Tiny tiny slings?

I'm thinking of ordering some Euathlus slings that would be about 1/6 of an inch :: Now, I've taken care of slings before, but never anything this tiny. I'm just wondering if this size will make things particularly difficult or if I should expect to lose some due to them being very fragile at such a tiny size? If anyone has any experience with micro slings I'd appreciate any advice. I've read up a lot on general care and how to feed such tiny slings, but I couldn't really find any info on mortality rates with such small slings.

Tiny slings, other than Euathlus, aren't so bad; my others that started out as teeny tinies (Hapalopus sp.columbia, C.elegans, N.chromatus, LPs) I just feed pre-killed FFF or mealworm/roach pieces and they do fine. But Euathlus, at least sp.red/yellow, aren't quite so easy: getting them to eat, anything, is a task in and of itself. If you get them, I would suggest keeping them warm in order to revv up their metabolism; I've had spotty luck getting mine to eat by doing so, which is better than no luck at all at room temps. I also would not put anything live in with them-it will just terrify them. Despite having one of mine refuse to eat for nearly 3 months (not pre-molt induced fasting), I have yet to lose one. I keep mine, as with all my teenies, in condiment cups and half of their enclosure is kept moist so that if they won't eat, at least I know they're hydrated.

Belle Fury said:

Tiny slings, other than Euathlus, aren't so bad; my others that started out as teeny tinies (Hapalopus sp.columbia, C.elegans, N.chromatus, LPs) I just feed pre-killed FFF or mealworm/roach pieces and they do fine. But Euathlus, at least sp.red/yellow, aren't quite so easy: getting them to eat, anything, is a task in and of itself. If you get them, I would suggest keeping them warm in order to revv up their metabolism; I've had spotty luck getting mine to eat by doing so, which is better than no luck at all at room temps. I also would not put anything live in with them-it will just terrify them. Despite having one of mine refuse to eat for nearly 3 months (not pre-molt induced fasting), I have yet to lose one. I keep mine, as with all my teenies, in condiment cups and half of their enclosure is kept moist so that if they won't eat, at least I know they're hydrated.

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I did hear they were picky eaters, it is good to know they haven't croaked even after 3 months without food though. I may get a batch of 5, just in case there are casualties due to fasting. Given how pick they've been, I'm guessing they've been growing really slow for you?

Torrid said:

I did hear they were picky eaters, it is good to know they haven't croaked even after 3 months without food though. I may get a batch of 5, just in case there are casualties due to fasting. Given how pick they've been, I'm guessing they've been growing really slow for you?

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It's not even pickyness, it's an outright refusal to eat. With mine, I've tried everything, from pieces, micro-mealworms, FFF, squished lats and pinheads; they'll eat any so long as they're in the mood to eat, which is rare. The one that fasted for 3 months, I was about to give up on, I was convinced it was going to die and in a moment of desperation made it mealworm soup (or goop really), used a little leaf as a plate and it finally ate. They are growing slow, yes; but that at least is expected of the species.

Belle Fury said:

It's not even pickyness, it's an outright refusal to eat. With mine, I've tried everything, from pieces, micro-mealworms, FFF, squished lats and pinheads; they'll eat any so long as they're in the mood to eat, which is rare. The one that fasted for 3 months, I was about to give up on, I was convinced it was going to die and in a moment of desperation made it mealworm soup (or goop really), used a little leaf as a plate and it finally ate. They are growing slow, yes; but that at least is expected of the species.

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That's odd? I'm raising 4 of these from 0.25" since and they're now at 1-1.5" all. They do eat fine, just not often on my end. Also, micro cricket scares them? Mhm, yeah. As soon as the lid was closed mine hunted it down within a minute all the time. They do also accept readily cut-up superworm pieces half their size (dead prey). All of the 4 behave the same way in regards to feeding.

Storm76 said:

That's odd? I'm raising 4 of these from 0.25" since and they're now at 1-1.5" all. They do eat fine, just not often on my end. Also, micro cricket scares them? Mhm, yeah. As soon as the lid was closed mine hunted it down within a minute all the time. They do also accept readily cut-up superworm pieces half their size (dead prey). All of the 4 behave the same way in regards to feeding.

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Hm, interesting. Well, that's a bit more reassuring. How often do yours tend to accept food? Weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc?

Hello, I have Euathlus sp.blue I got 3 of them at 0.25 a year and a half ago they ate fine at first then stopped eating for about 2 weeks I offered several food types and no go till chopped up wax worms and they ate. Now a whopping 1.5 inch they eat once a week I notice they prefer prekilled if it isn't a wax worm haha and they go off food for about 2 weeks before a molt too. I do have 4 adults and they eat very well no problems. Hope that helps a bit.

Torrid said:

I'm thinking of ordering some Euathlus slings that would be about 1/6 of an inch :: Now, I've taken care of slings before, but never anything this tiny. I'm just wondering if this size will make things particularly difficult or if I should expect to lose some due to them being very fragile at such a tiny size? If anyone has any experience with micro slings I'd appreciate any advice. I've read up a lot on general care and how to feed such tiny slings, but I couldn't really find any info on mortality rates with such small slings.

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Which ones are you ordering, there are many color variations for these Ts. There are approximately 12 different colors sp Red, Yellow, etc I have little doubt that some of them are not the same species at all.

For sp Red/sp Yellow- care is the same as is behavior. Might you lose some, MAYBE. Depends on how good your husbandry is. Remember the SMALLER a T, the less forgiving they are in terms of mistakes. It doesn't take much for a healthy 1/6" T to die, compared to a 2" sp Red/Yellow adult.

I've done a lot of reading on these related to their eating. I have 3 different sizes. I will say that IME the smaller they are, the less frequently they feed. However, once they reach about 1", like a good sized mini adult, they eat no problems and will eat frequently. I've seen reports of them eating only 1x a month. While they can certainly do that, they will readily eat more IME. I keep feeding/molting records of mine.

I will say this, regardless of size, perhaps due to their EXTREMELY gentle disposition (sp Red/Yellow, the others are not so gentle or as small) they can be very picky with how long they it takes them to approach food. If the cricket just isn't "right" they seem to ignore it, despite showing interest. My smallest one fit on the top of a number 2 pencil eraser (a bit smaller actually) and only scavenged fed. Then it ate a tiny live cricket, then it went back to scavenge feeding. Now that it has finally molted after 3 months, it hunts live IF they are small enough.

sp Red/Yellow are not ferocious attackers like GBBs, and they do not eat oversize crickets, even as adults, not in my care they won't that is.

I don't find them picky at all other than what I described above. They are just VERY VERY cautious in attempting to attack.

I'd say "reluctant" to attack, viper. It kinda seems to fit better, but I'm not going to argue about semantics

Mine are as docile as they come, they do eat when I leave them alone mostly and often refuse food as long as they're "watched" IME. That's how experiences vary really.

Here's 3 of the 4 I have. The one on the top right molted just a few days ago. It's my little Borg-Collective, they're all named 1of4, 2of4, 3of4 and 4of4.

Thanks for everyone who chimed in, and yes viper, I'm interested in sp. red, somehow I completely forgot to include that in the original post. I think I'll go ahead and get them, as long as they don't fast for months it should be okay. I acquired a P. scrofa awhile ago and she seems to fit everyone's descriptions - very docile and reluctant, if not almost afraid of tackling life food, so hopefully the slings won't be much worse than her.

And Storm, very cute Ts!

My Eu sp. red eats like a pig. I guess I got lucky. It is still tiny and my only one that small so it occasionally gets a cricket that is a little 'too big' for it but within a few moments it has tackled it, never refused a meal in the last 4ish months I've had it and has molted twice.

I had a bunch of reds that I traded for They would only eat pre-killed dubias,but did so with much gusto! Have since traded a few of them,but the remainder are pigs!