Versicolor Feeding?!?

[AshS]

Anyone else had a versicolor sling only take pre-killed prey?

She just runs from live pin head crickets and stays where they can't bother her, yet if I kill said cricket and leave it near her web, she eats it later.
She looks fine, nice plump Opisthoma so I'm not worried. Just curious if anyone has had the same thing.

 

[Mila]

Have you tried holding the cricket with your tongs whilst it's still alive? The sling might be more confident tackling live once it knows it can't chase it around

 

[ledzeppelin]

they are skittish. A lot of my slings won't dare to tackle live prey. It is also due to the fact that you create quite a disturbance when you open the enclosure. That causes stress and slings tend to shy away from prey.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Anyone else had a versicolor sling only take pre-killed prey?

She just runs from live pin head crickets and stays where they can't bother her, yet if I kill said cricket and leave it near her web, she eats it later.
She looks fine, nice plump Opisthoma so I'm not worried. Just curious if anyone has had the same thing.

I've seen lots of slings get intimidated by prey at a young age, they tend gain a lot of confidence as they grow. Sometimes you come back and they are eating, other individuals may just refuse to attack altogether.

Not uncommon behavior but this usually happens when the feeder is too large, with pinhead crickets I doubt that's the issue. Why not just continue offering pre killed for now? They should grow more voracious with size, so hopefully by its next molt it will start tackling prey. If it's eating the pre killed just do what works for now.

 

[basin79]

Would green/blue bottle flies be better? They're extremely active, walk around the top of the enclosure and can't bite back.

I feed blue bottles to my adult Ts, centipedes, spiders etcetera.

 

[viper69]

Anyone else had a versicolor sling only take pre-killed prey?

She just runs from live pin head crickets and stays where they can't bother her, yet if I kill said cricket and leave it near her web, she eats it later.
She looks fine, nice plump Opisthoma so I'm not worried. Just curious if anyone has had the same thing.

Rather unusual actually if it's decent sized sling. Fat bottom, no need to worry.

How big is your T and the prey? How big is your container and what type of coverage did you provide it?

 

[AshS]

Rather unusual actually if it's decent sized sling. Fat bottom, no need to worry.

How big is your T and the prey? How big is your container and what type of coverage did you provide it?

She's in this for the time being.



She is building her tunnel round the back.

Here..



As you can see she is tiny, about 1/2". Took this last night pre-killed cricket was gone this morning, so she is eating fine and she is nice and plump. Maybe when she is a bit bigger she will take them down herself.

 

[aphono]

Exact opposite with mine, same size but in a smaller container- pill bottle with a snap lid. It will not take prekilled. I'd be happy if it took prekilled! As it turns out, pinhead crickets are very hard to find locally.. it will not take waxworms(live or crushed head) so what I have to do is get the smallest crickets and try to pick out the smallest out of that... these still are the same size as the spider though. It is able to take these down but it does seem scared of them rest of the time/not hungry.

I'm considering raising red runner roaches(B. lateralis) as they produce pinhead size babies because of this plus and a couple other slings so far refuse prekilled. All of them took down pinhead crickets with great enthusiasm-the place I got the slings from had pinheads but the place is over a hour's drive away so not a feasible source.

Perhaps you can try flightless fruit flies or the blue bottle flies mentioned above if you want to get it started on live prey? Or be glad yours will take prekilled for now, ha....

 

[Moakmeister]

She's in this for the time being.

View attachment 240045

She is building her tunnel round the back.

Here..

View attachment 240046

As you can see she is tiny, about 1/2". Took this last night pre-killed cricket was gone this morning, so she is eating fine and she is nice and plump. Maybe when she is a bit bigger she will take them down herself.

Awwww it's so cute <3

 

[Andrea82]

Exact opposite with mine, same size but in a smaller container- pill bottle with a snap lid. It will not take prekilled. I'd be happy if it took prekilled! As it turns out, pinhead crickets are very hard to find locally.. it will not take waxworms(live or crushed head) so what I have to do is get the smallest crickets and try to pick out the smallest out of that... these still are the same size as the spider though. It is able to take these down but it does seem scared of them rest of the time/not hungry.

I'm considering raising red runner roaches(B. lateralis) as they produce pinhead size babies because of this plus and a couple other slings so far refuse prekilled. All of them took down pinhead crickets with great enthusiasm-the place I got the slings from had pinheads but the place is over a hour's drive away so not a feasible source.

Perhaps you can try flightless fruit flies or the blue bottle flies mentioned above if you want to get it started on live prey? Or be glad yours will take prekilled for now, ha....

If your sling eats prey of her own size, it doesn't need to eat as often as when she gets smaller feeders. It is simply full because of the bigger meals

 

[aphono]

If your sling eats prey of her own size, it doesn't need to eat as often as when she gets smaller feeders. It is simply full because of the bigger meals

Is it normal for versicolor abdomens to look rather small and thin? The one pictured in thread looks well fed, mine only looks like that for a couple days after a cricket.. rest of the time it's close to half that size and much narrower.

I may be biased starting out with terrestrials with their fatter butts..

 

[Andrea82]

Is it normal for versicolor abdomens to look rather small and thin? The one pictured in thread looks well fed, mine only looks like that for a couple days after a cricket.. rest of the time it's close to half that size and much narrower.

I may be biased starting out with terrestrials with their fatter butts..

If you're unsure of the size, just upload a picture to check it out
But Avicularia/Caribena/Ybyrapora genus are more lightly build than terrestrials, because they need to be agile in the tree tops. So they don't get as fat as terrestrials.

 

[aphono]

If you're unsure of the size, just upload a picture to check it out
But Avicularia/Caribena/Ybyrapora genus are more lightly build than terrestrials, because they need to be agile in the tree tops. So they don't get as fat as terrestrials.

Thanks, phone is dead so no pics for a while. It's plump right now, courtesy of a cricket bigger than it 4 days ago. I'll take a picture for opinions on here if it seems too skinny again. Hope(probably!) the issue is entirely me being a newbie and overly doting on a small collection of just 13 tarantulas. It's fun though!

 

[Emilia Sage]

Sorry to jump in on this.

I've recently been bought a Versicolor sling. (I know she is terribly housed) we're sorting her out at this moment. But I have to know whether she is looking okay? She's obviously scared of her prey but have tried prekilled crickets but I've had no response from her.
Could she be in molt? I've had this before but with my sub adult b. Albo. It's my first time keeping a sling and I really just want to make sure that I'm doing the best for her.
Thank you

 

[aphono]

Sorry to jump in on this.

I've recently been bought a Versicolor sling. (I know she is terribly housed) we're sorting her out at this moment. But I have to know whether she is looking okay? She's obviously scared of her prey but have tried prekilled crickets but I've had no response from her.
Could she be in molt? I've had this before but with my sub adult b. Albo. It's my first time keeping a sling and I really just want to make sure that I'm doing the best for her.
Thank you

I am a total newbie, just have one of those but that one definitely is not skinny, fat actually so I'd say it looks great.

I suspect yours might not be eating because it's not hungry, feeling too exposed(tank looks empty in that pic). Get it in a proper sized container- picture above in this thread is a great example.. give a vertical cork bark, fake leaves and good ventilation(particularly important for this species) and if there's enough room, also a water bowl. Do not feel you still need to give it something bigger.. I was quite surprised at what proper size containers(seems so awfully tiny, actually mine is in a pill bottle much smaller than in that picture) were at first but I can tell you they actually work extremely well, the babies are thriving. Small also means they find the prey immediately or almost so, this helps you see if they are hungry or not.

Let it settle in the new container it will feel much more secure and eventually eat. Wait a few days before trying to feed, it making a spot of web is a good sign.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Sorry to jump in on this.

I've recently been bought a Versicolor sling. (I know she is terribly housed) we're sorting her out at this moment. But I have to know whether she is looking okay? She's obviously scared of her prey but have tried prekilled crickets but I've had no response from her.
Could she be in molt? I've had this before but with my sub adult b. Albo. It's my first time keeping a sling and I really just want to make sure that I'm doing the best for her.
Thank you

That's avic is plump enough, don't worry about feeding for now. Id set her up and leave her be for a good week, she may even molt, if not then try some smaller prey items, and if she refuses again I'd wager pre molt.

 

[AshS]

Sorry to jump in on this.

I've recently been bought a Versicolor sling. (I know she is terribly housed) we're sorting her out at this moment. But I have to know whether she is looking okay? She's obviously scared of her prey but have tried prekilled crickets but I've had no response from her.
Could she be in molt? I've had this before but with my sub adult b. Albo. It's my first time keeping a sling and I really just want to make sure that I'm doing the best for her.
Thank you

I agree with the above posts. This versi looks absolutely fine.

 

[Emilia Sage]

I am a total newbie, just have one of those but that one definitely is not skinny, fat actually so I'd say it looks great.

I suspect yours might not be eating because it's not hungry, feeling too exposed(tank looks empty in that pic). Get it in a proper sized container- picture above in this thread is a great example.. give a vertical cork bark, fake leaves and good ventilation(particularly important for this species) and if there's enough room, also a water bowl. Do not feel you still need to give it something bigger.. I was quite surprised at what proper size containers(seems so awfully tiny, actually mine is in a pill bottle much smaller than in that picture) were at first but I can tell you they actually work extremely well, the babies are thriving. Small also means they find the prey immediately or almost so, this helps you see if they are hungry or not.

Let it settle in the new container it will feel much more secure and eventually eat. Wait a few days before trying to feed, it making a spot of web is a good sign.

Thank you, I didn't think she was skinny. I just wanted to double check. This is how she was bought in the shop so that was the first picture. She's much more comfortable now that we've given her an appropriate house.
She had a molt in with her so I just assumed that she'd molted not long ago. But I'll definitely be keeping an eye on her. She keeps webbing but always in different spots. Think she's trying to get comfy!
Need 100% that she's okay, I know people say they're the tricky ones to have as slings. Thank you for the help, will leave her to it to get comfy..

 

[Emilia Sage]

Thank you all for the response, going to make sure that she's all settled in now

 

[aphono]

Good luck. I wasn't going to even try versicolors due to all that internet stuff and people telling me the slings die at a drop of a hat. It was only after visiting this forum, learning what they truly needed and were reasonably easy in care with proper conditions I eventually went ahead and got one.