feeding slings

[Faye Sweeney]

I just fed all of my slings - utter chaos!
I now have 2 x E. vulpinus, 2 x E. sp. "green" 1, x L. parahybana, 1 T. gigas (what a great little spider!) and 1 x C. elegans (omg so cute)
I was using a mixture of size 1 crickets (so small they're almost not visible to the human eye! I had no idea crickets came that small!), size 2 crickets (slightly more managable, but didn't help that I knocked the whole tub over and had to catch them all 1 by 1! ) and drosophila - by far my favorite sling fodder so far!
How on earth do you manage the crickets without them jumping everywhere? could I put them in the fridge to slow them down or is that not advisable?

[Colin D Wilson]

Squat maggots (pre frozen) and/or chopped mealworms are my preference for slings.
Saves the cricket war

Just make sure you remove any remnants after your spiders have eaten.

Fruit fly are considered, by many, to have virtually no real nutritional value and should be fed as a supplement occasionally.

[Faye Sweeney]

I don't really like killing things myself (yes i am veggie), which is why I had avoided maggots and mealworms (plus I can't stand I maggots - yuck!)
perhaps I'll try chopped mealworms though...

[Colin D Wilson]

Popping the maggots into a "zip lock" type plastic bag and putting into the freezer may possibly be the less "yuckie" alternative for you really.

Just get as many as you need out at a time and let them thaw at room temp for a while, then feed them using tweezers.

[Faye Sweeney]

Popping the maggots into a "zip lock" type plastic bag and putting into the freezer may possibly be the less "yuckie" alternative for you really.

Just get as many as you need out at a time and let them thaw at room temp for a while, then feed them using tweezers.

ok, I reckon I could do that... but at the moment there is a dead badger taking up my whole freezer
all in the name of scientific research, but I'm still waiting from someone from the uni to come and collect her... then it can be the maggot freezer!
what kind of maggots? blowfly larvae?

[Colin D Wilson]

i use "squats" they're a little smaller than the normal "fishing type"
They can be bought from fishing tackle shops as usual, some shops offer them in pink or natural...go for the natural uncoloured jobbies.

[Faye Sweeney]

i use "squats" they're a little smaller than the normal "fishing type"
They can be bought from fishing tackle shops as usual, some shops offer them in pink or natural...go for the natural uncoloured jobbies.

ok, will do! thanks

[matthew spooner]

faye, slightly chill ur micro crickets to slow them down, put them in a pepper pot, put ur sling pots in a tray and take the lids off, then literally just shake the crickets out into the pots. thats what i do anyway, quick and easy

[Faye Sweeney]

faye, slightly chill ur micro crickets to slow them down, put them in a pepper pot, put ur sling pots in a tray and take the lids off, then literally just shake the crickets out into the pots. thats what i do anyway, quick and easy

oooooh... a pepper pot - what a great idea! thanks

[Peter Roach]

oooooh... a pepper pot - what a great idea! thanks

Errrrrr..... Not a great idea.

Pepper pots have lots of holes and when you are trying to shake out just one or two micros ...and BAM...8 of the blooming thing pop out

If you use an old type SALT pot (the type you would normally find in a greasy spoon cafe) These only have ONE hole and you can just tap out one cricket at a time.