Alternative feeders for 1cm slings?

[thebookman10]

Hello everyone. I currently use Drosophila Melanogaster fruit flies as feeders for my 1cm T. albopilosum sling. However, they are a hassle to feed, as you can easily rip their wings off so they get off the tongs, and they can easily be crushed by the tongs. Additionally, they escape really easily, and if I just throw them into the enclosure and not offer them to the T they will just sit on the lid and not move near the T so it can pounce on them. Are there any suggestions for possible alternative feeder insects?

 

[ThatGuy83]

pinhead crickets or b. lateralis. you can prekill larger feeders too.

 

[thebookman10]

Ok, I think then than turkestan roaches are the way to go. I don't have enough T's (yet) to justify using crickets as a lot of people have said they die within 3 weeks. But a roach colony would be good. By chance, do red runner roaches climb smooth plastic or glass?

 

[ThatGuy83]

No, they cannot climb smooth plastic or glass. I keep mine in a plastic storage bin. They are quite prolific if you keep them in the 80s.

 

[timc]

You can get mealworms pretty small and cut them up into the appropriate size you need. Plus you can keep them in the refrigerator and they last forever. Pretty much every tarantula I own has been raised this way with a few cricket legs thrown in once in a while

 

[m0lsx]

Me too on the mealworms. I simply cut the head off & pop one in. As timc says, a tub lasts forever for most of us. So what I do is, I use a de headed one, which makes it easier & safer to use. I pop one in, on day one, remove it day two & on day three I pop a another one in. The slings have the option of fresh food every other day. The head being off means the mealworm does not bury it's self & then reappear as a potentially dangerous beetle for your sling. With the head off the mealworm will still move slightly for a long time & it has an opening to it's guts.

A whole mealworm is easy to spot & to remove on day two. So keeping your slings enclosure clean is easy, although sometimes the mealworm does disappear with some slings, which is a natural feeding response.

Personally I do not keep my mealworms in the fridge. So If my mealworms pupate, that simply provides me with a slight variety to the diet, the same with beetles. I cut the heads off beetles & just snip the end of pupa.

I feed my mealworms on cheap porridge & I occasionally sieve the resulting dust from eaten porridge out of the container & I also blow on the sieve to remove old shed skins.

When it comes to feeding small slings, I have never found a way to know if the sling eats or not. They are so small that a feast for them is imperceptible to us. So I simply try to make sure they have fresh food available at least 3 times per week. The mealworms are cheap & even with 10 - 15 slings needing a mealworm each, a tub of mealworms lasts me weeks.