G. pulchra Spiderling Care

[MattFreier]

Hi i have recently purchased a G. pulchra spiderling, it is has a legspan of approx 1 1/2 inches. I have it housed in an old cricket tub approx 18cm x 9cm x 6cm. I use a bottle cap from a coke bottle as a water bowl which i will be filling twice weekly and letting overflow slighty as i do with my adult rosea. Does this sound ok? Or is there anything else i need to be doing?

Im also after advice on what size crickets and how often to feed it?

Thanks in advance.

Ps i dont like calling the sling It! but its obviously unsexed maybe i should think positive and called is she?

[John chambers]

sounds ok as I do the same with slings.
A small hide too might help.
crickets size small not medium till bigger.

[MattFreier]

Thanks John, I've sorted out a small hide for her I found a old roll on deodorant bottle lid, after a good washing it suits just fine. Thanks for the advice with cricket size the shop said it was on mediums but do seem a bit big. I'll try small and see how it goes. How often should I offer food and how many?

[John chambers]

I feed one aweek and that's ok,
even my adults only get one but normally adult size cricket or dubia roach as these fill em up more.. but not to be over fed.

[MattFreier]

Thanks John, I too only feed my adult rosea 1 cricket a week. The handy thing is I can put my Sling on the same feeding schedule. Are Slings prone to fasts like adults, my rosea can snub food for weeks sometimes but I never worry, should I worry if a sling does this?

[John chambers]

Thanks John, I too only feed my adult rosea 1 cricket a week. The handy thing is I can put my Sling on the same feeding schedule. Are Slings prone to fasts like adults, my rosea can snub food for weeks sometimes but I never worry, should I worry if a sling does this?

from what I've seen with slings it's eat grow fast to be big .. adults it's all different because they don't need to worry because they are big.. so I wouldn't of thought a sling would fast..
Ie our salmon pink eats and double it's size to be brave .. lol

[Colin D Wilson]

Cricket tubs fine at the mo, when it moults you can move it into a hatchling box which will do it for a while further.
They're reasonably slow growing even as slings (just a genus thing)
Not wishing to contradict anything written already but at 1.5 inch legspan i wouldn't think twice about giving it an adult brown cricket (they're brilliant predators). weekly feedings fine so you can keep the feeding in tune with the larger one
They do sometimes go off food but at the smaller size it's normally to do with moulting and not an adult "i can't be bothered" thing.
Dry substrate, dampened corner (or a water bowl if you use them) will be fine, temp anywhere around 70-80 and it'll do well (they're very adaptable)

[MattFreier]

Thanks Colin, i did try her(thinking positive lol) on a large cricket as i too had read somewhere that they should be ok. It was pretty disinterested but im wondering if that is a settling in to a new home thing? It is currently redecorating by bulldozing the substrate into its new hide. As it is yet to eat since i purchased it on Friday i was probably going to wait until sunday night giving it time to settle in and work up an appetite lol.

[K Smith]

Cricket tubs fine at the mo, when it moults you can move it into a hatchling box which will do it for a while further.
They're reasonably slow growing even as slings (just a genus thing)
Not wishing to contradict anything written already but at 1.5 inch legspan i wouldn't think twice about giving it an adult brown cricket (they're brilliant predators). weekly feedings fine so you can keep the feeding in tune with the larger one
They do sometimes go off food but at the smaller size it's normally to do with moulting and not an adult "i can't be bothered" thing.
Dry substrate, dampened corner (or a water bowl if you use them) will be fine, temp anywhere around 70-80 and it'll do well (they're very adaptable)

Ditto what Colin wrote. My G pulchra is 1 1/2" and she quite happily feeds on full size cricks. Iv got her in a tub about 3 times her length and shes growing and shedding brilliantly. Slow growing though as stated. Iv got her on that coco fibre with a milk bottle cap for water which is at the slightly dampened end of the substrate. She does enjoy bulldozing the substrate sometimes. We try to feed her weekly but she doesnt always take food (variety of sizes). She shows all typical behavour for the genus.

[K Smith]

pic. 1 1/2 year old G pulchra

Heres a pic of our G pulchra.

[Christopher Smallman]

Just remember adult brown crickets are smaller than adult black crickets in fact an adult female black cricket would be near enough the same size as your Grammostola pulchra.

Chris S.

[K Smith]

Sorry should have mentioned i only use brown cricks

[MattFreier]

Me too i only use brown crickets. Nice pic btw K Smith i did try taking pictures when i first got it but they were not very good.