there..... {D
 

TheDarkFinder

Arachnoangel
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I feed Nauphoeta cinerea. The 1st 2nd molts are about the right size. The pictures below is a B. smithi 3rd instar. thinking about feeding on a roach that is less then 5mm the sling is less then 15mm. Prekilled of course
 
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SpiderZone2

Arachnoknight
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Oct 23, 2005
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284
Also if your going to feed meal worms you might want to first crush the heads before cutting them up. Most slings will eat pre killed prey. Also you can rip the hind legs off the bigger crickets and feed them. They will also eat this.
Nice collection and good luck with it!
 

Nitibus

Arachnodemon
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Feb 7, 2007
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Nice collection !

You should be Ok with the meal worms for the first 2-3 months. Just cut them up, as has been stated. During that time you may want to start a breeding colony of crickets ( the meal worms you can do to ) Get your hands on captive bred food so you don't introduce anything " bad " to your T's.

There's tonnes of posts here about starting bredding colonies. Just use the search feature.

By the time they can catch live prey, your breeding colonies should be up and running !

Good luck !
 

Bothrops

Arachnobaron
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I'm feeding mealworm pieces to my 0.25'' A. chacoana slings. They eat them very well.
 

bokgrasul

Arachnosquire
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So , I did it!
I cut the head of about 100 meal worms....easy job! :wall:
And some of them allready eat right now, as I write.
I still got some questions :
1- is it ok to use as substrate coconut fiber?
2- how often should I feed them?
3- about the drinking water....how will I provide them drinking water? I did a lot of spraying and there are water drops on the wall of the container. Is this enough or should I put a bowl in there?
 

Parahybana3590

Arachnoknight
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Jan 23, 2006
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I would say invest in a colony of lobster roaches or Blatta lateralis. Both have young small enough for slings to eat, both breed quickly and mature fairly quickly, both are relatively cheap (Lobsters= $10 for 100, Lateralis= $3 for 10).
The differences:
1. lobsters can climb plastic, so a layer of vasaline would need to go around the inside rim of the container; whereas lateralis dont.
2. Lateralis need moist peat (or vermiculite) to lay their egg cases in; lobsters, however, dont.
Either are good choices.

If you decide to go with lobsters I would recommend purchasing 3-400 so that way you have a developed colony that you can feed out of as soon as they arrive on your doorstep.

Good Luck,
Bob
 

Parahybana3590

Arachnoknight
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Jan 23, 2006
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So , I did it!
I cut the head of about 100 meal worms....easy job! :wall:
And some of them allready eat right now, as I write.
I still got some questions :
1- is it ok to use as substrate coconut fiber?
2- how often should I feed them?
3- about the drinking water....how will I provide them drinking water? I did a lot of spraying and there are water drops on the wall of the container. Is this enough or should I put a bowl in there?
Do NOT put a water dish in there for the slings! If you do that you run high risk of them drowning! Misting should be good.

Avicularia avicularia-I would recommend using vermiculite with these guys as they need higher humidity and vermiculite retains moisture very well. They also need good ventilation (which is another reason why I say vermiculite, it keeps up humidity with their high ventilation needs).
Acanthoscurria geniculata-Moist peat should be good.
Aphonopelma bicoloratum-Moist peat should be good
Brachypelma vagans- Moist peat should be good.
Brachypelma smithi- These guys are more of a desert species, I would recommend misting them maybe twice a week.
Citharischius crawshayi-These guys like to burrow, so fill up whatever container you have these guys in with enough peat for them to do so.
Grammostola rosea- These guys are also more of a desert species and like it dryer, so I would recommend caring for them the same as the smithi.
Grammostola aureostriata-Moist peat should be good.
Lasiodora parahybana-Moist peat should be good. Generally these guys as slings like to burrow, they don't really need to, so its up to you whether or not you would like them to burrow.
Lasiodora cristatus-I haven't heard of this species b4 but I would assume you would care for them the same as a parahybana.
Nhandu coloratovillosus-The same as L.para
Holothele incei-moist peat that gives them some room to burrow should be good.
Poecilotheria ornata-Care for the same as you would the avic.
Cyclosternum fasciatum-These guys like to burrow when they're slings, as they mature you can move them onto shallow substrate, these guys also like moisture.
 

Yuki

Arachnoknight
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Mar 15, 2007
Messages
175
well for my little babies i feed them flightless fruit flys when i tryed to feed them dead crickets it seemed like they didn't eat them at all, but with the flys i see them catch them and eat them up. {D so cute to see the little babies make a kill.
 
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