Good eaters

PanzoN88

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Sep 15, 2014
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One of my slings has turned out to be an impressive eater (it is a 4th instar B. Albopilosum) and it
Dwarfs the other two in size (abdomen). Should i hold off feeding that sling for a couple days or
Continue normal routine?
 

Ultum4Spiderz

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Oct 13, 2011
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One of my slings has turned out to be an impressive eater (it is a 4th instar B. Albopilosum) and it
Dwarfs the other two in size (abdomen). Should i hold off feeding that sling for a couple days or
Continue normal routine?
Got pics? Slings often look very fat , Feed slings less often when there real fat. When they are ready to molt they will refuse food.
 

PanzoN88

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Sep 15, 2014
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713
This one is an unusual specimen, the past two times the sling molted, it ate over nine hours before. I do not have pics, but i
can take one of it right now.
 

archaeosite

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Oct 18, 2014
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Got pics? Slings often look very fat , Feed slings less often when there real fat. When they are ready to molt they will refuse food.
Not to hijack the thread, but.... I have three sub-1" slings which haven't eaten in a little under two weeks. They show no signs of premolt, and are kept in the exact same conditions as another sling which just molted this week. I'm not particularly worried, but I think it's odd for such tiny things to have such tiny appetites....
 

Ultum4Spiderz

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Not to hijack the thread, but.... I have three sub-1" slings which haven't eaten in a little under two weeks. They show no signs of premolt, and are kept in the exact same conditions as another sling which just molted this week. I'm not particularly worried, but I think it's odd for such tiny things to have such tiny appetites....
Thats nothing It took months for me to get G pulchripes to eat food they are about an inch , I throw in a bunch of baby dubia they hunt them down.
 

cold blood

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Thats nothing It took months for me to get G pulchripes to eat food they are about an inch , I throw in a bunch of baby dubia they hunt them down.
There's no reason to offer a 1" sling multiple prey items IMO. I find that doing that can actually have the opposite of the desired effect as they can become overwhelmed by multiple things moving around their small domain. Plus one at a time is more than enough food for a sling, with the exception possibly of fruit flies.:)

I have a B. albiceps that's a frustratingly poor eater. It hardly ever eats, regularly going as long as 44 days between meals. Its molt schedule is about twice as long as the other brachy slings that I have or am raising. When it does molt, the growth is barely noticeable. Never at any time in the year that I have had it had it ever looked anything close to that classic plump sling look. Its still about 1/2". It has always appeared just fine and while skittish, it acts normal and isn't a worry as much as a pain in the buttocks. Its now been about 75 days since its last molt and still showing no signs of pre-molt. All my slings are kept the same and even warmed to a consistent 80 degrees during the coler months, this particular sling don't care.:( It did surprise me by eating a some of the last pre-killed cricket I offered.:)

I just re-housed it, switching it to yet a smaller enclosure as my I. mira, which was smaller than that albiceps in September and is now a touch over an inch already, needed a slight upgrade...I swapped enclosures. Some slings are just reluctant growers....frustratingly slow.
 

14pokies

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Oct 25, 2014
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This one is an unusual specimen, the past two times the sling molted, it ate over nine hours before. I do not have pics, but i
can take one of it right now.
I wouldn't restrict its diet..I offer food to my Slings and juvies 2-3 times a week..I feel small frequent meals are ideal (I don't understand how people have adopted the notion that ts only need to be offered food occasionally,as im positive nature doesn't work that way and the creator surely doesn't ration food items)my adults are offered a meal 1-2 times a week based on there feeding habits. My albopilosum slings exhibit the same behaviour I fed Mine at around 10pm on weds and noticed a molt at its burrow Thurs afternoon. Slings are pretty sensitive to to keeper error until they hit the 1-2 in mark depending on species ,so the more you feed them and warmer you keep them the faster they'll grow and leave the "danger zone"
 

Poec54

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Mar 26, 2013
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There's no reason to offer a 1" sling multiple prey items IMO. I find that doing that can actually have the opposite of the desired effect as they can become overwhelmed by multiple things moving around their small domain.
+1, with the exception of Avic slings. In 16 oz deli cups they'll spin a tube/sheet near the top, and I put several baby crickets in at a time. They come down and grab them when they want, and the crickets can't get up into the spider's silk. Once the spider is getting plump, I only put in one cricket at a time.
 
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