Feeding A. Geniculata slings.

I have just recieved 10 healthy looking geniculatas. They are about 1 cm long (leg span).

They have all eaten a little piece of superworm that I fed them and all that was left of the bits were the shell when I looked this morning. Pretty amazing for how long the head piece of the worm will wriggle after it's been severed from the body.

Now to the question,

How often should I feed them?
I read about "power-feeding" but isn't there a chance that you can over-feed a T?

I have also being recommended feeding them maggots (fly larva) that you can buy in the bait shops here in Sweden. I havn't seen or read about this being done but they are pretty good in size. Anyone got any experience of this?

Hopefully I will be able to feed them newborn crickets soon, but I would really like to know how often is safe to feed them,


All the best,

/Dave

In my brief experience (1.25" sling i've had for a few months) - I've noticed that Genic's are hosses. ;P

I fed mine 1/2 mealworms until it hit about an inch; moved it into a small KK (50/50 peat/verm, half delicup hide, pop-top waterdish), and now it takes down full size crickets no problem.

Also - to answer your ?s about frequency, I fed the half mealworm about every two days (i figure pre-killed prey won't hurt them, and it's a growing baby - so I just kept the food a-comin').

Since getting crickets, it's gorged itself, and now looks like a tick, so i've put it on a brief fast.

Ok,

Thank you for your reply.

I will keep feeding them the goodies every other day then.

/David

with this last molt mine hit .75"+ so I took it off pin heads and it started giving it small("large small") to medium crickets and it has had no prob taking them on... well... it does a lot of threat posture and feeling them out before it makes its tackle. Mine as well is too plump and I will be fasting it for a week.

A tarantula will not harm itself by eating too much. The risk is due to the size of the abdomen and a fall. If a T is very fat, a fall onto a hard object could easily rupture an abdomen most likely resulting in death.

Basically, feed them when you think they need it. If they look like they could use a meal, feed them. If they look quite plump, wait a day or two.

Botar