Removing food

[kayshuhveehill]

Hi all! First time poster here. I have a T. vagans sling that I got back in November. It molted on Feb. 2 of this year, and I waited about 6 days before I fed it for the first time after the molt. Since that time, for about a month, I fed it regularly (about once every 4 or 5 days) and it would eat the cricket as soon as I dropped it into the enclosure. However, for the past 10-14 days, I've attempted 3 times to feed it, and it has refused the food every single time (one of those times I even severed the head from the cricket, thinking maybe it wanted pre-killed food). Now I'm wondering a) is it already displaying pre-molt behavior so soon after its last molt? And b) what's the best way to remove the food without stressing the spider out? I'm not very experienced in having to remove the food, and I am unsure of the least stressful method of removal. Any and all advice is welcome, this is my first T!

 

[Arachnoclown]

Sounds like you filled it up. It now has to wait for the new exoskeleton to grow inside (premolt). The faster you feed them the longer the wait or none eating is. I feed my slings every 7 days but you can even stretch it longer. I hardly ever see premolt in my slings because I dont feed them as often. A sling in the wild may go a month between meals...they are built for this. Just make sure your little guy always has water close by. Just grab the feeder...the subject of stress is over rated in the hobby. Use tongs or tweezers.

 

[kayshuhveehill]

Sounds like you filled it up. It now has to wait for the new exoskeleton to grow inside (premolt). The faster you feed them the longer the wait or none eating is. I feed my slings every 7 days but you can even stretch it longer. I hardly ever see premolt in my slings because I dont feed them as often. A sling in the wild may go a month between meals...they are built for this. Just make sure your little guy always has water close by. Just grab the feeder...the subject of stress is over rated in the hobby. Use tongs or tweezers.

So should I still offer it food, just at larger intervals...say once per week? I always make sure the water dish is full, and clean it out each time there's dirt in it and I lightly spray the dirt when it's looking dry. Thank you for your help!

 

[octanejunkie]

How big is your sling?

 

[kayshuhveehill]

Since posting this, it molted one week ago yesterday. I would estimate it is now roughly an inch long. I haven't actually measured it because it's in it's burrow 99% of the time. I re-homed it this morning and snapped this pic before it began burrowing. This new enclosure is 4" x 4" x 5"

 

[octanejunkie]

Honestly, the T knows what it needs better than we do.

Give it a week to do it's bulldozer thing in the new enclosure, when it wants food it will be topside or close to the opening of it's new burrow.

Our B. vagans was a voracious eater as a sling but didn't eat every week. The less you attempt feed the more apt it is to eat when you do.

Keep us posted!

 

[kayshuhveehill]

How big is your sling?

I would actually say it's maybe closer to 1.25"

 

[kayshuhveehill]

Honestly, the T knows what it needs better than we do.

Give it a week to do it's bulldozer thing in the new enclosure, when it wants food it will be topside or close to the opening of it's new burrow.

Our B. vagans was a voracious eater as a sling but didn't eat every week. The less you attempt feed the more apt it is to eat when you do.

Keep us posted!

It took a small cricket yesterday and I'll probably wait another week before feeding again. Thanks for your input! I'm so new to this and want to be sure I'm doing a good job. I'm trying to keep a good record of things so I can start to know its patterns and habits.