SUPER tiny Brazilian Giant White Knee sling

TarantuLover81

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Apr 21, 2016
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I recently acquired this sling and it is TINY....super tiny. It is in a 2 ounce container and it is hard to find unless it is moving. I've had it about a week and I've tried feeding it the smallest fruit flies I can find but it has yet to eat. A little worried about it. Any suggestions? It is beside my pinkie fingernail in the photo. IMG_8949.JPG
 

nicodimus22

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Slings that size should readily scavenge food. I would forget the fruit flies, and leave cricket parts for it to feed on.

Also, that enclosure seems very large for that tiny sling. I'd consider downsizing until it grows a bit. Helps it find food and water more easily.

Hydration is also really important...are you spraying part of the container so it can drink off the side? They can refuse to eat if they're dehydrated.
 
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johnny quango

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I wouldn't worry too much sometimes it takes a while for tarantulas settle and from what I can see it looks fairly plump.

I don't know how many other tarantulas or any other exotic pets you have but if you have access to larger prey items pre-kill or remove a rear leg from a large cricket instead of fruit flies, it will scavenge for food if it's hungry just leave it 24hrs. Sometimes even in a small enclosure tiny slings can struggle to find live food.
 

TarantuLover81

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I don't really have anything smaller to put it in...any suggestions would be fine. This is my 13th T (all different species..mostly terrestrial) so I have plenty of larger prey. I've raised 6 other slings from maybe 1 Instar larger to currently 4+in" T's with no problem. I did try to put pre-killed prey in there and it seems to want nothing to do with it. It has plenty of access to water. Could the humidity be too high?
 

TarantuLover81

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I don't really have anything smaller to put it in...any suggestions would be fine. This is my 13th T (all different species..mostly terrestrial) so I have plenty of larger prey. I've raised 6 other slings from maybe 1 Instar larger to currently 4+in" T's with no problem. I did try to put pre-killed prey in there and it seems to want nothing to do with it. It has plenty of access to water. Could the humidity be too high?
Also it is running from the few flies I've offered..possibly premolt?
 

nicodimus22

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It doesn't look plump enough for premolt to me, but I could be mistaken.

AFAIK it's not an arid species, so it does like some humidity, and you are supposed to keep slings more moist than you keep adults. I like to give them some moist and some dry substrate so they can go where they are comfortable.

I would use a large pill vial like this:

 
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The Grym Reaper

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I don't really have anything smaller to put it in...any suggestions would be fine. This is my 13th T (all different species..mostly terrestrial) so I have plenty of larger prey. I've raised 6 other slings from maybe 1 Instar larger to currently 4+in" T's with no problem. I did try to put pre-killed prey in there and it seems to want nothing to do with it. It has plenty of access to water. Could the humidity be too high?
Small condiment cups or vials (I keep any vials/tubs that my Tarantulas come in if I think might be useful at some stage) would work fine.

I just knocked this one up quick as an example, I like to make a little starter burrow that goes right up against the plastic so that I can see in if the sling decides to use it/ expand it (which they usually do). I bung a little bit of sphagnum moss in there as well which I'll then pipette a few drops of water onto that every few days and the sling will drink from that.

I'd ditch the fruit flies in favour of pre-killed/diced up crickets or mealworms, leave them in overnight and remove any uneaten/leftovers the next morning to prevent mould (if something doesn't look like it has been eaten but has been moved then the sling could have had a little nibble on it and then discarded it), just continue to offer a food item every 3-5 days.

DSC00001.JPG DSC00002.JPG
 

Ghost56

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Aug 28, 2016
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443
As others said, do some surgery on one of your feeders. Cricket legs work great. You can pinch right above the joint on their hind legs, and the leg will just drop. That way you don't have to kill them and/or waste a cricket. I'd imagine a dubia leg would work good too if you have dubias.
 

viper69

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Your T needs to be in a Thornton vial or a Condiment cup. That is too large. At that size it will scavenge feed TINY crickets with crushed heads, or diced up mealworms (high in fat, grow faster).

It's abdomen is right at the borderline of being too thin for my liking.

Make sure you provide a water bowl. At this size the GREATEST threat to a TINY captive T is dehydration due to neglect by its owner.

Fruit flies are useless, and do not contain the proper nutrition for a growing T. That's its only job right now, to GROW so it can evade predators.

I like to make a little starter burrow that goes right up against the plastic so that I can see in if the sling decides to use it/ expand it (which they usually do)
You have the magic touch. Never had a sling use a starter burrow, I'm a terrible T home architect it seems.
 

viper69

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Your poor little spiders.:sorry:


:mooning:

Man, that whole "make a burrow" for them is crap, let them make their own, they know what they want better than me. BUT, on that note, the one area I've had success is providing a piece of cork leaning against the container wall. I've had a few species, including incei, that easily went for the dark enclosed space in their new "strange" environment. But digging a hole into the sub, never works for me.
 

The Grym Reaper

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You have the magic touch. Never had a sling use a starter burrow, I'm a terrible T home architect it seems.
The only sling I have that completely ignored the starter burrow I provided is my E. cyanognathus which has barely burrowed and made a web tube against the side of the enclosure between a piece of cork bark and some sphagnum moss. All the others went straight into them and set about expanding them the same night.
 

Stella Maris

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Jan 28, 2017
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I recently acquired this sling and it is TINY....super tiny. It is in a 2 ounce container and it is hard to find unless it is moving. I've had it about a week and I've tried feeding it the smallest fruit flies I can find but it has yet to eat. A little worried about it. Any suggestions? It is beside my pinkie fingernail in the photo. View attachment 233750
I tried feeding fruit flies to my tiny N. chromatus slings and they just ran away from their prey.

Last night I put 1 extra small cricket (pre-killed) into their enclosures. When I went to retrieve the cricket remains 24 hours later, I couldn't find the remains of one at all. And the other was so dried out it was almost impossible to recognize. So apparently, both of my N. chromatus slings must have scavenged indeed.

Usually I would be worried that I can't find the remains of the leftovers, but I literally could find nothing in the substrate.

I would just feed your sling extra small crickets but pre-kill them before feeding your sling and make sure to remove leftovers maybe 24 hours later.
 
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