baby sling help

i am new to the hobby, and ive just bought my first two spiders. they love to burrow, but one of them keeps enclosing the opening to his burrow. i have to clear the top of the hole off with a spoon and reopen the hole. he will always stay down there and will only eat if the cricket goes down the hole. should i just leave it alone? im afraid he is going to bury himself alive.

Just leave it alone, they know what they are doing. It's their version of a "do not disturb" sign.

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Fondles said:

i am new to the hobby, and ive just bought my first two spiders. they love to burrow, but one of them keeps enclosing the opening to his burrow. i have to clear the top of the hole off with a spoon and reopen the hole. he will always stay down there and will only eat if the cricket goes down the hole. should i just leave it alone? im afraid he is going to bury himself alive.

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What species do you have and just how big, or small are they?

Most slings like to burrow, it makes them safer at their fragile young stage and is commonplace, even with many arboreal slings.

You don't even need to worry about a t closing off anything....don't re-open it, its done it for a reason and constantly wrecking its work can be stressful. Get rid of the spoon and work with a small paintbrush instead.

Be not afraid, they are not going to bury themselves alive, if they got in, they can get out, they are quite good at moving earth....Now on rare occasion you can have a tunnel or chamber collapse, in which case it may need help, but its quite infrequent. Often when a t begins pre-molt, they will web themselves in....often, but not always, sometimes they just want to be alone in their dark hole. If I can't see them with a flashlight, then I just don't see them.

they are mexican red knee slings. and thank you! i wont disturb it anymore

My redknee sling has lived almost the entire time I have had it underground. It was just under an inch and its now just over 2", still digging caverns.

In the wild, they're easy prey for many animals, from raccoons, coatis, mongeese, baboons, monkeys, honey badgers, birds, etc. It's a lot safer in their retreat. The people that do the best with them in captivity put the spider's needs first. Hungry spiders are almost always out and about at night. I keep a flashlight in my spider room, to see what they're up to.

My 2" is a pet hole. She doesn't even come out to eat, just waits till the food wanders into her cave.

will they eventually come out more often as they get bigger?

Fondles said:

will they eventually come out more often as they get bigger?

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Depends on the individual spider - some do, others keep more to their hide.

My OBT sling did the same right after he molted. Put up a web wall in front of his hole and stayed put. Came out several days later though.