Picky eater

[Aracnoenthusiast]

My 1" B.hamorii sling will only eat prekills. Any live prey I've offered has either been ignored, or seems to scare it. Anyone else ever had this behavior? It does eat so I'm not necessarily worried, just curious since I've not experienced this before

 

[Jess S]

I wouldn't worry too much. The main is that it does eat (although they will go off food altogether at times usually due to either being not hungry or in premoult).
You may find that offering smaller live prey will do the trick. If not, skip a couple of feeds then try. Believe me, when they are really hungry if doesn't take them long to pounce on a living insect lol
I tend to switch between live and pre-killed with my slings anyway. It's whatever works for the situation at the time.

 

[ExMember]

I literally feed all my tarantulas pre killed or critically injured prey. My go to is decapitated mealworms. Even my adults will take these. I have 2 tricks while feeding.

1) drop the worm on the T. My pulchra juvie will sometimes catch the worm before it hits the ground.

2) Put the worms by the water dish. This always works for my sub adult G pulchripes. She does have a large cage and sometimes wouldn't find her food. So I put it by the water dish and she eats every time.


The only t I have that is sketchy is my Pterinopelma sazimai juvie. He sits in his burrow under a fake leaf so I wait till his blue little feet are sticking out from under the leaf in a typical hunting posture. Drop the worm at the mouth of his burrow and it's all good.

@Jess S has great suggestions. Especially about skipping a feeding cycle or two. I have to do this with my leopard geckos which are the fussiest eaters I have ever encountered!

 

[Jess S]

I literally feed all my tarantulas pre killed or critically injured prey. My go to is decapitated mealworms. Even my adults will take these. I have 2 tricks while feeding.

1) drop the worm on the T. My pulchra juvie will sometimes catch the worm before it hits the ground.

2) Put the worms by the water dish. This always works for my sub adult G pulchripes. She does have a large cage and sometimes wouldn't find her food. So I put it by the water dish and she eats every time.


The only t I have that is sketchy is my Pterinopelma sazimai juvie. He sits in his burrow under a fake leaf so I wait till his blue little feet are sticking out from under the leaf in a typical hunting posture. Drop the worm at the mouth of his burrow and it's all good.

@Jess S has great suggestions. Especially about skipping a feeding cycle or two. I have to do this with my leopard geckos which are the fussiest eaters I have ever encountered!

Ooh, is it time for a photo of those cute geckos yet?!! Please?!

 

[ExMember]

Ooh, is it time for a photo of those cute geckos yet?!! Please?!

I should have got a pic of the male chomping my finger yesterday! The night before he was too busy playing to eat. So I took his worms away. Not a happy camper. So he took a run at me before eating 2 morio worms lol! New pics soon!

 

[Aracnoenthusiast]

I literally feed all my tarantulas pre killed or critically injured prey. My go to is decapitated mealworms. Even my adults will take these. I have 2 tricks while feeding.

1) drop the worm on the T. My pulchra juvie will sometimes catch the worm before it hits the ground.

2) Put the worms by the water dish. This always works for my sub adult G pulchripes. She does have a large cage and sometimes wouldn't find her food. So I put it by the water dish and she eats every time.


The only t I have that is sketchy is my Pterinopelma sazimai juvie. He sits in his burrow under a fake leaf so I wait till his blue little feet are sticking out from under the leaf in a typical hunting posture. Drop the worm at the mouth of his burrow and it's all good.

@Jess S has great suggestions. Especially about skipping a feeding cycle or two. I have to do this with my leopard geckos which are the fussiest eaters I have ever encountered!

I just picked up some mealworms on a recent trip to try just that. I have been using Dubia roaches, also tried crickets. Nobody else cares, just the b.hamorii. haha

 

[ExMember]

I just picked up some mealworms on a recent trip to try just that. I have been using Dubia roaches, also tried crickets. Nobody else cares, just the b.hamorii. haha

My hamorii juvie eats anything. My sling maybe eats once a month (every 4 feedings or so) lol

 

[Aracnoenthusiast]

My hamorii juvie eats anything. My sling maybe eats once a month (every 4 feedings or so) lol

I have a damon diadem that doesn't like to eat either. My curly hair and scorpion both eat just fine