Where should I feed my tarantula?

[8BallTheCurlyHair]

Hello! I am new to the hobby so excuse me if my question is dumb haha. I have a Sling/Juvie T. Albopilosus Named 8ball about 2-3in. I’ve noticed I can’t keep track of if “he“ is eating or where he eats. I recently cleaned out his tank because we had a wood mite problem (all under control btw! Dried out dirt more and stopped overflowing the bowl, i know I can’t avoid them) kept him in a small critter keeper with just coco fiber for a bit and figured I would feed him a prekilled meal worm. He went right for it and this is probably the first time I’ve ever truly seen him eat since i got him January of this year. I’ve always fed in the tank until now. I’ve offered cut up crickets and roaches in addition to meal worms in the past, but I could never really tell if he ate after taking the prey out 24 hours later. I drop the food right near his burrow but there is also a lot of decor and moss that I can lose the prey item in if he moves it. His abdomen doesn’t seem as plump as I want it to be since his molt last month…so I felt a sense of relief after watching him eat 2 meal worms in the critter keeper.

TL;DR, should I keep feeding him in a critter keeper 1-2x a week or should I keep dropping food near the burrow and hope he is actually eating it.
I’m aware it will stress the lil dude out, but i am also stressed not knowing if he ate ):

Again, I am still learning so please don’t be mean. Any advice helps!


I know my set up is very large for him right now, I was working with what I already had. He came in a small tank that was more for an arboreal, and it had a mesh lid D: 1-2in packed & dried coco fiber, sphagnum moss for aesthetic purposes and a wood hide (he loves that piece of wood with all his little heart)


8ball eatin his worm in the critter keeper

 

[8 legged]

Please feed the spider in it's enclosure. Feeding in a separate enclosure is the most stress your tarantula can get...
Of course you can put it in a smaller tank, but not once a week - do it permanently (till a rehouse is needed). In my personal opinion you also can leave it in the bigger enclosure. It will eat when it's hungry... The behavior that a T won't eat after a molt is normal.
Have an eye on the substrate, it should be deep, at least 5 or more cm at this size...

 

[NMTs]

Moving T's into "feeding containers" isn't a thing like it is with herps. Too many opportunities for something to go badly when moving a T. If the decor in the enclosure is making it hard to care for your T, remove the decor - what's more important?

 

[viper69]

Here’s a novel idea- feed your T in its cage!!

They aren’t snakes.

You should be able to keep track of whether it ate or not at that size.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

Even with herps, the idea of "feeding containers" is actively detrimental for keeping some especially sensitive/stress-prone species, so what makes you think it would make any sense with an animal that relies on constructing a permanent home/ambush point for itself and needs that permanent structure to hunt?

 

[Smotzer]

I would remove all/most of that sphagnum moss covering the majority of the substrate floor space, this will make it much easier to see if it is actually eating!

 

[Isopods others]

In it's enclosure definitely, if in time you get more into the hobby you don't want to be transferring something quicker, more aggressive, more venemous somewhere else everytime you wish to feed it, that's a recipe for either an escapee or a nasty bite which does not sound appealing