Spiderlings help needed!

Hedorah99

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
1,863
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?
The coconut fiber is fine. i used it for years with no complaints. I would feed once to twice a week. The water droplets on the side of the vials is fine until they get larger and a shallow bowl can be added without fear of them drowning.
 

Nightshade

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
288
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?

Coconut fiber should be fine for opportunistic burrowers. Arboreals should have a twig or something similar in their cages so they'll have a high place to anchor their webs.

I recommend that you do a search on housing and care for avicularia slings, their humidity and ventilation requirements are more detailed than for most slings. I don't currently have any arboreal Ts myself, so all of this is just secondhand information.

If you have any obligate burrowers, they might be better off with a mix of coco fiber and potting soil and mulch of some kind so the substrate can hold a burrow. BUT don't use anything with cedar in it, cedar is toxic to tarantulas.

In my experience the only time a sling won't eat is during pre molt or post molt. I feed mine 2-3 times per week, depending on how soon I can go get their food. I use pinhead crickets and small mealworms. If there aren't pinheads, an adult cricket can be cut up to feed 2 or 3 spiderlings.

To water them, find yourself a medicine dropper, most drug stores carry them. Just squeeze some water into the substrate and the spider will be able to drink it. For your arboreals you could use the medicine dropper and the mister, as they're less likely to come down and drink from the substrate.

I've been keeping slings myself for about 9 months now. I've had 2 deaths and one escape which was later found dead, but I've learned from my mistakes. There are a ton of great people here who will give you the benifit of their years of experience.

Anyways, I hope that helps a bit ;)
 

bokgrasul

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 4, 2006
Messages
102
Thank you everybody, you did a great job for some little spiders.....!!
What about the avic avic.....where should I put the pre-killed food? She will coome down , or I should find a place near the upper entrance to her web-house?
 

Parahybana3590

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
162
Where do you get flightless fruit flies??
Generally fruit flies aren't recommended for slings due to poor nutritional value and it has been said that feeding t's fruit flies can cause problems with molting (I don't know about the last part as I haven't fed my t's fruit flies before).
 

monitormonster

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Messages
196
Thank you everybody, you did a great job for some little spiders.....!!
What about the avic avic.....where should I put the pre-killed food? She will coome down , or I should find a place near the upper entrance to her web-house?
I have a 1.5" A. Versicolor, and I feed her by putting her on a flat surface and putting a tiny cricket in front of her....within seconds, she runs over and grabs it. I then get her to climb on her spoon (T transport) and put her back in her cage...another way to do it is to put the prey item in their web.

I know what youre saying, it's kinda difficult to get arboreal slings to find their food. You just gotta try several things until something works for ya.
 
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