Very worried about my spiderling, please help!

Hello,
I am hoping that someone (or several someones) out there can help me, I am very worried about my spiderling. Let me start out with the background of my new avicularia versicolor and I will catch up to the reason why I am posting here.
On September 3rd I purchased my new pet at the Exotic Animal & Reptile Show as it passed through my town. I bought 2 avicularia versicolor spiderlings approx. the same age judging by their size from one of the vendors at the show. This vendor had several species and several of them were spiderlings, so I have good reason to believe that they were good quality and healthy specimens. I do not recall the name of the business right now, but I do have their card around somewhere.
I purchased the "twins" so that my girlfriend could have one, and I would raise the other. Of the two spiders I gave the one that had webbed it's vial up the most to my girlfriend and I kept the one with less area webbed, no big deal. I kept both spiders for the first 2 weeks until I could deliver the one to my girlfriend since she lives out of state. During the first week, the one that I had reserved for her had eaten a couple of crickets, and one week to the day since I had bought them it had molted for the first time. It slowly regained it's appetite shortly after. Of the 2 spiders the one I was giving her had a much heartier appetite. I was feeding both of them one small cricket about every day to every other day, and her spider was definately eating more of them than mine. Finally after about two weeks I was able to deliver the one spiderling to my girlfriend. That night I fed them both and the next day I could see that her spider was still finishing the cricket (due to the small cricket "dust ball" hanging from it's tiny fangs. But as for my spiderling it looked as if it only sucked on it's cricket for a short while that night and "spit it out" with out finishing it. I thought "perhaps it was full & couldn't finish it's meal", not unlike many children and their vegetables. I returned home with my baby a day or two later, fed it again and this same process was repeated. Before you ask, I did witness the spider attack both crickets and begin feeding. That was the last time my spider had eaten. I dismissed it for about 1 week assuming it was preparing to molt. I have placed a few water drops in the vial for humidity & drinking on two occasions with no ill effects. Meanwhile my girlfriend's spider was feeding about every day like a good healthy baby should. Here I am 3 almost 4 weeks later since my spider has last eaten. I placed a cricket in the vial earlier this week thinking it MUST be hungry, growing babies need to eat, yet alas the cricket was ignored. Through out all this time my spider remains active and responsive, for instance when I lightly blow on it to see its reaction. Also when I let it out of the vial it is very active crawling all over my hands and arms. In the meantime my girlfriends spider was eating like crazy (like normal). Well, here's where I am beginning to worry, my girlfriend called me yesterday and told me that her spiderling had DIED!!! I checked with her and she was caring for it properly (heat, humidity, food, water). Now of the 2 spiderlings, her's being the healthier, normal acting spider (molting, feeding, etc.), mine the anorexic acting of the two, her's is dead and mine hasn't eaten in almost a month. If it were an older spider I would not worry, but since it is so young and should be normally eating I am really perplexed! I have already succesfully raised a greenbottle blue tarantula from a spiderling and it is now about 1 year old, and very happy and healthy.
PLEASE, PLEASE, is there anyone out there who may know what might be the problem, or that can point me in the right direction in possibly correcting my spider's eating disorder? I am afraid that since it is not eating as it should at such a young age that it may affect it's future development, if not die from it. I really don't want my spider to die as it's twin has.
Any help that anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated! And please forgive me if I have been a little long winded in explaining all this, I have never posted a thread, and besides I AM EXTREMELY WORRIED! :wall:
Please post a reply, or e-mail me if you can help.

Thank you all so very much,
Shade

What's the size of the sling in comparison to the prey items? Smaller ts can be stressed if the food item is close to their size. Try pre-killing a feeder for it and splitting the gut. Could the sling be in pre-molt?

Keep on keeping on with with humidity and such. If your spider is still responsive and not exhibiting any unusual behavior or symptoms (twitchy movements, foamy discharge from the mouth, etc.), it's probably fine.

Realize, too, that we've created very unnatural conditions for the spiders we keep and breed; some slings just fail to thrive, which is probably normal in the wild where those babies would become prey for something else.

Avic slings apparently are difficult to raise due to the unexplained habit they have of dying for no reason! How was the ventelation in the vials? Avics need a lot of ventilation to go with the humidity, possibly the air was too stagnant inside its container? It sounds like you were taking good care of it, although feeding a sling everyday is considered power feeding. A better schedule for your spider would be twice a week. As for your baby, some spiders thrive on less food and still do fine. The amount it is eating right now shouldn't effect the size it can reach as an adult, I don't think spiders work that way. It is possible it is in pre-molt. You said it hasn't eaten in a month? Is the abdomen shrinking at all? If it isn't then pre-molt would be my guess. And galeogirl is right, even though its sibling may have been fine with the size of cricket, perhaps your little one may need something smaller?
I'm sorry for the loss of your girlfriends little one, and I hope you keep us updated on the progress of yours.

Each individual is different- sorry to hear of your loss, but don't stress too much over your sling's hunger strike. They can only eat so much-if you were feeding every day (power feeding) it is reasonable to expect a longer pre-molt fast in some T's, IMHO--I've had very small slings go 6+ weeks without eating. Unfotunately, avics are a little harder to rear and some suffer inexplicably from UAD (up-and-die) syndrome. It doesn't necessarily mean your or she did anything wrong.

I like the term bonesmama used - UAD syndrome. I'm working almost exclusively with arboreals and the Avic slings are a little harder to raise than others. I just had an A. metallica sling drop dead - literally - several weeks ago. It was doing fine, eating well, etc. but it didn't make it. I'm careful with ventilation and humidity. In a lot of species of animals there is a condition known as failure to thrive. I've seen it in fish, dogs, cats and birds from different breeders. I'm sure it is prevelant in Ts also. Don't be discouraged. With the Avics I recommend starting with a juvenile. They are better adjusted and will usually thrive with no problems when their needs are met. Good luck and don't give up.

Sorry to hear abt the little versi, you are obviously doing the right thing by asking for feedback. Sorry to mimic the others, but it is true that avic slings are not as hardy as some other species. Could have been from not enough ventilation, but who knows? As for the other one, not eating a cricket a day, is no cause for alarm. I would cut back on feeding and offer a pinhead twice a week. If it gobbles one, I would offer another, but then wait about 3 days before feeding again. If you decide on a new avic, I would go for one at least 1.5 inches, so it won't be a s vulnerable. You (and your girlfriend) probably did nothing wrong. Don't give up!!!

Some Ts eat less than others - it is true. I had a versicolor sling that didn't eat for about 6 weeks and I was worried because I only had it for 6 weeks at the time - so it never ate in my possession. Then it molted. Don't get discouraged with power feeding. It isn't like giving them cyanide. Too many people act like it is a deadly thing. I actually recommend power feeding to other that have slings (especially avics) so they molt faster, and like said above, they are better off as juveniles. So I'd power feed to quicken up the process to the juvenile stage, then taper it down once it hits. I am sure there will be some disagreements with this, but it is just my opinion.

The Sickness

Thanks for all the responses!

Thank you all for the input, I will try to answer everyone's questions,.....
I am feeding it small/pinhead crickets approx. same size/ little smaller than spiderling. Holes in vial may have been too small, not positive, but it was something that I had thought of concerning the other spiders death. I did slightly enlargen the holes in my spider's vial, but she did not in hers. I will check that personally this weekend. The abdomen on my spider does not seem to be shrinking so pre-molt has not completely left my thoughts, I am just not used to them taking so long at such a small size/ young age (although it is only my second tarantula). My girlfriend did say she was feeding it about every other day so I don't know if that would still be considered "power feeding", but if & when mine starts eating again I will definately pay attention to that, and probably only do the twice a week feeding schedule as suggested by Lorgakor & Gesticulator, thanks. I personally was only used to the feeding schedule of my greenbottle blue and it has turned out great. Although the new avic. is of a completely different species with different heat, humidity, etc. requirements, I figured all spiderlings must be at least a little similar in feeding requirements. Oh, and I have done A LOT of reading and studying up on tarantulas since originally purchasing my greenbottle blue, but I have never heard the term "sling" when refering to tarantulas (perhaps I have not read enough of my book), but I can only assume from the several responses that all of you mean "spiderling" or baby. Now upon typing the word spiderling I think perhaps I now know where that term comes from! Supposedly my girlfriend has registered on this site from what she had told me late last night, and has posted a few questions already. I think her screen name is "ELECTRA", named after her Cobalt Blue Tarantula. Is it true that Cobalts eat their molts? She told me that and I had never known that about burrowing tarantulas. Also another question from her, can scorpions and tarantulas live together in the same enclosure? I told her no, but she seems uncertain of that. I just wanted to check.
Thank you all again for all the responses, and I will definately keep you all posted on the progress of my avic. "sling"

Shade

I've had 4 of 5 versi slings die. The thing is that low, to no ventilation, coupled with high humidity will kill them rather quickly. I've made observations on the ones that died which lead me to the above conclusion. It also fits in with things I've read about other versi sling deaths.

I don't think that the high versi sling mortality rate is just down to a mysterious cause of death but because of low vent, high hum. But ofcourse will there always be individuals that die because of whatever it is all other kinds of slings die of mysteriously.

Go bananas on ventilation holes, there can't be enough. Humidity - only little, but some should be there.

Is it true that Cobalts eat their molts?

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Any T might nibble on her moult a bit. Maybe to regain some of the nutrients.

Also another question from her, can scorpions and tarantulas live together in the same enclosure?

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No.

Yes, sling = spiderling.

Good luck with your versi.

Edit:
One observation I made about a versi death:
It came in a tiny vial with no ventilation and and moistened toilet paper stuck in both ends. It was nearly lifeless. I put it in an ICU cup, limited ventilation in the lid and slightly mois toilet paper on the bottom. Nothing happened for 3 days and I was sure it was dead. It was completely curled up and didn't respond at all.

Just to make sure I let the cup be for another 4 days during which the toilet paper dried up completely. On the 4th day I saw the versi moving. It had regained some strength and was sitting in a near normal position, which was more than I expected (death). Happy it was on the way to recovery I added dripped water on the toilet paper until it was soaked (much more than it was before). Six hours later the sling was dead. For real this time.

Together with that sling came 2 more (sibblings) none of those survived the first day in the ICU. The vials they came in were equipped the same way as the vial for the first one.

All my current avics (all slings and 6 of them) are doing fine and are perky. All have as much vent as possible (or at least way enough) and low to very low humidity. Even the 3 A. metallicas are doing great besides one that is a bit lazy when it comes to eating.