I know that the slings might not be eating for a couple reasons.. one they might be near a molt or two they still haven't settled in enough to be ready for food.. but I put a small dubia roach in with each sling and neither has shown interest and as I feared the dubias burrowed under the substrate which is about an inch deep so now I have to remove the slings and dig out the dubia in each container and start over :/ but I remember reading on here that slings will eat pre killed prey so if I smash the roach head is it likely that a 1 to 1 ½ inch p regalis and p fasciata which is the same size will still eat it?
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question concerning feeding
- Thread starter Tricocyst
- Start date
some don't like Dubia roaches at all. i have a few that wouldn't eat them, and it took a lot of coaxing to get them to finally eat. Problem with Dubia are they burrow away, or play dead, and don't trigger that feeding response like a cricket or lateralis roach. Good thing about dubia is if they burrow they can be found the T can eat them later. they won't harm the T if they're left in the enclosure like a superworm/mealworm can.
What i did to get my timid ones to finally eat the dubia was put it in the enclosure on it's back. the flailing legs while it tries to right itself should draw the T to it, if it plays dead then a gentle nudge with something small and thin, so as not to draw thee attention of the T away, works to get it to move again. I use a strand from a broom for this. it blends with the substrate pretty well, and is thin enough it doesn't draw the attention away from the roach like a brush or tongs do.
What i did to get my timid ones to finally eat the dubia was put it in the enclosure on it's back. the flailing legs while it tries to right itself should draw the T to it, if it plays dead then a gentle nudge with something small and thin, so as not to draw thee attention of the T away, works to get it to move again. I use a strand from a broom for this. it blends with the substrate pretty well, and is thin enough it doesn't draw the attention away from the roach like a brush or tongs do.
lol I tried that with the fasciata (I prefer working with it seeing how it's fairly calm) and the dubia was on it's back so I scooted it upto the fasciata and after a few seconds one of the legs touched it's pedipalps and the fasciata ran all over the tub where I was experimenting lol
- Messages
- 5,547
- Location
- Outside San Antonio, TX
Try small or medium superworms. You can crush behind the head and they still wiggle. But honestly, the spiders will eventually eat the dubia. They won't starve themselves with prey available.
hm.. I don't think I have any local stores that sell anything other then crickets or nightcrawlers and geez I don't wanna deal with crickets again if I can avoid them and a nightcrawler is easily 20 times larger lol :/ I might stick with the dubias for a few days and if I have no luck I'll unfortunately buy some crickets cuz this area has such a limited selection 
- Messages
- 5,547
- Location
- Outside San Antonio, TX
Once they feed on one, they'll eat them all the time. Dubias and lats are all i bother with now, and occasionally superworms. I still keep my hisser communal though, as pets. After a recent influx of slings and scorplings, my lats were decimated, so i bought a few hundred to start another colony. All the scorplings are sold, and the slings are big enough for dubia now, so I'm going to see how fast I can turn a few hundred lats into thousands. My guess is very quickly
- Messages
- 216
- Location
- New Jersey
Once they feed on one, they'll eat them all the time. Dubias and lats are all i bother with now, and occasionally superworms. I still keep my hisser communal though, as pets. After a recent influx of slings and scorplings, my lats were decimated, so i bought a few hundred to start another colony. All the scorplings are sold, and the slings are big enough for dubia now, so I'm going to see how fast I can turn a few hundred lats into thousands. My guess is very quickly
I tried lats many many years ago and never got any nymphs from them. How do you set them up?
- Messages
- 5,547
- Location
- Outside San Antonio, TX
The same exact way as dubia. Inch of sub, egg cartons, food dish on one side and an end tbat I moisten very occasionally. My roaches get most moisture from baby carrots. They also get dog food and fish flakes. My lats were producing babies very well, but i started my colony too small, and at the time i had a whole lot of baby scorps and slings. I had five adults and a few nymphs left when i reordered(baby scorps are voracious eaters), my small colony lasted longer than I thought it would. I think I started with 300 mixed, around a year and a half ago.
- Messages
- 216
- Location
- New Jersey
I'll have to try them with sub (eco earth), no additional heat? Maybe I'll order a handful and see what I can do.
- Messages
- 5,547
- Location
- Outside San Antonio, TX
Room temp, and i use jungle mix. I saw a lot of dark ooths, which i assume are bad? But babies were constantly springing up. They fed a whole lot of scorplings I ended up selling.
- Messages
- 216
- Location
- New Jersey
When I tried lats back in like 2008 or 2009 I remember getting ooths but they never hatched out.
- Messages
- 1,729
- Location
- The arm pit of The United States
Crush the heads first. They will still move around but will not be able to burrow.
- Messages
- 5,547
- Location
- Outside San Antonio, TX
I think it has to do with moisture. Almost every day in south texas, there is fog in the am. Even if there isnt, the humidity is 100% or close to it. They say lats have spread from California to texas, but i think they've covered the south to Florida. I think Florida is too moist, too frequently, for them to thrive. I think Texas is about perfect for them..we do have dry spells, but that morning dew is almost ever present. Ive found lats on the walls at the hospital. My suggestion is check the Allpet roach forum, theres some very smart fellows there, a dual member here named Hisserdude also is very knowledgeable.
ok well after nearly a week with dubias neither sling would eat.. but wouldn't you know.. I bought crickets today and both the regalis and fasciata pounced on the cricket before I could even get the lid closed lol.. picky slings -_-
