tips on king baboon slings

[cloud711]

i will soon be acquiring king baboon slings. can anyone give me some pointers on how to take care of this sling? like humidity, temp, moisture, feeding, and any other info's that i should know?

 

[Windchaser]

They prefer to be kept on the dry side. Make sure you provide enough substrate for it to burrow. Mine eats very little which is not unusual for a slow grower.

 

[cloud711]

i thought slings need moist environment in order to help them molt or something?

 

[Windchaser]

i thought slings need moist environment in order to help them molt or something?

It depends on the size of the s'ling. My C. crawshayi is around the 1" mark and is doing well on a dry substrate. I make sure it has access to water at all times. In general C. crawshayi prefer drier conditions.

 

[defour]

i thought slings need moist environment in order to help them molt or something?

You don't want to keep them incredibly dry, but in a deli cup with an inch or two of substrate, a decent sized water dish and minimal ventilation, you should be fine. They're not as delicate as you might think. If you're not using a water dish yet, it's fine to add a bit of water to the substrate. When I had Citharischius slings with no dishes, I just added water when I fed them (once a week or so) if the substrate was dry. They were never wetter than just damp. After a while you develop a feel for moisture levels and quit worrying about it.

Steve

 

[cloud711]

the sling is as big as a coin. Would a sling that big need a lot of moisture? How will I let it drink? It’s very small here is the pic of the t. can i feed it sliced meal worm and sliced cricket(large black cricket)?

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=48458&page=2

 

[cloud711]

pin head crickets and fruit flies are not available in petshops. is it ok if i try feeding it sliced meal worms and sliced crickets?

 

[defour]

Sure. I've fed a lot of slings on prekilled (halved) roaches and crickets that were way too big for them to eat live. You don't need to give them pieces small enough for them to entirely consume; just give it half of a cricket and remove what's left when it's done. Doing it this way will result in a fat spider that doesn't need to be fed all that often (once a week, max).

The spider will get whatever water it needs from the substrate, if it's dampened slightly. A plastic bottle cap would be fine as a dish, too, if you want to provide one, but will likely get buried by the sling pretty quickly.

Steve

 

[cloud711]

ok so prekilled meal worm is good right? i'll just keep the substrate damp by misting it once or twice a week if i see the substrate dry. is that enough for the sling?

 

[defour]

I would forget the mister and just add water to the substrate. I direct it to where it meets the cage wall, which channels most of it down to the bottom. Misting will only annoy the tarantula and will evaporate quickly.

I've never used mealworms, but I would think most T's will take them. Crickets or roaches make better staples, IMO.

Steve

 

[cloud711]

i guess misting is not that important at all. what i should do is put droplets of water on the substrate near the cage wall and hope that the sling would drink or absorb the droplets of water. is it true that t's can also get water when they consume their prey?

 

[defour]

The water really doesn't need to be present in an obvious, "drinkable" way (in a dish or as droplets) to be useful to the spider. It's useable even if the sling doesn't get to it before it soaks in. They're better than you might think at extracting water from damp substrate; there's nothing to stop you from raising a sling to adulthood without ever misting it or giving it a dish. In addition, water in the substrate has the effect of increasing the humidity in the air, which reduces evaporative water loss through the book lungs, etc., also reducing the sling's need to drink. Having said all that, dishes are preferable once the enclosure is big enough to accomodate one, since the need to wet the substrate is reduced or eliminated.

Tarantulas do get water from prey. How much they get, relative to what they need, I couldn't tell you. In any case, it never hurts to offer well hydrated prey.

Steve

 

[cricket54]

When my sling was that small, he was able to eat small crickets, I didn't have to kill them. It may prefer live prey since they don't eat much to begin with.
I've kept mine dry and mostly just wet the soil good. I have the cap from a juice bottle in there, but have never seen him drink. He stays burried but comes up if you "tickle" the soil and my daughter has chased crickets down in his burrow to him and they don't come back up. He is really neat and has crawled out onto our hands to explore. No threat postures except when he is down in his burrow, then he will bite the soil repeatedly or bite the paint brush. You are gonna love this guy!

Sharon

 

[cloud711]

ok now i understand. thanks a lot for the info. now i feel ready to take care of this t when i acquire it. are they agressive now even as slings?

 

[wolfpak]

nope, not aggressive yet, but it's very fast moving.
got out of it's enclosure yesterday. took us about an hour just to find and catch it

 

[cloud711]

haha fast little buggers. are you able to handle them?

 

[wolfpak]

yup just be careful when handling the sling, it's really fast and an aggressive eater i feed them meal worms.kunin mo na sling. nakakatuwa talaga
pre, smithi ko kakamolt lang. and ganda na ng color nya kaya pala di sya kumakain ng ilang lingo. nasa pre molt stage pala. it's a " SHE"

 

[cloud711]

haha i cant wait to have one of those .

marunong ka magdetermine ng sex??? hindi ko kasi alam kung male or female yung g rosea ko eh. :?

 

[wolfpak]

may thread dito on sexing Ts. search mo

 

[wolfpak]

kinukulit na mga ako ng friend ko regarding the crawshayi sling. wants to buy it asap! they are really beautiful at nakakatuwa