new GBB sling owner/advice

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Hello tarantula owners! I have never owned an arachnid before and recently received one as a gift. It was admittedly a joke gift from my girlfriend's brother but I am super excited to raise her (he said he ordered a female). We received her shortly before Christmas. He did some basic research and ordered us an enclosure with bedding, debris to web onto, water dish, etc. She is a sling. Super tiny. About the size of my index finger nail. She has eaten once since we got her, and when she did DAMN!!! She snatched up a mealworm at lightning speed. It was awesome to watch. That was maybe around New Years.
So this is why I am joining a spider forum... She seems to be doing well but hasn't eaten since. We try to feed her maybe once every 5 days but she has shown little interest in feeding. Any mealworm we have put into the enclosure, whether near her or directly into her webbing has gone uneaten. I make sure to collect any uneaten food a day or so after. We keep her water dish filled also. Her enclosure is large for her size. Probably 8" tall by 4" squared at the base. She has decided to take up residence at the top of a piece of bark, webbing between that and a fake leafy plant. All of this came as a whole. It was sold as a spider enclosure. Not some cobbled together mess we put together ourselves. We keep her in the living room where she gets probably 12-15 hours of light a day. It is a fairly heavily trafficked area of our apartment. Is there anything I should be doing differently? More/less light? Quietervarea of the house?
My girlfriend isn't entirely sold on the thought of a spider living in the house but she is coming around to it. I just want to make sure the spider gets the care it needs and what I can do to stoke her appetite. Any advice y'all can give would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

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Picture with thumbtack for scale of enclosure.

 

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Sorry for multiple posts. Not sure how to edit/add pics. She's super cool!

 

[AdamG]

Hi! Welcome to the forum.

Congrats on your accidental entry into tarantula keeping, I'm sure you'll love it.

I've got a couple of concerns regarding what you've received though.

1 - You've stated that you were told the spiderling is a female but I'd expect it to be nigh on impossible to sex a spiderling the size of your fingernail as per the picture as the moult would be too small to work with even under a microscope.

2 - They've provided you with an arboreal enclosure suited to tree dwelling spiders who need more enclosure height than width. While GBB's are considered to be semi-arboreal they are strictly speaking a terrestrial spider that will climb and web its enclosure. I'd be of the opinion that an actual arboreal enclosure isn't the best option. A terrestrial with as much width as height would be a more suitable option, especially as your spiderling grows up.

3 - Tarantulas are largely nocturnal so if the spider is getting 15 hours of light a day it'll be more reclusive and could possibly take much longer to settle down. I'd suggest a quiet area of the house with a more natural day/night cycle. (Avoid direct sunlight to the enclosure though as that's a recipe to cook the poor thing).

4 - Have a look at this video by the excellent Tom Moran for care notes for your species.

There's loads of people way more knowledgeable than me on here who I'm sure will chime in but hopefully that gives you a start.

 

[AdamG]

Another point (just looked at the pic again) is your substrate depth is too low and the gap to the bottom of the enclosure is too high.

I would suggest rehousing to a terrestrial enclosure as per my above post but the advice about substrate depth and the height gap usually stands.

Not so much of a problem with spiderlings but as your spider gets heavier and larger they become much more of a risk regarding fall damage. A heavy terrestrial spider can easily rupture their abdomen falling from not even great heights so it's something to watch for.

 

[AdamG]

And just to clarify, my advice is more geared towards the spider growing over time. The current enclosure is way too big for a spiderling of that size. The video I've linked in my first post will discuss appropriate enclosure sizes. Apologies for the scattergun of posts, I've just woke up .

 

[Arachnoclown]

Its recent eating issue may be from it being close to premolt. Gbbs usually will still eat though which makes me to believe it may not like the mealworms thrashing around. Try prekilling the worm by removing its head. True it would be hard to sex at this size but not impossible. @sdsnybny sexs spiders much smaller then yours. Your enclosure is just fine for a Gbb. I raise all of mine from slings as arboreals in those Amac boxes. Both photoed Gbbs where placed in those boxes at 3rd instar. It will fill that enclosure with webbing in no time. I would however attach that corkbark to the top of the enclosure. As you can see they web up the top...like a arboreal. As for substate...they don't use it, not even to burrow. Ive got 1000s of tarantulas that jam out everyday (within reason) unless your breeding a little noise won't hurt. Ive got a couple hamorri in my living room and they don't care at all. If you see it jump or scurry off then maybe its too much

 

[AdamG]

Super interesting to learn they can be raised arboreally like that. Thanks @Arachnoclown.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Photos of a older female just for fun.

 

[octanejunkie]

My female GBB after her last molt

So much webbing lol

Great species

 

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Hello tarantula owners! I have never owned an arachnid before and recently received one as a gift. It was admittedly a joke gift from my girlfriend's brother but I am super excited to raise her (he said he ordered a female). We received her shortly before Christmas. He did some basic research and ordered us an enclosure with bedding, debris to web onto, water dish, etc. She is a sling. Super tiny. About the size of my index finger nail. She has eaten once since we got her, and when she did DAMN!!! She snatched up a mealworm at lightning speed. It was awesome to watch. That was maybe around New Years.
So this is why I am joining a spider forum... She seems to be doing well but hasn't eaten since. We try to feed her maybe once every 5 days but she has shown little interest in feeding. Any mealworm we have put into the enclosure, whether near her or directly into her webbing has gone uneaten. I make sure to collect any uneaten food a day or so after. We keep her water dish filled also. Her enclosure is large for her size. Probably 8" tall by 4" squared at the base. She has decided to take up residence at the top of a piece of bark, webbing between that and a fake leafy plant. All of this came as a whole. It was sold as a spider enclosure. Not some cobbled together mess we put together ourselves. We keep her in the living room where she gets probably 12-15 hours of light a day. It is a fairly heavily trafficked area of our apartment. Is there anything I should be doing differently? More/less light? Quietervarea of the house?
My girlfriend isn't entirely sold on the thought of a spider living in the house but she is coming around to it. I just want to make sure the spider gets the care it needs and what I can do to stoke her appetite. Any advice y'all can give You bring up an excellent point in regards to the sexing of such a small sling.

Hello tarantula owners! I have never owned an arachnid before and recently received one as a gift. It was admittedly a joke gift from my girlfriend's brother but I am super excited to raise her (he said he ordered a female). We received her shortly before Christmas. He did some basic research and ordered us an enclosure with bedding, debris to web onto, water dish, etc. She is a sling. Super tiny. About the size of my index finger nail. She has eaten once since we got her, and when she did DAMN!!! She snatched up a mealworm at lightning speed. It was awesome to watch. That was maybe around New Years.
So this is why I am joining a spider forum... She seems to be doing well but hasn't eaten since. We try to feed her maybe once every 5 days but she has shown little interest in feeding. Any mealworm we have put into the enclosure, whether near her or directly into her webbing has gone uneaten. I make sure to collect any uneaten food a day or so after. We keep her water dish filled also. Her enclosure is large for her size. Probably 8" tall by 4" squared at the base. She has decided to take up residence at the top of a piece of bark, webbing between that and a fake leafy plant. All of this came as a whole. It was sold as a spider enclosure. Not some cobbled together mess we put together ourselves. We keep her in the living room where she gets probably 12-15 hours of light a day. It is a fairly heavily trafficked area of our apartment. Is there anything I should be doing differently? More/less light? Quietervarea of the house?
My girlfriend isn't entirely sold on the thought of a spider living in the house but she is coming around to it. I just want to make sure the spider gets the care it needs and what I can do to stoke her appetite. Any advice y'all can give would be much appreciated. Thank you.

You bring up an excellent point in regards to the sex of the sling. You are correct about the enclosure as well. I was sent a link to the website of the seller of our box and it was indeed listed as arboreal. I'll start decapitating the mealworms are supper time to see what affect that has on feeding. I'll also be more mindful as to the amount of light the sling is receiving. Thank you for your timely response and will try to post updates.

 

[Steve's Ts]

Hello tarantula owners! I have never owned an arachnid before and recently received one as a gift. It was admittedly a joke gift from my girlfriend's brother but I am super excited to raise her (he said he ordered a female). We received her shortly before Christmas. He did some basic research and ordered us an enclosure with bedding, debris to web onto, water dish, etc. She is a sling. Super tiny. About the size of my index finger nail. She has eaten once since we got her, and when she did DAMN!!! She snatched up a mealworm at lightning speed. It was awesome to watch. That was maybe around New Years.
So this is why I am joining a spider forum... She seems to be doing well but hasn't eaten since. We try to feed her maybe once every 5 days but she has shown little interest in feeding. Any mealworm we have put into the enclosure, whether near her or directly into her webbing has gone uneaten. I make sure to collect any uneaten food a day or so after. We keep her water dish filled also. Her enclosure is large for her size. Probably 8" tall by 4" squared at the base. She has decided to take up residence at the top of a piece of bark, webbing between that and a fake leafy plant. All of this came as a whole. It was sold as a spider enclosure. Not some cobbled together mess we put together ourselves. We keep her in the living room where she gets probably 12-15 hours of light a day. It is a fairly heavily trafficked area of our apartment. Is there anything I should be doing differently? More/less light? Quietervarea of the house?
My girlfriend isn't entirely sold on the thought of a spider living in the house but she is coming around to it. I just want to make sure the spider gets the care it needs and what I can do to stoke her appetite. Any advice y'all can give would be much appreciated. Thank you.