Micro/Pinhead Crickets

[Potatatas]

I am filling up this forum with questions today and I'm not sorry (yet)!

So next question,

Does anyone here use micro crickets (I think pinheads are US name for them) and manage to get them into the spiders enclosure without crushing them? If so WHAT IS YOUR SECRET?

I'm trying out new feeders all the time and fed my first slings with mutilated mealworm corpses. My new slings arrived today and bought some micro crickets with them because I fancied trying out live food with them.

BUT... They are so tiny! When they say micro they actually meant it. I just spent about 15 mins trying to get one out of the tub alive with feeding tongs. Ended up crushing a few accidently and then gave up and fed them the dead ones.

If anyone knows a good way of catching these little buggers please share your knowledge!

 

[antinous]

Tried doing this before, too much of a hassle. Personally, I would just chop a small mealworm in half, drop it in and let the sling eat as much as it can of it.

 

[Greasylake]

You could use a small vial to scoop one up then drop into the spiders enclosure. No need to worry about crushing the tiny cricket.

 

[Potatatas]

Tried doing this before, too much of a hassle. Personally, I would just chop a small mealworm in half, drop it in and let the sling eat as much as it can of it.

Got a bunch in the fridge and havent had an issue with them so far so thats my backup

You could use a small vial to scoop one up then drop into the spiders enclosure. No need to worry about crushing the tiny cricket.

Good shout didn't think of that. Was thinking of trying to tip the entire tub but would end up with cricket everywhere...

 

[Greasylake]

Good shout didn't think of that. Was thinking of trying to tip the entire tub but would end up with cricket everywhere...

I've done that a few times on accident. Was finding crickets all over the house for at least a week. It's not fun watching a cricket crawl up the wall while you're getting out of the shower.

 

[Theneil]

i have also used the method described by @Greasylake and it works well.

Get crickets into a larger, obstacle free tub with smooth walls they can't climb, then use a smaller container (usually i shipping vial for a sling) to catch them. it works pretty well. It works better with red runners since they don't jump upward.

 

[UniqueUserName]

You could use a small vial to scoop one up then drop into the spiders enclosure. No need to worry about crushing the tiny cricket.

Dang that’s smart! I was having the same issue as OP but with red runners.

 

[Potatatas]

Seems so obvious now... Felt like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks earlier

Work smarter, not harder.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

If anyone knows a good way of catching these little buggers please share your knowledge!

With chopsticks on some Mr Miyagi hype

 

[aphono]

Pill bottle, pick up a piece of carton then either herd one into the bottle or 'trap' one then turn upside down & tap. Torn up cartons are good so you don't have to pick up a large piece and have huge numbers trying to escape by jumping off. Less of a problem with pinheads than with the larger sizes up. It might be tricky at first, but should get hang of it before long.

Some tap a carton into a smooth bowl then scoop up with a sweeping motion. I tried this for a while but got annoyed at the extra clutter(the bowl) lying around since most of the slings are in the living room, so..

Sometimes I use the entomology tweezers, especially for when crushed heads are needed- either squish those tweezers(apply extra pressure with your fingers as they're too gentle by themselves) on their heads or hold one and squish the head directly. This is done for 'shy', super tiny slings or I'm not sure if a sling is ready to eat. Also use tweezers if I get several in the pill bottle at once.

Diced mealworms work but I have too much fun watching the slings deal with the live pinheads & it's sorta for 'variety'. Unnecessary but fun.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Does anyone here use micro crickets (I think pinheads are US name for them) and manage to get them into the spiders enclosure without crushing them? If so WHAT IS YOUR SECRET?

I always said that this is one of the most annoying things of the arachnids keeping

 

[Potatatas]

With chopsticks on some Mr Miyagi hype

No Jackie Chan/Jaden Smith shizz either.

OKay here's an update:

Using sling vials works way better. BUT still a hassle to get them in the vial. Like herding even dumber sheep and I know my sheep (I'm welsh). Then once you finally get one in the T enclosure they are super hard to see plus they hide amongst any loose sub/moss. I think I'll stick to mealworms and see if I can actualy raise these (notorious pain in the arse to keep alive) crickets to decent size for my albo.

So far my experimentation in feeders has been a failure.

Also, I thought I'd tag this onto the end instead of creating another thread today... My albo is probably in pre moult and started webbing his burrow entrance last night and is still webbing today BUT he is dumb and closed off the entrance whilst still OUTSIDE the burrow!

 

[cold blood]

So far my experimentation in feeders has been a failur

Nah, just a learning experience. Like others, i mainly dice mealworms....theyre cheap, fatty and i can offer larger pieces compared to other prey i could offer a sling...so because the meals are large, i can feed much less often while still maintaining good growth rates. I really feel they grow faster on them, but its just my observation a I can prove with and real data.

BUT he is dumb and closed off the entrance whilst still OUTSIDE the burrow!

This isnt uncommon....Id bet half my terrestrials blocked or buried hides shortly after housing them, only to prefer to sit in the open. I bet I have a good 20 or more with blocked or buried hides and the t on the outside.

Its like making a starter burrow...50-50 whether they actually use it.

 

[aphono]

Nah, just a learning experience.

Yep learning experience. I did not have an easy time with the pinheads at first but now it's easy. Swoop. Tap. Done. Also finding out which feeders are the best fit.

Its like making a starter burrow...50-50 whether they actually use it.

And then for those 50 that use it, 50-50 it's used to shove the water dish in....

 

[Tenebrarius]

use roaches it makes it easier. or chop up some super worm sashimi.

 

[cold blood]

use roaches it makes it easier. or chop up some super worm sashimi.

chop mealworms, save those big superworms for your adults.

nom nom (Nhandu chromatus)

• cold blood
• Jun 8, 2018
• 1
• brazilian red and white tarantula chromatus feeding nhandu nhandu chromatus sling

 

[viper69]

If so WHAT IS YOUR SECRET?

I'm careful and use surgical forceps.

 

[Paul1126]

Micro crickets are pointless, as @cold blood constantly points out, chopped up meal worms are the way to go, a decent sized mealworm can feed 3-4 slings easily.

 

[viper69]

Micro crickets are pointless, as @cold blood constantly points out, chopped up meal worms are the way to go, a decent sized mealworm can feed 3-4 slings easily.

My tiny slings would disagree.

However meals rich in fat do make them grow faster based on a pilot experiment I did with cold blood.

There’s more than one way to feed a T

 

[Butterbean83]

chop mealworms, save those big superworms for your adults.

nom nom (Nhandu chromatus)

• cold blood
• Jun 8, 2018
• 1
• brazilian red and white tarantula chromatus feeding nhandu nhandu chromatus sling

I realise this is an old thread but I came across this searching for answers because I'm having the same problems with Micro crickets and my tiny Nhandu Carapoensis sling isn't touching the small amounts of mealworm I leave in there overnight, I'm not sure if he ate any Micro-Crickets to be honest or if they're just dead in there and when I last saw the sling it looked smaller than the first time I saw it when I got it and it's a week or so later. My larger slings are eating prekilled 4i Crickets but this sling is 1cm at a push, it looked 1cm when I got it maybe it's just a shrunken abdomen but I do provide a water dish that I don't fill up obviously leave it shallow because of the size of the sling.

Thankyou.