Baby pink toes

[Chair]

I have three baby pink toes, I put them in a 500ml transparent yogurt container (or dried banana container). It has holes in the top and vermiculite in the bottom, around a half inch. It is humid, but the walls aren't covered in water or anything. They have built a little platform at the top about a half inch down.
My problem is that I can't tell if they're eating, I can't find any shriveled crickets in there. I only saw one eat once. These little guys are around the size of a dime. I tried to feed them with tweezers, a friend told me that's what he does, but that doesn't work, they just run or sit their and do nothing. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong, or mabey I'm not doing anything wrong?

Thanks for your help, Josh

[Pixie]

Hi Josh,

I know what you mean about wondering if a sling has eaten, especially avics as I find it harder to tell with arboreals than with other species.

I have a hard time finding cricket remains as well, they're pretty small to start with so finding leftovers is almost impossible IMO.

I have a 1" a. mettalica sling and I'll throw in a couple of 1/4" crickets for it. I've only seen him eat once with my own eyes, otherwise, I check it enclosure carefully with a strong flashlight to see if the crix are still there.

Once in a while there is still one running around but usually they're both gone.

That's how I figure it out :p That and seeing my sling's abdomen fill out!

Pixie

[Tim and Julie B]

When you put crickets in there are they moving around the next day? If not or they are gone then your slings probably got to them. If the crickets are still moving around the tank then it is a good indicator that they are not eating.

[Chair]

They do dissapear, sometimes I find dead ones but they're obviously not eaten. I'm used to seeing the shriveled up crickets after the feast, I guese I'm just not used to the wee babies.

Thanks for your help, Josh

[Tarcan]

Chair,

Your enclosure seems way too big for a baby avic (500 ml), that is a common mistake among people that keep spiderlings...

Look at my first picture on the thread called: OK, let's see some invert set ups... top shelf... do you see the pill jars? That is the best way to keep any slings...

Give your avic a tiny piece of bark in the pill jar, so it will be able to climb... with this set up (pill jar), you maximize the encounters between the predator and the prey... a hungry sling jumps RIGHT away on the prey... NEVER leave a prey for the night, the spider should always eat it right away, if it does not, remove it...

Second, please remove the vermiculite... this is by my opinion the worse possible substrate you can use, specially for spiderlings... I will write a separate thread about vermiculite and my experiences when I have time... you can use some shagnum moss for the avics, it holds well mosture and looks a lot nicer... or peat moss or soil, whatever you find nicer...

[arachnomania]

Martin (aka Tarcan),
Can't wait for you to write that thread on vermiculite as I will no doubt have to counter it, LOL. I swear by it. Ah well, everybody's got their methods I guess.
Take care buddy,
P.S: Apart from my jiberish, I agree with Tarcan.

[Tarcan]

Rob,

I knew this would freak you out!LOL

I will work on it later if I am not too tired...

Martin

[Chair]

Wow Tarcan and Aracnomania, thanks a lot for your suggestions, I will put my little fellows in small containers right away. It's funny the way we try to give them huge places to live to give them freedom and room to run around. After all, spiders do a lot of running. LOL
I look forward to reading why you believe that vermiculite is not a good subsrate.

Thanks again Josh

[Chair]

Oh yah, what size would you recomend for housing three adult pink toes, I have read that it is ok to keep them together in a colony and they haven't eaten each other yet, LOL. Although to be honest I wouldn't laugh at all if they ate each other.

Thanks again for the reply

[Emily-Fisher]

Chair, just because they can be housed together, it doesn't mean that you HAVE to. What I would do is give each one their own seperate [ill jar. That way, you can moniter them induvidually. Just my $0.02 :)