im new with a question

[lee smith]

hi all,

i recently bought a b smithi (red-knee) spiderling last saturday and have re-housed from his little pot into a cricket tub (with his little pot) but he doesnt seem to want to eat, i put a small cricket in with him on saturday and its still wandering around with him today.

is this normal for a sling to take a while to eat?

he seems quite happy and is wondering around his cricket tub.

thanks in advance

lee smith

[Mark Pennell]

hi all,

i recently bought a b smithi (red-knee) spiderling last saturday and have re-housed from his little pot into a cricket tub (with his little pot) but he doesnt seem to want to eat, i put a small cricket in with him on saturday and its still wandering around with him today.

is this normal for a sling to take a while to eat?

he seems quite happy and is wondering around his cricket tub.

thanks in advance

lee smith

Lee
Spiderlings molt often, I would hazzard a guess the little fellow is getting ready to molt, therefore off his food. Remove the cricket if you have not already done so. Give it a few days and you'll most likley find a larger spiderling than you had before

Give it a few days after molting to harden up, then feed, all should be well.

Regards
Mark

[lee smith]

thanks for the fast reply, i will remover the cricket an keep i close eye on the spiderling.

[Simon Batten]

My B.Smithi is tiny and she shed the other day for the first time in the 3 months I have had him, that was over a week ago and she still hasnt eaten, one thing I have noticed though is the cricket small enough for him?

[lee smith]

i think the cricket is small enough, its about 2-3mm in length. the spider has a leg span of about the size of a penny.

[Simon Batten]

yeh that seems small enough what I used to do was put a few in at a time and I have never seen her eat I know she must because shes still alive I find it hard to keep track on mine because shes so small

[lee smith]

"tiny" seems to be quite happy now, it looked like it was takeing him a few days to get used to being out of his little pot that he came in.

he has since started to eat considerably, he's had 6 crickets in the last 3 days and looks quite fat indeed.

im glad he's eating and happy now and he is very active for such a small thing.

[Larry Shone]

Oh I have noticed that slings, once they discover food, eat like crazy!

[cliff]

I have a N.chromatus sling that will only eat prekilled food. I use small pieces of mealworm or a tiny cricket.

Cliff

[Larry Shone]

I have a N.chromatus sling that will only eat prekilled food. I use small pieces of mealworm or a tiny cricket.

Cliff

Intersting! I dont think my Chile rose would eat if it wasnt alive! Not sure about the white knee tho!

[lee smith]

"tiny" is eating really well now, hes been having 2 crickets every day and is looking very fat indeed, his abdomen is about 3-4 times the size of his main body.

is it possible to over-feed a sling??

[cliff]

"tiny" is eating really well now, hes been having 2 crickets every day and is looking very fat indeed, his abdomen is about 3-4 times the size of his main body.

is it possible to over-feed a sling??

I have heard that overfeeding can cause problems with molting.

Cliff

[lee smith]

he just molted the other day and is looking really well. he now looks black and white instead of the pink colour that he was, so next moult me may start showing his coulours even more.

he seems to be regulating his feeding him self, i put 3 crickets in with him yesterday and hes eaten 1 sofar and is starting to fill out more.

[Nicola Dolby]

Tarantula feeding

That's a good point Cliff. I was told when I first started keeping tarantulas that, unlike scorpions for example, they cannot over-eat. The behaviour of my own t's bears this out. However I have heard that over-full tarantulas sometimes have trouble with moulting. How do they get over full if they can't over-eat? Any chance of someone letting me know?

[Nicola Dolby]

sling food

Hi, I do the same with mine. When I got my first sling she wasn't able to kill the maggots herself so I did it for her and she ate happily. Since then I've done this with all my spiderlings up to a size of about 4-5cm. They seem to like it, at least they've eaten the maggots!