Advice needed on feeding juvenile salmon pink.

[j d caisey]

Hi all,It took me 15 years to convince my wife that a spider should be part of our household and i am now the proud owner of a juvenile salmon pink who my 6 year old daughter has named "spiddy".Could anyone please give me some advice on how much and how often i should feed him? I've had him a week and i've been feeding him to his appetite.He's eaten 6 locusts about 20mm in body length in a week. He has got a leg span of around 70 mm. Another thing i would like to know is do spiders aways do their housekeeping and toss out their leftovers or do they leave some in their hide?I've removed everything i've found outside and i didn't want to disturb him unnecessarily.I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone can give me.John.

[James Box]

that sounds like an awful lot of food, however this species doesn't seem too bothered by overfeeding. they seem to eat and eat and eat!

in the interests of longevity though, a cricket a week would do just fine for that size.

if the abdomen is bigger than say 1.5 times the size of the carapace, you probably don't have to feed that week. in fact even that might be a bit large!

there are a few posts on this species on the first couple pages of this forum that may also help.

as for housekeeping, it's kind of hard to say...might be worth checking under the hide from time to time, just in case. some springtails or woodlice (you can collect from outside, but quarantine for 1-2 weeks in case of chemical contamination, and overfill the waterbowl a little to keep them alive) will eat anything you don't find.

[mary walters]

My bigger juves are on a jumbo cricket a week.

[j d caisey]

Thanks for the advice James.Blimey he is a greedy little piggy isn't he.I'll put him on a diet!

[James Box]

so far as i'm told, it's not as big a problem for Lasiodora parahybana to eat loads and loads, though it's meant to cause problems for some other species.
however, i think you may speed up its metabolism and thus speed up its life cycle, subsequently shortening its life if you feed too much.
don't know if that's proven, but it's what i've been told by everyone.
these creatures thrive on neglect!