can spiders cut through cling film?

[sagar jason nigam]

got my new slings today, i plan to keep them in some plastic pint glasses, but they have no lid, so i know this is a bit of a silly question but you guys dont think that the slings can cut through a few sheets of cling film over the top?

And for the aboreal should a put a stick in their for it? its only two cm big

[Phil Rea]

Some adult tarantulas can chew through aluminium mesh so yes, they can chew through cling film

[Colin D Wilson]

As Phil has said above, adults get through mesh and the plastic vents on cheaper "pet pal" type tanks so cling film may not be the safest option.
How about some of the fine alloy mesh thats used in car repairs, this is easily cut and shaped to fit over the top of the pots, will help with ventilation as well ...MOST important !!!
Pop a stick/twig/bark piece/plastic plant in there for it to web on and it'll be fine.

[sagar jason nigam]

sorry that was not a well thought out post anyway, ive housed them differently now. The only prob is i have no prey items that are smaller than the slings.I guess even a slightly pussing medium sized crick, about twice the size of the sling would be ok for them to eat.

The box thats on its side is the Avicularia golieth, i just put one stick in there for it to climb upon or web or whatever. This is my first aboreal




Thanks for the replies

[Elaine Ross]

sorry that was not a well thought out post anyway, ive housed them differently now. The only prob is i have no prey items that are smaller than the slings.I guess even a slightly pussing medium sized crick, about twice the size of the sling would be ok for them to eat.

The box thats on its side is the Avicularia golieth, i just put one stick in there for it to climb upon or web or whatever. This is my first aboreal

Thanks for the replies

You really should have done your research on how to keep these slings before you go them so you would have had everything ready for their arrival.

The cricket tub for the terrestrial sling should have a nice substrate and a hide. Something like coco fibre or peat would do. Fill the tub half full with a small piece of corkbark for it to hide under.

The cricket tub for the arboreal sling will do in the meantime but should have a bit of substrate with some upright corkbark or twigs and some plant coverage for it to hide in a web onto. Substrate will be useful to help maintain humidity as a cricket tub dries out very quickly.

As for the crickets being too large you can always squash the head and just leave it in for the sling to demolish at its leasure.

[sagar jason nigam]

Thanks Elaine for the reply. I got this method from the member of this forum Mrs Linda Street for my t.apophysis sling and thought i would use it for all my slings. You can find her at the bottom of the forum page under "T. apophysis sling" She recommended it because its an easy way to keep moister high and you dont have to worry about bits of substrate caught up whist eating. She also said i needent put anything in the box with the apophysis until it has molted out of the sling stage or is of a reasonable size. I honestly dont knw why people dont understand the method on forums ive been on, the only reason that i can think of is because of natural behaviour, but i think this is a reasonable way until the spider is about 5 cm

I know what u mean about the drying out, thats why i put a layer of moist vermiculite underneath the kitchen roll, that way you only have to mist it twice a day. It also says this is a viable way raise spiders (especially if you have a quick turover of stock) and is hygenic and forces you to keep up maintenence so on in a book ive got. It was written in the 90's but the author is an expert and has obviously raised many spiders this way.

By the way i have a pice of cork and a rock in with the apophysis that i only remove when i feed it. And i plan to get a few pices of small bark and that for the other sings too. Since they are so small i should see no prob.

Please tell me what u think

[Joanna Pendleton]

as for containers, I went to home and bargain (cheap shop something similar prob in your area) and got the smallest tuperware tup in the world (about half the length if not less that a cricket tub) and simply made my own holes in the tub and sanded off a bit to avoid sharp bits. Works wonders lol. I have some coir substrate in there and a little hide that I made (couldnt buy one small enough). She seems happy with this arrangement and can be seen wandering around sometimes, but mostly seen sitting in some webbing she's done in her hide! We *think* she's even had a moult with us already.

Cheap enough to set up, especially if you have adult Ts as you can just rob a bit or their coir when setting up their terrarium!

As for the vermiculate/paper towel situation, was this advice just for that species maybe? I don't know enough info about the species you have to comment (i have only really researched in delth the requirements of the ones i have!) but maybe it's not suitable for them. And as far as I know vermiculate on its own isnt ideal.

You say you mist twice a day? seems excessive to me, even for slings. In fact some slings could be sensitive to excess moisture? Did you have a look at the different humidity requirements of each different species sling? For example my GBB was very upset when she first got put in her tub as the substrate hadnt dried out enough and apart from a little mist for moulting I wont mist, I will put a couple of drops of water on the side of her tub so her substrate doesnt get all wet and upset her again. This is specific to what a couple of people have told me about GBBs, not for all slings. Similarlly some slings may enjoy extra moisture. Id have a word with one of the guys on here who keep these species and have kept them as slings, or even on another board if no-one here has, and see how they have kept theirs and find out this info for each individual sling, as they are not one size fits all!!!

Good luck

J x

[Joanna Pendleton]

sorry forgot to add, as you have only just got them, feeding not needed yet, could let them settle in a bit and in the meantime order a tub of micro-crickets? Look into if the local pet shop has any or order from spider shop online. It would be worth getting them as you have a few slings there. And while your there doing an order why not add a jar with a screw top? They have them cheap there, or even have a look in local shop for one, for the arborreal sling!

J x

[sagar jason nigam]

Thanks for the reply. Coir fibre holds alot of moistre so you dont really have to mist it, i keep my adult T in a mix of coir fibre and vermiculite 2 to1 mix, and its great for biulding ramps and he loves to dig it up during the night. I think the paper towels thing is good, it just stays moist with the misting and is very clean, plus you can see everything that happens, i will have to get somemore pieces of bark though. I tried to feed them today, and the only one that fed so far was the Cobult Blue, but i accidently disturbed him so i dont think he finished.

Can i ask you what a GBB is? lots of people have it but i dont know. And i got some mags from the spidershop and in their found a website advertiseing jars for aboreal spiders that looked great. But i might want to section of a big tank and keep the two pinktoes in their. High humidity isnt a bad thing i think for slings anyway

the site is www.metamorphosis.gb.com and it says there called Jungle Jars if you want to see

[sagar jason nigam]

by the way i would still like some inffo on the Phlogius sp. "Earth tiger" if ther are any experts around. Ive got some general info i found on the phlogius sp. and know their are aggressive and fast and so on, and on the austrailan or american BTS they had a lad of the different phlogius sp., but i would like to know what the Earth Tiger is. I signed up for their board but they have not accepted yet, so anyone that can help would be great. Perhaps thats a generic term as the guy who sld me the spiders Lee saidon the site he got them in with some other different spiders from PNG, and distingiuhed them for their big size

[sagar jason nigam]

Just out of curiosity, could i put something in the webbing of an aboreal to encourage it to eat? I guess what they do anyway is drag their prey items back up to their web anyway

[sagar jason nigam]

aboreal setup

i changed the setup for the aboreal, with some coirfibre from my adults tank, and put a big piece of bark in their veritically, does this look ok

[Larry Shone]

As some may have heard on another forum my juvenile White Knee began biting at the vnetilation hole of his tupperware plastic box! That was a little unsettling hearing it go pop every now and then! So I certainly wouldnt trust cling film!

[Christopher Smallman]

by the way i would still like some inffo on the Phlogius sp. "Earth tiger" if ther are any experts around. Ive got some general info i found on the phlogius sp. and know their are aggressive and fast and so on, and on the austrailan or american BTS they had a lad of the different phlogius sp., but i would like to know what the Earth Tiger is. I signed up for their board but they have not accepted yet, so anyone that can help would be great. Perhaps thats a generic term as the guy who sld me the spiders Lee saidon the site he got them in with some other different spiders from PNG, and distingiuhed them for their big size

As you say "Earth Tiger" is the generic name for the Old World Tarantulas that dwell on the ground just as African species are "Baboons" and those from the America's are known sometimes as "Birdeaters".

I'v seen pictures of Phlogius species on this forum and think they are stunning

CJ.

[sagar jason nigam]

thanks alot for the info christopher, i guess i will just have to wait until it grows to see what type it turns out be. I am still a bit confused through, as the guy at the spider shop said he distingushed them from the group that were labelled something else because of their enormous size, but the sling is tiny