Tong Feeding Arboreals a Must?

[FearNot]

I recently was gifted a young A.avic. (about 2inches, maybe a little more) I bought a 8x8x14 arboreal enclosure for it, and have it settled in there with a corkbark hide, a plastic vine, a water dish, etc.

I see a lot of people feeding their Ts with tongs, especially arboreals. I assume this is to make sure the T gets the prey item, but I was wondering is this a must with arboreals? Like...will they have a difficult time finding the prey if you simply put it in their with them? I have 10" tongs, but I still have a heck of a time snatching up crickets without completely multilating them/breaking off legs etc.

My gut tells me that eventually my avic will notice movement in the enclosure and find the cricket, but I'm uncertain. Does anyone else with more arboreal experience than I think (s)he'll be alright on its own, or am I going to have to keep trying to tong feed?



Photo of setup for the curious!

 

[spiderengineer]

I really doubt its a must I mean they are not tong fed in the wild. the same question is applicable to burrowers in regards to "should I send the cricket down the burrow hole?" the answer being not necessary at all. you pretty much have answer your question all ready with why people tong feed their spiders. other reason include so the feeder doesn't burrow in the ground, to watch your T snatch the food from the tongs and for those people who are a little nervous being to close to their T's. I only use tong to spot clean near more defensive T's, move feeders in direction of the T, or to grab things in places my hands can't get at. you can also think of tong feeding as basically shoving food down a T's throat that might not want to eat at that moment, which is similar to sending a feeding down a T's burrow as well. not saying anybody who does it a bad owner, just saying that by tong feeding it takes away the T's instinct to hunt. to quote Allen grant from Jurassic park "T. Rex doesn't want to feed it wants to hunt" so I would be surprise if some one said that your arboreal will die if you don't use Tongs. If your worry about your T not finding its food just put more than one in two should be sufficient.

 

[FearNot]

x3 Yes I realize they don't get tong fed int he wild, but I also assume they hunt prey that lives in the treetops alongisde of them a lot, and probably wouldn't be terribly accustomed to heading to the ground for food. I could be completely wrong...admittedly I don't know anything about how they hunt in the wild.

I popped in a fair sized cricket a little while ago, so I guess I'll keep an eye out and see how long it takes him/her to notice it. Tong feeding him just makes me a little nervous still, on top of me being clumsy and always squashing the cricket with the tongs. x__x

I really doubt its a must I mean they are not tong fed in the wild. the same question is applicable to burrowers in regards to "should I send the cricket down the burrow hole?" the answer being not necessary at all. you pretty much have answer your question all ready with why people tong feed their spiders. other reason include so the feeder doesn't burrow in the ground, to watch your T snatch the food from the tongs and for those people who are a little nervous being to close to their T's. I only use tong to spot clean near more defensive T's, move feeders in direction of the T, or to grab things in places my hands can't get at. so I would be surprise if some one said that your arboreal will die if you don't use Tongs.

 

[grayzone]

DANIELSAN... YOU MUST FOCUS

haha.. keeping a cricket alive and intact with tongs takes a bit of practice, but you will eventually get the hang of it.


To answer your question ABSOLUTELY NOT.
You do not have to tong feed avics and other arboreals to keep them alive/eating. Your avic will surely catch its feeders when its hungry.
Your enclosure may be a bit large, but it will do no harm really. I would highly recommend taking that cork tube out (as your t will almost certainly never utilize it as it is) and break it in half. Take one of the slabs and place it in vertically so the crickets can crawl upwards to where the t is.

Eventually your avic will make a web "safety net" about halfway up the enclosure around the slab (if its anything like my girl) and it will spend a lot of time laying on it, or on one part of the slab or another. You will even see your avic break through the web netting to get crickets below it on the substrate.
For being such a gentle sp. A. avic sure are good eaters

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

They will come down and hunt. I have never tong fed my arboreals, and they do just fine. If the food is at the bottom, the T will go find it.

 

[grayzone]

also, as a side note, that sub looks pretty dry. You may want to saturate half of it pretty good and continue lightly misting around 2x weekly ... once the sub dries out again, repeat.

I have found that Avics dont really make use of a waterdish either. It helps with humidity, but honestly isnt needed with some proper husbandry. I assure you, if the sub is damp enough you will never see it use its dish. They tend to drink water from the side walls of the enclosure, or from the water that drips off of/pools up on the leaves

 

[catfishrod69]

Tongfeeding is more a reason because when the feeders like to hide. Ive once in a while found roaches in with some of my larger Poecis, that i dont remember ever putting in. This is usually why i tong feed. If your having problems with "tonging" crickets. You can always catch one by hand, and then place in the tongs. I use pretty much only dubia now as feeders. And almost always prekill them by squishing the head, and tong/tweezer feeding all my tarantulas. If they wont take it i leave it in a spot i know that they are close to, or we come close to. You can also use the crickets body fluids as a adhesive to stick it to the glass/plastic in the appropriate place.

 

[SuzukiSwift]

No you don't need to tong-feed your avic, they are extremely sensitive to vibration so will know that the cricket is in there with them. If they're hungry they'll go get it or wait for it to come to them =) I tong-feed my avic actually but only because I find it fun haha

DANIELSAN... YOU MUST FOCUS

Lol nice one Grayzone

Practice and you'll get it! Try and pick them up by the legs and drop them in quick before the leg falls off, or pick them up by the ovipositor (no idea if I spelt that right haha) if they're female, easy way to pick them up and stops them from laying eggs in the enclosure at the same time

Btw, your enclosure is VERY nice!

 

[FearNot]

^_^ Thanks for the advice guys.

I wetted more of the substrate a little thoroughly. I was misting one side of the enclosure every day, and misting the substrate directly every other day, but it wasn't seeping down past the top layer so I went ahead and poured a little over it and it's darkening up nicely. I think I'll still keep the water dish in for peace of mind, though. It certainly couldn't hurt him/her at that size....at least I dont think. o_o

I think (s)he has taken notice to something being in the enclosure, (s)he's starting to slowly descend to the bottom on his/her little plastic vine.

I'll see about splitting up the corkbark tomorrow. I had it in my mind that maybe (s)he would enjoy having a dark place inside the corktube to hide, but it does kind of dominate the enclosure. :/

---------- Post added 12-28-2012 at 10:10 PM ----------

Btw, your enclosure is VERY nice!

Aww, thank you! I saw the set-up you made for your a.geniculata. Loved it!

 

[SuzukiSwift]

^_^ Thanks for the advice guys.

I wetted more of the substrate a little thoroughly. I was misting one side of the enclosure every day, and misting the substrate directly every other day, but it wasn't seeping down past the top layer so I went ahead and poured a little over it and it's darkening up nicely. I think I'll still keep the water dish in for peace of mind, though. It certainly couldn't hurt him/her at that size....at least I dont think. o_o

I think (s)he has taken notice to something being in the enclosure, (s)he's starting to slowly descend to the bottom on his/her little plastic vine.

I'll see about splitting up the corkbark tomorrow. I had it in my mind that maybe (s)he would enjoy having a dark place inside the corktube to hide, but it does kind of dominate the enclosure. :/

---------- Post added 12-28-2012 at 10:10 PM ----------



Aww, thank you! I saw the set-up you made for your a.geniculata. Loved it!

Yeah keep the water dish ae! In fact if you don't want to have to spray the substrate so much for humidity then you could put in a larger water bowl

Thanks! =D One of the most fun things is making the actual enclosure I reckon, making it look good and be suitable for the T right? haha

 

[grayzone]

Ive read (in a few avic threads) that if you DO use a waterdish, it is more effective up high and glued to the side. Where its at wont hurt anything at all though.

I can almost assure you that your avic will never make use of the cork TUBE the way a Poeci or Lampy etc. would. If you like the idea of a dark place to hide, maybe slant it up and backwards (toward the back of the enclousre) with the vines draping around the sides.
It will hide out behind the slab and pounce on wandering prey.

Glad to hear it may be advancing on the prey now... Avics really are awesome to watch eat (as adults) I love how they almost fly toward their prey while pouncing

 

[FearNot]

I can almost assure you that your avic will never make use of the cork TUBE the way a Poeci or Lampy etc. would. If you like the idea of a dark place to hide, maybe slant it up and backwards (toward the back of the enclousre) with the vines draping around the sides.
It will hide out behind the slab and pounce on wandering prey.

Ah XD See, that's exactly what I was thinking it would do! Shows how much I know lol! I'll take it out and cut it down tomorrow, then. Might make it a little easier for it to find the food too.

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

I can almost assure you that your avic will never make use of the cork TUBE the way a Poeci or Lampy etc. would. If you like the idea of a dark place to hide, maybe slant it up and backwards (toward the back of the enclousre) with the vines draping around the sides.

I have an Avic metallica that spent time as a juvie hanging out it a cork log. I had put it in mostly cause I had nothing else at the time, and she went right in and stayed. Once she matured, she left it for good. But she likes being an oddity - she is defensive like a psalmo, and she gave me the only bite I have ever taken.

 

[jam]

I have had 3 arboreals in the past and never toungue fed any of them. They are awesome Predators and will find their prey with no problems.

 

[hamhock 74]

I have had 3 arboreals in the past and never toungue fed any of them. They are awesome Predators and will find their prey with no problems.

This,I have never done either, someone let me know how it goes.:laugh:

 

[jam]

Hahahaha Tong not Tongue. Ouch!!!

 

[FearNot]

Well...the avic was taking its sweet time getting that cricket, so I tong fed it anyway x__x It took me forever to nab one, but i finally got one on it's back leg (which seperated from its body when the t grabbed it) The other cricket is still in there, i'll leave it there overnight and see what happens.

Who knows, maybe i'll get better at tong feeding with time.

 

[spiderengineer]

Well...the avic was taking its sweet time getting that cricket, so I tong fed it anyway x__x It took me forever to nab one, but i finally got one on it's back leg (which seperated from its body when the t grabbed it) The other cricket is still in there, i'll leave it there overnight and see what happens.

Who knows, maybe i'll get better at tong feeding with time.

patience is a virtue in this hobby, but ultimately spider will always have more patience then we will ever have :laugh:

 

[FearNot]

patience is a virtue in this hobby, but ultimately spider will always have more patience then we will ever have :laugh:

Yeah >_> I need to work on my patience a little. XD It's just been a spell since he/she ate and its was making me all antsy.

 

[alpine]

Yeah >_> I need to work on my patience a little. XD It's just been a spell since he/she ate and its was making me all antsy.

I know that feel. Right now my little ones are in rather small enclosures so I just drop one in with tweezers and they will usually go. Lately they haven't bee taking the bait (only 1 week). I know it's nothing to worry about but I am still sitting looking at them like: O.O "EEAAAATTTTT"