why wont my spiderlings eat?

[Brendan Stent]

Slightly bigger than that can handle pinhead crickets but even pinheads are scary to a sling, they are the most common insect in the hobby but not one of the best by any means. I have started using freshly hatched pinheads with spiderlings that I've had for half a year now and even with them, i cut off the legs and dunk the pinhead in water so it is less scary to the sling.

Is this a common thing with the new world T's?
Our Aussie T's smash pinheads and pile them up before gorging themselves and often tackle food as large or larger than themselves.
Are there other slings that exhibit this kind of behaviour?
Cheers
Brendan

[Colin D Wilson]

Claudia.
The key to most Avics (in General) is to provide a fairly humid environment but provide adequate ventilation.
I do this by having a mesh to to the tubs and keeping a reasonably deep layer of substrate quite damp.
It will be a little trial and error for you if you are using a heat mat, I keep the room at a constant (not high though) temperature.

Brendan.
Speaking form my own experience there are a few species that are able to tackle food as large (if not a little larger) than their own body when slings.
L. paharybana, A. geniculata, most Poecilotheria, H. lividum, G. aureostriata, P.murinus to name but a few.

[Tom Forman]

i am pretty sure australian T's are alot more aggressive yes lol...

Thinking back about my encounter with australian spiders on Frasier Island and the size of just about any animal over there(you should have seen the rats in sydney, looked like small cats lol)
I am sure they would tackle more than our new world T's would lol.

Do you not have brachypelma smithy in australia at all?

[Wendy Orton]

I'm glad I read this thread as well. I bought a versicolor spiderling on Sunday at Kettering. It is showing no interest in food but Ray Gabriel thought that it looked as if it was getting ready for a moult. I have it in the original pot inside a small viv with the lid cut in half so that it can enter it's new home at it's leisure. I have put a heat mat at the back of the viv as we live in a draughty old cottage and I'm sure that the room temp is not high enough. It's fairly active, is drinking and otherwise seems ok. It does seem to gravitate to the side nearer the heat mat.