Beginner questions -Sling care

[Yannick42]

A few days ago my very first T arrived, a G.pulchripes sling. I made a little pre-burrow underneath a piece of cork. The T directly went in. The next day I saw her at the water dish. To my surprise she bulldozered the whole enclosure the night after. At daytime (well, when I'm awake) she remains burrowed. I have put a prekilled mealworm in the enclosure twice, which she seemed to have taken over night each time. No remains we're visible.

My questions:
Is it correct and enough to give her a mealworm twice a week? She has roundabout an inch size.

When is it time to feed living prey?

I assume she stays underground, because it's safe for a sling to do so. So there is no need to worry about that, is that right...?

Attached is a photo of the enclosure. The lid also contains ventilation holes.

Thanks for taking time to read+greetings!

 

[Enn49]

I feed all my Ts live food, even the tiny slings, just remove any not eaten within 24 hours.
You're right, most slings will burrow to begin with.

 

[Heretic]

slings are scavengers most of the time. I never see most of mine. Due to a lung condition I cant have new worlds... and most old worlds hate being seen.

 

[Yannick42]

Allright, I have to get used to having an animal here, that I don't see I just saw the T for the first time in the burrow, which was a fantastic moment of joy for me, after a crappy workday. So I can keep on watching the Lions lose against the Packers now, without worrying about the T...

 

[Gizalba]

It seems to depend on the spider's personality and the size of the prey, regarding when to feed living prey. If he/she is taking the pre-killed mealworm then that sounds fine for now and yes no need to worry about her hiding; it is probably a good sign that she is making herself a safe home underground.

Most of my slings are smaller than an inch but they vary in whether they will accept live prey. Some are too scared of it but I find that genus' like Chilobrachys will wrestle live prey down even when they are teeny tiny themselves.

An inch big sounds like she may take live prey now if you did want to try, or whenever she's ready. I think prey around as big as the spider's abdomen is recommended. I do sometimes feed live mealworms but I wouldn't particularly recommend it; they burrow fast and if left in the enclosure they could bite/harm a moulting sling so they are stressful to retrieve fast if they start to dig. Therefore I only feed them live worms if they take it straight away. Small red runner roaches or baby hissing roaches are my preferred methods of feeding slings. Some people also feed small crickets or locusts which I have done on occasion, but roaches live much longer.

 

[m0lsx]

I feed all of my smaller slings mealworms that I behead. As mealworms that are put in whole burrow & then tend to resurface as beetles. So I cut the head off. A beheaded mealworm will still move for around 24 hours & any mealworm left in for more than 24 hours tends to go mouldy.

Cutting the head off a mealworm gives your sling easy access to the mealworm.

At an inch your sling will probably take very small crickets. But crickets do not keep as well as mealworms. Plus they grow. So they are more expensive, especially if you only have one sling to feed.

 

[BigBill'sUniverse]

I behead all the millworms I feed. I hate digging up my enclosures to find them. Normally I feed Dubia or Red Runners.

 

[Yannick42]

It seems to depend on the spider's personality and the size of the prey, regarding when to feed living prey. If he/she is taking the pre-killed mealworm then that sounds fine for now and yes no need to worry about her hiding; it is probably a good sign that she is making herself a safe home underground.

Most of my slings are smaller than an inch but they vary in whether they will accept live prey. Some are too scared of it but I find that genus' like Chilobrachys will wrestle live prey down even when they are teeny tiny themselves.

An inch big sounds like she may take live prey now if you did want to try, or whenever she's ready. I think prey around as big as the spider's abdomen is recommended. I do sometimes feed live mealworms but I wouldn't particularly recommend it; they burrow fast and if left in the enclosure they could bite/harm a moulting sling so they are stressful to retrieve fast if they start to dig. Therefore I only feed them live worms if they take it straight away. Small red runner roaches or baby hissing roaches are my preferred methods of feeding slings. Some people also feed small crickets or locusts which I have done on occasion, but roaches live much longer.

Thank you! This is very helpful. I found a small store in my town that only sells feeder insects and the next step is gonna be to feed a small roach I think.

 

[Yannick42]

I feed all of my smaller slings mealworms that I behead. As mealworms that are put in whole burrow & then tend to resurface as beetles. So I cut the head off. A beheaded mealworm will still move for around 24 hours & any mealworm left in for more than 24 hours tends to go mouldy.

Cutting the head off a mealworm gives your sling easy access to the mealworm.

At an inch your sling will probably take very small crickets. But crickets do not keep as well as mealworms. Plus they grow. So they are more expensive, especially if you only have one sling to feed.

It's actually really strange and fascinating how long they keep moving, isn't it?

 

[m0lsx]

the next step is gonna be to feed a small roach I think.

Crush the roaches head otherwise it will bury it's self. Roaches can survive several days without it's head, so crushing the head does not effect the feeding response. In fact often dropping a roach on it's back, with a crushed head gets a excellent response, as the legs move very rapidly.