Beginner Spiderling Question!

[Ben Cook]

Hi Everyone, was hoping for a little bit of advice with my Brachypelma Vagans spiderling. I picked him up about 5 weeks ago and was told he had moulted twice, in those 5 weeks he has only eaten 1 cricket. He is about 1.5cm. For the last 3 weeks he has plugged himself in a burrow and not come out or eaten.

At first I thought he was pre-moult as that’s what the behaviour suggested according my printed authorities. However, the temperature has dropped recently so I put his house on a heat mat to keep it more regular. The evening after I did this he was out and about exploring and by the morning had achieved a feat of engineering Brunel would have been proud of. A fresh burrow with a large perfectly round volcano style entrance, totally without a plug.

Now, my concern is that rather than pre-moult his inactivity and lack of appetite was due to the cold and now that he is a bit more awake he may well be hungry. Why this concerns me is that if he is pre-moult and I put a cricket in it is quite likely that the cricket will fall in to Rodriguez’s burrow (for Rodriguez is his name) via the palatial and expansive entrance he has created.

So my question is should I feed him and risk the cricket invading the burrow to find a moulting Rodriguez or do I assume he is pre-moult and risk a very hungry little Mexican?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

[Adrian Lightning]

Try feeding him mate leave the cricket in for a few hours and if he doesn't eat it take it back out.
Just keep tryin this for a few days mate he will either eat or molt eventually you shouldn't have any problems.

[Steven Hindmarch]

Hey Ben,

I would leave it alone. The risk of a cricket chewing on a moulting T is too great. The best way to find out if the litte buggar is hungry is to wait. As soon as you see feet sticking out the entrance you know it´s time for food.

Regards Steven

[Peter Roach]

If you are that worried, crush the crickets head and then leave the body by the burrow entrance.
If the sling is hungry the cricket will be eaten during the night.

[Colin D Wilson]

Do what Peter says regarding the food, dead crickets can't hurt a spider and they will take fresh kill if it's still juicey
In fact i know a lot of keepers that only feed dead food to their slings, just as a precaution for this scenario.

A little point i may make is that i would take the tank off the heat and place the heat mat on one side of the tank.
(This could explain the over enthusiastic burrowing and earth moving as the temperature of it's existing burrow suddenly got a lot hotter) When spiders burrow, they instinctly assume they're going away from the heat, unfortunately they don't seem to realise they're getting hotter and actually stop burrowing when heading for a heat mat at the bottom.

[Ben Cook]

Thank you all for some awesome advice. I will try a dead cricket tonight and move the heat mat. I will let you know how I get on. thanks again

[Christopher Smallman]

I am one of the people who feeds his slings crushed head crickets and have found they are quite happy to snap up an easy meal

ChrisS.

[Ben Cook]

Well, I would just like to say thanks for your help everyone. I popped a cricket with its head crushed in last night and it was gone 10 minutes later! I was very happy as I rarely see the little fella so I do get worried he has died! I thought I would pop a couple of pictures up I got of him the other day, And yes....I have dried the substrate out since then as it was a wee bit moist!

[Peter Roach]

That seems an extremely large area for such a little sling.
Everyone has their own ideas on how to keep their spiders but mine is that where slings/juvs are concerned that they should be kept in small containers so that they dont have any problems finding their prey. I like the spider and prey to be in close proximity immediately the prey is introduced.
I would house a very small sling like yours in nothing larger than a film canister like the photos below.

1st photo is showing a random mushroom growing in with a sling.
2nd photo is showing a sling ready to be moved to a larger container.

[Lee Corless]

I agree with Peter. It may be feeling insecure about all the space it has and is burrowing away for safety. I have grown B.vagans from slings to maturity, and from experience they are ferocious eaters when they are small..
I kept mine in pots like these.


This one is less than 2 years old....

[Ben Cook]

Thanks for that guys. My only concerns would be the physical stress of digging him out and re-homing and the fact it would be his 3rd home in such a short period. Do you think the benefits of moving him outweigh the concerns I have? I'm not questioning your experience in recommending it, far from it, I just don't want to upset the little chap!

[Peter Roach]

Ive never had any problems moving slings, infact I generally move them every few months anyway to larger containers as and when they need it.
I think that spiders get stressed out when they cant hide away more than being moved.
Its your spider mate, you decide