New sling I got not eating, need help

[GeckoxLover]

Hii! I just got my Mexican red knee tarantula however it is still a small sling I was trying to get it to eat since I had no idea when the last it ate however when I checked it’s cage it came in I found molts and I’m a little confused and don’t know when I need to feed it!

 

[Enn49]

You don't say how small it is but I'd leave it 4-5 days before feeding just in case it has moulted recently.

 

[dexjones0612]

Also from my experience some slings can be picky eaters.

 

[m0lsx]

Hii! I just got my Mexican red knee tarantula however it is still a small sling I was trying to get it to eat since I had no idea when the last it ate.

What are you feeding? I only use mealworms for my small slings. The heads need to be cut off otherwise they burrow & can then emerge weeks later as beetles. One big advantage of cutting a head off a mealworm is that your sling gets easy access to the soft inner of the mealworm. A meal worm will still be moving slightly after 2 - 3 days. So it's like feeding live food. But with easy access.

A second advantage with using beheaded mealworms is that being largish, they are normally easy to find & remove. Although some slings will bury it's mealworms.

With small slings I have never found a way to know if they have eaten or not. They eat so little. So I simply put mealworms in 2- 3 times per week & then remove the next day to stop them going mouldy. So always leave it there overnight. Many T's eat overnight when the room is quiet & dark.

Another issue is what do you keep your small sling in? You use the term cage. I keep all of my small slings in small vials. And then as they grow, I move them into larger enclosures. But even my large slings only have smallish enclosures. T's are ambush predators, they sit & wait for the food to come to them. So a larger enclosure is not always ideal.

The larger of these enclosures, I only use on larger, slow growing slings that like to burrow.



This is how I keep my slings. Inside a food container.



This is the kind of thing I keep larger slings in.



Again, I only use these for larger slings.

 

[GeckoxLover]

You don't say how small it is but I'd leave it 4-5 days before feeding just in case it has moulted recently.

Yeah that’s probably it do you think small meal worms or small crickets are the best T-T

 

[Enn49]

Yeah that’s probably it do you think small meal worms or small crickets are the best T-T

To be honest I' feed all my Ts crickets. For tiny slings you can feed prekilled, just crush their heads.

 

[dexjones0612]

I have a problem keeping crickets alive very long

 

[m0lsx]

I have a problem keeping crickets alive very long

Most supermarkets sell cheap porridge & I now use raisins/sultanas, as moist food. But remove dead crickets from your cricket tub, as they give off fumes which kill the others.

I use average sized mealworms for my slings & just cut the heads off. Again, I add fresh porridge as needed & I tend not to add raisins for food.

 

[dexjones0612]

Thanks for the tips! this has been very helpful, I must say I'm just getting into the hobby and my collection is only 13 but I'm so addicted. it has been very challenging cause I mostly have slings.