Brachypelma emilia sling 1"-2" not eating

[Leepbby]

I am hoping someone may have some guidance as to why my "T" is not eating. I got her/him at petsmart I was actually in there to pick up some mealworms for my other older "T" and found her/him there in a over hydrated, very little amount of substrate in to big of an enclosure with a water dish that had a ... wait for it.... "SPONGE" in it. ( I did try to educate the cashier at check out about the dangers of bacteria possibly killing tarantulas by having a sponge in their water dish but that's a whole other issue) Since I've gotten her/him it has not eaten once. I do have to say that there was a molt in the enclosure as well so there's that to consider here as well. It's been almost 4 weeks now and still nothing from small mealworms to very small cricket that I watched for a short time and then took it out because she/him just seems to run away from it entirely. I have small dubia roaches but I am not sure if I should put that in there with her/him. I've even cut up pieces of mealworm and that did not seam to do anything for her.him either. Please any help here would be great. I just don't want to see her/him go downhill because I am doing something wrong here.

 

[octanejunkie]

Pic of the T, and its enclosure, would help

 

[Leepbby]

Pic of the T, and its enclosure,

Pic of the T, and its enclosure, would help

Here are pictures of her/him & the enclosure.

 

[WolfSpider]

Nice find--and nice save. Abdomen is OK. Looks recently molted as you said. You are doing nothing wrong. It will settle. Keep us informed please.

 

[Leepbby]

Nice find--and nice save. Abdomen is OK. Looks recently molted as you said. You are doing nothing wrong. It will settle. Keep us informed please.

thank you I will. just wondering how long it might be before he/she might actually eat? If he/she were older I don't think I would be as concerned I know it takes time after a molt but a month just seems long at this age

 

[Lentulus]

Well I don’t have any experiences with brachypelma but my one inch Aphonopelma has been in a sealed up burrow for going on 5 months with no food or water. Seems to be doing fine. Luckily it made its hole in the corner of the enclosure so I can keep tabs. I just water the substrate during regular maintenance and it appears to be doing fine like this. The booty in my avatar is the little booger.

 

[octanejunkie]

thank you I will. just wondering how long it might be before he/she might actually eat? If he/she were older I don't think I would be as concerned I know it takes time after a molt but a month just seems long at this age.

Try feeding once a week. If.no response, remove uneaten feeders after 24 hours and try next week. Don't worry, the Tarantula knows what it's doing.

Well I don’t have any experiences with brachypelma but my one inch Aphonopelma has been in a sealed up burrow for going on 5 months with no food or water. Seems to be doing fine. Luckily it made its hole in the corner of the enclosure so I can keep tabs. I just water the substrate during regular maintenance and it appears to be doing fine like this. The booty in my avatar is the little booger.

Common with Aphonopelma, as well as Brachyperlma and Grammostola.

 

[Leepbby]

Try feeding once a week. If.no response, remove uneaten feeders after 24 hours and try next week. Don't worry, the Tarantula knows what it's doing.

Common with Aphonopelma, as well as Brachyperlma and Grammostola.

well as I stated I have been feeding it or at least offering it to feed many times which I will obviously keep doing I was just asking simply because of its age is all and was trying to make sure there was no distinction between ages because everything I've seen or researched seems to imply that as slings they eat often and even scavenge at this point so I just wanted to be sure so thank you for offering that information every bit of knowledge helps

 

[Leepbby]

Try feeding once a week. If.no response, remove uneaten feeders after 24 hours and try next week. Don't worry, the Tarantula knows what it's doing.

Common with Aphonopelma, as well as Brachyperlma and Grammost

Well I don’t have any experiences with brachypelma but my one inch Aphonopelma has been in a sealed up burrow for going on 5 months with no food or water. Seems to be doing fine. Luckily it made its hole in the corner of the enclosure so I can keep tabs. I just water the substrate during regular maintenance and it appears to be doing fine like this. The booty in my avatar is the little booger.

Wow and thank you... nice "T" by the way .. looks to be very healthy

 

[Arachnoclown]

Looks good. Id feed it every 3 weeks if it were in my room. Love those emilias.

 

[Leepbby]

Looks good. Id feed it every 3 weeks if it were in my room. Love those emilias.

Thank you and that would be great advice if she would actually eat ..... but I guess she/he will eat when its ready to

 

[Leepbby]

Thank you and that would be great advice if she would actually eat ..... but I guess she/he will eat when its ready to

 

[octanejunkie]

Looks good. Id feed it every 3 weeks if it were in my room. Love those emilias.

 

[octanejunkie]

well as I stated I have been feeding it or at least offering it to feed many times which I will obviously keep doing I was just asking simply because of its age is all and was trying to make sure there was no distinction between ages because everything I've seen or researched seems to imply that as slings they eat often and even scavenge at this point so I just wanted to be sure so thank you for offering that information every bit of knowledge helps

May I offer you some feeding advice?

Underfeed vs overfeed

I am happy to share my observations, and philosophies, accumulated from keeping and feeding tarantulas in re feeding frequency. If you read no further; less is more when it comes to feeding tarantulas. Tarantulas are wild animals, they are not domesticated, and like most animals are...

tarantulaforum.com

 

[Arachnoclown]

View attachment 56501

 

[Jeef]

My B. emelia eats about once a month. I'll toss a cricket in with her every Saturday, then on Sunday I'll pick it out and throw it in my A. calchodes enclosure. She's a chow hound. And my B. smithi eats quarterly if I'm lucky.

 

[Leepbby]

May I offer you some feeding advice?

Underfeed vs overfeed

I am happy to share my observations, and philosophies, accumulated from keeping and feeding tarantulas in re feeding frequency. If you read no further; less is more when it comes to feeding tarantulas. Tarantulas are wild animals, they are not domesticated, and like most animals are...

tarantulaforum.com

Yes I have read this post from you previously I completely understand that less is more like I said I was only asking . When I said I have offered it prey/food many times that to me is offering every 5 days or so, Obviously if it's not hungry it will turn a cheek. It just seemed scared of the food and I did not know if that was all together something different. I will wait him/her out that's not a problem. I would just rather ask and sound annoying than not say anything and be wrong.

 

[octanejunkie]

Ts are sometimes fickle, fussy eaters. Sometimes they fast for no clear reason. Sometimes they take down prey and don't eat.

Patience, a virtue is.

 

[timc]

Are you leaving the feeder in over night? I have a few that won’t eat until everything is quiet and dark. Your little one looks fine otherwise. She’ll eat when she’s good and ready. Is this your first tarantula?

 

[GreenKnight]

Cute T! Good to ask just to be sure. I have a new 2 inch G pulchra that hasn't eaten in a week. For two years I've listened to Tom's Big Spiders about how not to panic. Yet now, when I have my first one, seems like all that understanding went out the window. I just have to wait. Good luck with yours!!