advice needed for a tiny brachypelma emilia sling. i'm a beginner.

[kapotas]

Hello people! i'm a beginner in spider keeping and i just got my first one. A Mexican redleg. I used to look at small slings people were uploading here and there , but i think mine's a bit smaller. I uploaded 2 pics and i want your opinion. Is it considered to be very small? my only concern is how i am going to feed it. even the smallest food ( small dubia roaches, that's what the pet shop owner gave me) , seems larger than the spider. i chopped one in half and put it it. after many hours and when the roach was dead, i saw my sling on top of the roach, so, my guess is that it was feeding. Then again, it is really small to tell. i removed the roach the next day , i couldn't tell if a leg or something else was missing. how do you provide care to a so small and fragile sling? any tips about watering and feeding it will be welcomed!

 

[Enn49]

Hello and welcome to the hobby .
I feed my tiny slings on very small crickets, prekilling them if necessary. As for water, if you can't find a small enough bowl then just spray the side of the container every 2-3 days. Small water bowls could be a small Lego brick or some have used the bubble that tablet come in.

 

[kapotas]

Thank you very much for the information. i'll try to find a tiny bowl as well . i have some small dubia roaches for now and i will prekill them as well.how often do you feed a tiny sling like the mexican redleg? 2 times a week is considered okay?

 

[Enn49]

I'd feed every 3-5 days at the moment but as it grows you can feed just once a week..

 

[kapotas]

I'd feed every 3-5 days at the moment but as it grows you can feed just once a week..

okay! again, thank you very much for helping me out!

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Dubia roaches are too big. You need to go get, or order, some pinhead day old crickets or red runner roaches. The pre-killed dubia will work too, but my preference is to feed appropriately sized live prey.

 

[Phil]

Dubia roaches are too big. You need to go get, or order, some pinhead day old crickets or red runner roaches. The pre-killed dubia will work too, but my preference is to feed appropriately sized live prey.

amen to that, live suitable sized prey is the better option all day long. Remember the classic line when they tried feeding a goat to the T Rex in Jurrasic Park?...."T Rex doesn't want to be fed, she wants to hunt"...it's the same for spiders

 

[PanzoN88]

You can feed small slings mealworm and superworm parts. My H. orellani slings readily snatch up worm heads.

For enclosures that have no room for a water dish, I don't spray or anything, I just simply add a few drops of water to the sides.

 

[RonC]

Mine are about that size, maybe a little bigger. A bottle cap for a water dish would work.You could even trim one down to make it shallower. Anything that can hold a few drops will work. Highly unlikely your sling will drown. I would suggest smaller feeders also but they will eat killed when they are small.

 

[kapotas]

thank you very much everyone! i only have small dubia roaches available now but i've also ordered mealworms , as much as i'd like to see it feed on a live feeder, i think it's too small to that .i just cut a baby dubia in half, pre killed. the first -and only- time i cut it in half and put the feeder alive, my sling did try to eat it. it started feeding only when the dubia was completely dead.

 

[Phil]

can also try cabinet blanking caps, the plastic caps that cover pre drilled holes, for water dishes. They work for me

 

[timc]

I know it’s not as exciting but when I have babies that small I usually just give them large cricket legs to munch on. Dubia aren’t always available where I live and sometimes I don’t feel like paying for worms, so legs they get. I’ve never had anyone refuse them either.

 

[Will-batayte]

My Gramastola Pulchra sling is pretty small. Legs when extended have about a 1 inch spread. I ordered pinhead roaches online for it. Roaches are hardier then crickets so if you buy 50 if em and keep them fed and watered they won't drop dead before your spider will eat them. Other people do just what you did and break apart feeder insects and let the sling scavenge. I haven't tried this but from what I've read they are fine with scavenging dead food as slings

 

[arachnomorph]

thank you very much everyone! i only have small dubia roaches available now but i've also ordered mealworms , as much as i'd like to see it feed on a live feeder, i think it's too small to that .i just cut a baby dubia in half, pre killed. the first -and only- time i cut it in half and put the feeder alive, my sling did try to eat it. it started feeding only when the dubia was completely dead.

Red runner [Turkestan roaches] and/or cricket pinheads are the best for slings. Most petshops stock nymph crickets. And either can be ordered online. here's my about 1" G pulchra

 

[DanGreaves]

I have been feeding mine on fruit flies they seem to go down well