New Sling Mom - Update! Sling Eating... Y'all Are the BEST

[cmvcarlsson]

Soooo. Super stoked... excuse my new mom nerd-ness for my first T. But I was really worried about my sling not eating.... got lots of good advice from this forum... and I just want to share how awesome my baby Velcro is! He caught and destroyed his first "big" cricket since his molt! I am slowly learning they are not like reptiles. Sorry for the bad photos I to zoom in.

 

[cmvcarlsson]

So I dropped in 3 crickets last night... they are all gone this morning. Is it normal for a sling to eat 3 crickets???? Is it stock-piling them somewhere or just really hungry? Today he is just sitting in his water dish which is almost dry.... I'm gonna let Velcro do its thing and wait a good while to feed.

 

[Konstantin]

Hi
tarantulas are opportunistic eaters.They will eat as much as possible and then once full they will refuse food till after moult.Its ok to give your Ts couple of large meals post moult(After they have hardened ) but overfeeding is asking for long fasts and possible going into hiding while that fast lasts.
One appropriate size pray item or two smaller ones once a week will be more than enough and if abdomen gets too large skipping meal or two will be good idea if water is always available
Regards Konstantin

 

[menavodi]

I’m glad he eats! Nice...

 

[cmvcarlsson]

I’m glad he eats! Nice...

 

[cmvcarlsson]

He also likes to leave the carcass in the water dish. After he vacated his little dish I found 2 cricket legs. The dish is clean now and he is back in the burrow.

 

[octanejunkie]

So I dropped in 3 crickets last night... they are all gone this morning. Is it normal for a sling to eat 3 crickets???? Is it stock-piling them somewhere or just really hungry?

Sometimes yes, to both.

Some Ts will eat like pigs (I recommend underfeed vs overfeed, keep em hungry-ish and lean) and some will kill and stash for a rainy day. I discourage the latter by underfeeding.

 

[cmvcarlsson]

Sometimes yes, to both.

Some Ts will eat like pigs (I recommend underfeed vs overfeed, keep em hungry-ish and lean) and some will kill and stash for a rainy day. I discourage the latter by underfeeding.

Yeah, my plan was not that it would eat all 3... lol I was just thinking he would take one. Lesson learned. I definitely plan to wait to feed it for a good while.