1 dead thru molt, 1 dying after? any help?

[Peter Lacey]

I'm not sure what killed it, but after a few days I examined the tub again and found more mites. I also found the tub was a little more moist than I imagined but as it was on just coco fibre
it was hard to tell. I remember putting some water in as I felt it had an upcoming moult, which turned out to be true. But I think the culprit was the cricket that was hiding, it obviously hadn't been fed for a while and decided to test the moulting T out. Perhaps I'm wrong but I have observed crickets eating dead crickets before.
Whatever the reason I'm sticking to getting larger than fingernail sling until my experience builds up a bit more, books and opinions can teach you much but I need to get more first hand stuff before I return to the little uns. Having said that my curlies are doing fine, and tonight even the one that does the opposite of all the rest (doesnt eat, builds a mound instead of a burrow) has finally taken squashed pin-head, woo-hoo \o/

[Peter Roach]

has finally taken squashed pin-head

In a word .... why ?
Small slings can and will take on much larger sized prey size for size compared to an adult.

[Peter Lacey]

I know Peter, I purchased 5 of these a while back. 4 of them eat well, burrow and have moulted, some twice. But this one runs away from food. You won't believe this but initially it stayed on top of the lid trying to keep away from pin-heads and it created a mound purely because it was continually running around away from the pin-heads. I changed the pin-head a number of times but nothing seemed to work. Even the squashed crickets i've previously put in seem to get ignored. I've left it without food thinking its going to moult but still nothing. Tonight I thought I'd found another dead sling. So, I gave it some water (via my pipette) and it didn't move. So, rather than risk an alive cricket I squashed one, still alive but struggling and placed it alongside. Put it aside and fed the others and within 10 mins it was sitting on top of its mound having a munch!
Odd to say the least, but I'm happier

[James Box]

i've had to experiment like that a few times, too...when i didn't have pinheads or micros or even number 1's, i squashed the heads and bodies of larger crickets and placed them in. i occasionally found signs that the spiders had munched, but the best evidence was a healthy abdomen and still living spider lol

[Nicola Dolby]

My commiserations Peter. One of my A. fasciculatas died last week, it was the healthiest looking of them all as well. Needless to say my mood was pretty dark for a couple of days. The only consolation is that the others are ok so far. If you want to get another they will have loads at the BTS show, if you can't make it I'm sure someone will pick one up for you. Though you might find you can replace both for less than £12. My commiserations once again Pete

[Peter Lacey]

Thanks Nicola, sorry to hear about your fasciculata, another lovely little creature. I'm trying to test out the ventilation a bit better before I purchase another avic sling.
I will be at BTS so I'll be looking out for one or more as I'd love to see it reach its potential adult colouring. If you're there please come and find me on Peter Roach's table where we'll be talking each other's ears off.