skipping on pin heads

Jones0911 · Apr 17, 2014

Many people don't agree with this but I noticed all the aggressive eaters I buy like my 1/2"er VGBBs*(Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens) they can easily take down crickets the same length as they are so I've never understood why people use pin heads. I also do this with OBT slings and I did it with my Acanthoscurria species when they used to be slings.

And another reason why I passed on pin heads is because I remember Poec54 saying that slings are voracious eaters anyway to quickly get bigger to avoid predation.

So I thought the bigger feel of hunger the more relentless they'd be on the prey regardless of size

Am I the only who skips on the pin heads?

Oh yea, as you can see after one or two more body size crickets I should be reporting the start of a molting process.

Yentlequible · Apr 17, 2014

I don't use pinheads on anything but the smallest slings. Like the ones that are about .25" or so. I think I've only ever had one sling that I ever really used them for.

awiec · Apr 17, 2014

I have two slings about the size of my thumbnail so perhaps about 1/4 of an inch and that's really the only ones I need them for, but I will dump a few pinheads in some of my larger sling enclosures to watch them go on a little kill spree on occasion. But it is easy to overfeed them with a "small" cricket one of my dwarfs is a little obese now, and is on a water only diet for the time being; but it has been losing some weight/preparing a molt mat.

Jones0911 · Apr 17, 2014

awiec said:
I have two slings about the size of my thumbnail so perhaps about 1/4 of an inch and that's really the only ones I need them for, but I will dump a few pinheads in some of my larger sling enclosures to watch them go on a little kill spree on occasion. But it is easy to overfeed them with a "small" cricket one of my dwarfs is a little obese now, and is on a water only diet for the time being; but it has been losing some weight/preparing a molt mat.

I don't want to start a huge debate about this but IMO you can't overfeed a tarantula no more than you can stop a rose hair from fasting for months and months lol....IMO if your T continues to eat he's not full because you didn't feed him enough. I understand not wanting to feed a sexed male to slow him down so a female can catch him in size and mate.

However I don't agree with under feeding slings, unsexed juveniles or adult females or males a person ISNT planning on breeding

awiec · Apr 17, 2014

Jones0911 said:
I don't want to start a huge debate about this but IMO you can't overfeed a tarantula no more than you can stop a rose hair from fasting for months and months lol....IMO if your T continues to eat he's not full because you didn't feed him enough. I understand not wanting to feed a sexed male to slow him down so a female can catch him in size and mate.

However I don't agree with under feeding slings, unsexed juveniles or adult females or males a person ISNT planning on breeding

I am more concerned with an accidental abdomen rupture, there isn't anything sharp/hard in the enclosure but this T is very prone to bolting, so last thing I need is for it to make a run for it and hurt itself. Its really for my peace of mind, I keep water available and will be feeding it again next week as I slow down feedings to every 8 days when they get very plump, its just how I have run my feeding schedule for years.

Beary Strange · Apr 17, 2014

Jones0911 said:
I don't want to start a huge debate about this but IMO you can't overfeed a tarantula no more than you can stop a rose hair from fasting for months and months lol....IMO if your T continues to eat he's not full because you didn't feed him enough. I understand not wanting to feed a sexed male to slow him down so a female can catch him in size and mate.

However I don't agree with under feeding slings, unsexed juveniles or adult females or males a person ISNT planning on breeding

You can make them dangerously, unhealthily obese however. When you use larger than needed prey items (which I totally get, I do it when I must) it's best to spread the feedings out a bit more.

Jones0911 · Apr 17, 2014

Belle Fury said:
You can make them dangerously, unhealthily obese however. When you use larger than needed prey items (which I totally get, I do it when I must) it's best to spread the feedings out a bit more.

Please link me to this proof, because I always feed my Ts til they won't eat any more and I've never had a death from over feeding.

MarkmD · Apr 17, 2014

Jones0911 said:
Please link me to this proof, because I always feed my Ts til they won't eat any more and I've never had a death from over feeding.

The proof is individual to the T and the keepers experience, when overly "FAT/OBESE" T's become very lethargic/almost like premolt (without being in premolt) and they just almost never move/especially climb except move for water on occasions, that's just my experience with fat T's, not saying they all do,,, but i agree with you T's usually DONT eat any more than they need and i've not had a death of any T that was big enough to burst.

cold blood · Apr 17, 2014

The only worry, and its more with crickets/hoppers than roaches, is that a similarly sized cricket, that's especially feisty, can hop around with the small t on its back. A similarly sized, well fed cricket, probably outweighs the t. This can be dangerous, especially so with a small fragile sling. I don't do this anymore because I had one nearly bounce a sling into a rock, then the side before it finally succumbed to the t. Doubt a roach has that capability.

I also think its nearly impossible to overfeed slings, but adults are another story. When their size starts to effect their lives, its too much. Just like with people, it may not kill them directly, but it increases the odds as they become lazy, clumsy and less little athletes and more couch potatoes. Instead I now feed slings more often, but smaller portions...I also get to watch the kill more frequently, which I enjoy.

Jones0911 · Apr 17, 2014

cold blood said:
The only worry, and its more with crickets/hoppers than roaches, is that a similarly sized cricket, that's especially feisty, can hop around with the small t on its back. A similarly sized, well fed cricket, probably outweighs the t. This can be dangerous, especially so with a small fragile sling. I don't do this anymore because I had one nearly bounce a sling into a rock, then the side before it finally succumbed to the t. Doubt a roach has that capability.

I also think its nearly impossible to overfeed slings, but adults are another story. When their size starts to effect their lives, its too much. Just like with people, it may not kill them directly, but it increases the odds as they become lazy, clumsy and less little athletes and more couch potatoes. Instead I now feed slings more often, but smaller portions...I also get to watch the kill more frequently, which I enjoy.

Why do you have rocks in your enclosure?

cold blood · Apr 17, 2014

Jones0911 said:
Why do you have rocks in your enclosure?

Had one, replaced with wood. All enclosures still have sides, and wood could result in the same damage to tell the truth.

I also tend to feed slings less then 3/4" pre killed.

ARACHNO-SMACK48 · Apr 17, 2014

I tend to feed crickets that are slightly larger than the abdomen of the sling. I pre-kill food for my smaller slings instead of buying smaller crickets.

antinous · Apr 17, 2014

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but will dubia nymphs suffice in place of pinheads? Are they dangerous to the slings by any means?

awiec · Apr 17, 2014

theReptileGuy said:
Don't mean to hijack this thread, but will dubia nymphs suffice in place of pinheads? Are they dangerous to the slings by any means?

They may brush into a T that is molting but most of the time I've noticed my T's will kill anything that will bother them before they molt or in the case of my C.darlingi, because they annoy her.

MarkmD · Apr 17, 2014

Hi Jones0911.. I've got a couple rocks in with my LP and never had a problem, yet they are closer to the middle than sides and she cant/hasn't climbed far enough to fall just now.

korg · Apr 17, 2014

Yeah, if you use prekilled you hardly have to worry at all about the size of the feeder. Just another one of the many advantages to using prekilled prey, especially for slings.

catfishrod69 · Apr 17, 2014

I had an adult female H. incei that was extremely fat. I decided i would try feeding her, and if she ate, she ate. If not, i would give her a while. The next day i noticed she had eaten, and i found her with her abdomen ruptured open, and she had bled out.

Jones0911 said:
Please link me to this proof, because I always feed my Ts til they won't eat any more and I've never had a death from over feeding.

awiec · Apr 17, 2014

catfishrod69 said:
I had an adult female H. incei that was extremely fat. I decided i would try feeding her, and if she ate, she ate. If not, i would give her a while. The next day i noticed she had eaten, and i found her with her abdomen ruptured open, and she had bled out.

I've had this happened with my true spiders but wasn't sure if T's did the same thing, which does not surprise me. Hence why my fat T has been on a water only diet for the past 10 days, it has slimmed down a little so I will keep waiting until it molts or gets skinnier.

Jones0911 · Apr 17, 2014

catfishrod69 said:
I had an adult female H. incei that was extremely fat. I decided i would try feeding her, and if she ate, she ate. If not, i would give her a while. The next day i noticed she had eaten, and i found her with her abdomen ruptured open, and she had bled out.

That sucks but its also rare.

you and i have/had so many Ts this has to be rare

Keith B · Apr 17, 2014

I don't feed oversized prey to a sling for a couple reasons. As was stated previously, the risk of injury, as some of the weaker slings in the sac can get really bullied around before the cricket dies and they're very delicate. The other reason being that slings also eat a bit slower, and a dead cricket in a moist environment, as slings usually are kept in, will begin to rot in a very short time. I want them to have fresh food, and the meal may spoil before they get to eat it all. They may eat it fast enough, eat it somewhat spoiled, or pick up that it's no good anymore and just leave the carcass unfinished. I've had slings ditch pinheads that were going bad before they finished, and take a fresh one and eat it entirely shortly after. So given that, giving them a large cricket seems like a waste to me. I only use pre-killed when they take it quickly, or with Avicularias when they're webbed away from the soil. Most are perfectly capable of taking a live pinhead from second instar.

skipping on pin heads

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