Why pull the legs off of crickets?

[Stealth Taco]

I have a G. Aureostriata sling who really prefers live small crickets. The only problem is, he/she is only .5" I have been crushing the heads of the crickets I throw in for him/her, but I saw that some people pull the legs off of the crickets before giving them to their slings. How can this prevent a cricket from harming the sling? Most of the crickets I have are .5" give or take so I am afraid that they may harm my sling.

 

[ShaunHolder]

5" crickets?!!?

Are you sure you don't mean .5?

Also, the pulling of the legs is to make it easier for your T' to catch. Less legs means less mobility. You never want a cricket in with a T while it's molting of course.

 

[Stealth Taco]

ok but would ffeding my sling a cricket of equal size be dangerous?

 

[MyNameHere]

my A. versi slings often take down crix whose body length is equal to the T's legspan. Sometimes when I ask for "small" crix (as stores in my area only designate crix as "small"--0.25" or "large"--0.75") a few are bigger than the rest. I don't maim the crix in any way as my slings have no problems with them.

This may be a slightly unique experience, but a friend of mine who raised a G. rosea sling several years ago had the same experience w/his sling.

 

[ShaunHolder]

ok but would ffeding my sling a cricket of equal size be dangerous?

Equal size is safe IMO. If you want to be carefull do the crushing. The only problem is some T's dont take pre killed prey. I say why risk it if your T's accepting them tho.

Make sure there is never a live cricekt with it if you think the sling is ready to molt. It will eat your t no matter the size.

 

[FryLock]

If anyone is really worried about cricks with small sling try per killing a one a little under the size of the sling then dropping it in there 9 times out of 10 they will eat them, just remember to check to take them out if there uneaten or a lot of leftovers are in there, as for pulling the cricks leg's off i dun know for fun many be.. ;P

P.S i used too do it too but its just making work like using very small prey with larger sling's

 

[Stealth Taco]

I know that darkened skin is a sign of molting so I hope he molts soon. I am out of town for Monday so I'm gonna get my bro to watch him. Thanks for the info all of you.

 

[8 leg wonder]

A crickets back leg are really strong and can damage a sling, so when feeding large crix to sling I feel safer ripping their legs off

 

[RazorRipley]

I dont understand this legless cricket theory, spiders can eat about anything smaller than themself, and I dont see why taking limbs off of prey makes anything different. Someone mentiones that versicolors (very aggressive for their size) typically kill prey larger than their own mass, and thats a good point, versicolors are typically docile to us humans, but very very mean towards similar size animals, same is true with the chilean rose.

 

[MilkmanWes]

In my understanding crckets use the spurs on their legs for defense with powerful kicks and removing them is also a matter of safety for the small T that may have to wrestle them a bit and risk injury.

If someone knows otherwise I am interested in hearing.

I dont understand this legless cricket theory, spiders can eat about anything smaller than themself, and I dont see why taking limbs off of prey makes anything different.

 

[MoRBiD]

hi there,

with a.versicolor i have made an interesting experience..

due to lack of crickets, i gave a real large grasshopper (those yellowish dudes that live in the desert.. dunno the right name) to a young versi..
the hopper was at least twice as large as the spider.
and versi just grabbed the hopper, threw herself on the back and finished it
(looked like some sort of 'upside-down rodeo')

so in my opinion, you can feed larger crickets, no need to crush heads or legs.. just keep watching that the spider catches it's prey.
if not, take it out after a while and try again 2 days later...

 

[DnKslr]

I dont understand this legless cricket theory, spiders can eat about anything smaller than themself, and I dont see why taking limbs off of prey makes anything different.

You can feed larger crickets without removing the legs but it depends on the T. I have 2 A versicolors that will tackle just about anything, legless or not. Then there's my A purpurea, which although has a great appetite, refuses to tackle a small cricket with the legs still attached. Once the back legs were removed, it wasted no time in grabbing the cricket while before, it tried and let the (same) cricket go almost immediately.
Not everyone has to do that for their Ts but I just want to make sure they have every opportunity to grow up easier and safer. Once they get a bit larger and not so fragile, I feed them whole crickets just like everyone else gets.

 

[Stealth Taco]

Well the G. Aureostriata sling is only eating once every day and a half pretty much. Mostly he/she does prefer live ones to crushed crickets. I guess it's his killer instinct! ;P

 

[MyNameHere]

You can feed larger crickets without removing the legs but it depends on the T. I have 2 A versicolors that will tackle just about anything, legless or not. Then there's my A purpurea, which although has a great appetite, refuses to tackle a small cricket with the legs still attached.

Yeah, know thy T!

 

[Buspirone]

Its captivity, usually, the keeper's intent is to keep their captive safe and well fed so keeper's try to give the tarantula, especially the slings, a better advantage over their prey. The safest rule if you aren't incapacitating prey(crushing heads or removing the powerful jumping legs from crickets) is to not offer prey larger than the length of the tarantula's abdomen(opisthosoma).

 

[Stealth Taco]

The sling seems to not want the live one I tossed in. I'll leave him in overnight and then take him out in the morning if necessary.

 

[JohnxII]

Yeah male crickets kick others to defend their chirping spots. Also female crix kicking others to fend for food. As for your G. aureostriata sling, don't worry too much. They are very strong and aggresive when it comes to feeding. Them Grammostola's are exceptionally strong by scale. When my slings molted into 1.5"+ juvies, they had no problem taking adult female crickets with all 6 legs.

 

[Ultimate Instar]

I've noticed that my slings display a lot of individual differences in their choice of prey. Some will go after almost anything while others are quite picky. For example, one of my C. pubescens will eat almost anything, mouse pinkies, hissers, crickets, etc. while my other C. pubescens will only eat crickets no matter how hungry she might be. I really wonder if Ts can "remember" bad experiences with a particular prey species and learn to avoid them. All of my Ts will quite eagerly attack their crickets which is their normal diet but will display a lot of caution when offered something new. That clearly shows that they do "remember" past experiences, although remember may be too strong of a word. A conditioned response might be a better description. So it may be possible for a sling to have a bad experience with a cricket and "learn" to avoid them in the future, which would be very inconvenient for the keeper.

Karen N.

 

[MyNameHere]

clearly shows that they do "remember" past experiences, although remember may be too strong of a word. A conditioned response might be a better description.

Karen N.

I think 'remember' works pretty well ...remember that there is very little known about arachnid anatomy and physiology, much less their cognitive abilities. I dunno, I have a strong tendency to anthropomorphise all my critters. Well...I'll say my T's are remembering what's going on...at least until I hear differently. And even then I might do it anyway