# Feeding spiderlings maggots?`



## Bennyjh (Nov 15, 2008)

All of my fruit flies have died, and my only avaliable food for them locally is white maggots from a local fishing shop.

My question is, will the spiderling eat the maggot, if its larger than it, or will putting a maggot in the tub endanger the spiderling.

Im feeding 1.5cm Brazillian White Knees, and the maggots are slightly bigger than them. Also will cutting a maggot in half work, or will the spiderlings only eat live 1's

Thanks
Ben


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## col (Apr 7, 2009)

well i wouldnt advize it if they dont eat them then they will hatch into bluebottles and may cause harm to spider try and get some meal worms from your local pet shop


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Bennyjh said:


> All of my fruit flies have died, and my only avaliable food for them locally is white maggots from a local fishing shop.
> 
> My question is, will the spiderling eat the maggot, if its larger than it, or will putting a maggot in the tub endanger the spiderling.
> 
> ...


Maggots from bait shops do run the risk of containing chemicals, so you have to watch out for that.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

col said:


> well i wouldnt advize it if they dont eat them then they will hatch into bluebottles and may cause harm to spider try and get some meal worms from your local pet shop


Bluebottles causing harm? How? These are likely to be even less harmful than maggots since they lack biting mouthparts...


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## Bennyjh (Nov 15, 2008)

concidering the size of the spiderlings, mealworms would be huge, and probably squash them. As i said, there is onlu a fishing shop near me, no pet shops with live food.

What about a dead maggot, or cutting 1 in half?

EDIT: *Just cut 1 in half, and gave them half each. Ill keep and eye on them, hopefully theyll feed on them*


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## melanie (Jan 18, 2007)

luke my son on here (luke1994) feeds most of his tarantula spiderlings maggots or to be precise lol white pinkies and never had a problem, he was recommended to do so after finding the pin head crickets died off too quick, he buys half a pint of pinkies from our local fishing tackle shop for £1.50 and feeds spiderlings them from 1cm up, they grow really well on them:2thumb: he trys to offer a varied diet and uses maggots as part of their varied diet


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

maggots are OK, but best to squish the head end so they can't burrow, otherwise they pupate and you get a massive fly hatching out 2 weeks later!

I also headsquish mealworms if I'm feeding them to slings, again so they can't burrow.


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

garlicpickle said:


> maggots are OK, but best to squish the head end so they can't burrow, otherwise they pupate and you get a massive fly hatching out 2 weeks later!
> 
> I also headsquish mealworms if I'm feeding them to slings, again so they can't burrow.


 Yup, i agree 100% there Lisa, or is that GBB Junkie?:Na_Na_Na_Na::lol2:


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Bennyjh said:


> All of my fruit flies have died, and my only avaliable food for them locally is white maggots from a local fishing shop.
> 
> My question is, will the spiderling eat the maggot, if its larger than it, or will putting a maggot in the tub endanger the spiderling.
> 
> ...


I generally find that most predatory inverts tend to take live food, it is often the movement that alerts them to the fact that their prey is on the radar!

However, I have, in the past, fed dying/_just _died creatures to a variety of inverts, and if you use tweezers, and replicate movement, then they seem to take the food as being 'live'.


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

I've found that slings will often eat carrion if you place it near their burrow or usual hidey hole. I guess at such a small size, in the wild they might have trouble finding small enough prey, so just eat whatever they happen across?


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

> However, I have, in the past, fed dying/_just _died creatures to a variety of inverts, and if you use tweezers, and replicate movement, then they seem to take the food as being 'live'.


... Unless your feeding a Goliath birdeater, but i see that were on about slings :lol:


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

garlicpickle said:


> I've found that slings will often eat carrion if you place it near their burrow or usual hidey hole. I guess at such a small size, in the wild they might have trouble finding small enough prey, so just eat whatever they happen across?


 Excuse my ignorance, but what is Carrion?


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

The T Lord said:


> ... Unless your feeding a Goliath birdeater, but i see that were on about slings :lol:


Very long tweezers, quick reactions, and lots of practice?

: victory::2thumb:


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

The T Lord said:


> Excuse my ignorance, but what is Carrion?


It is the flesh of a recently dead animal.


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

as the famous quote goes,


> If you were to try using tweezers on a goliath, it would simply snap them over its knees, and politely hand them back to you


.


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

The T Lord said:


> as the famous quote goes,
> .


Not if it was tiny spiderling, though...:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

enlightenment said:


> It is the flesh of a recently dead animal.


 : victory: I have learnt two new words today, Carrion, and another one in my Whipspiders thread.
Also, you may wanna try these? i know you like the out-of-the-ordinary things.
Vinman should be bringing some to the BTS show.


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

The T Lord said:


> : victory: I have learnt two new words today, Carrion, and another one in my Whipspiders thread.
> Also, you may wanna try these? i know you like the out-of-the-ordinary things.
> Vinman should be bringing some to the BTS show.


Hmm, yes I saw that thread.

I won't be going, due to distance and cost, however, if someone is prepared to PM me, I would give them a small list of things I am seeking, and if they come across ANY of them, I was hoping someone could purchase, on my behalf, and be reimbursed...


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

Happily mate, 
Let me know, John


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Amblypygi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do you mean these?

I have kept these, and one in particular was large.

Dark and humid, that is how they like it.

Vertical things for them to hide in, and I have seen set up's with bamboo canes in them.

They are not at all aggressive, and I have never known one to attack.


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

Yup, thats the lil' beasties, apparantly they never touch terrestrial ground per say.
good that there not agressive, can take some decent pic's of em.


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

The T Lord said:


> Yup, thats the lil' beasties, apparantly *they never touch terrestrial ground* per say.
> good that there not agressive, can take some decent pic's of em.


Those that I have kept, even when offered vertical objects, _have _actually come onto the surface, from time to time.


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

hmm, sounds interesting


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

The T Lord said:


> hmm, sounds interesting


If you get them large enough, like sub adult, they are a good addition to a collection.

You can also keep them together, providing there is sufficient food.


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

enlightenment said:


> If you get them large enough, like sub adult, they are a good addition to a collection.
> 
> You can also keep them together, providing there is sufficient food.


 Yup, the seller wants 30 for 3, ill offer 40 for 4,see what he says, :lol2:


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

The T Lord said:


> Yup, the seller wants 30 for 3, ill offer 40 for 4,see what he says, :lol2:


He'd say 'yes', would he not?

It still works out at a tenner each.


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

enlightenment said:


> He'd say 'yes', would he not?
> 
> It still works out at a tenner each.


well 10 euros I think, i seem to remember him being offered them in euros. Although SADLY, because the UK SUCKS, a euro is basically worth £1 now!!:bash::bash:

Hey enlightenment do you know what sp you had? I've seen Damon Diadema and Damon Variegatus to be the more common ones available, the former is bigger I think.


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## Bennyjh (Nov 15, 2008)

thanks for everyones help

so the verdict is yes, i can feed a whole live pinkie maggot to a 1.5cm spiderling, but i gotta squash its face abit

ill try it now, one of the slings moulted last night, so ill jus give the other a whole 1, still abit worried about the size of these maggots against slings tho, might scare the little fella


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

maggots are the favoured food of many long term keepers. You get loads for a small price. Unfortunately I was told they're only available for a short period round here unless specifically ordered, and I'd have to take about 14 kilo of them!
I went to another larger fishing shop and they said the same but they did supply me with half a pint of small maggots.
Once these hit the ground they bury themselves and I didn't seem them until they emerged as green bottles. Yuk!
Worse still because these have no structure to them they can squeeze their body out of the tiniest of gaps and I found this out after watching a movie to return to a few crawling around the carpet in my spider room. Yuk!
Several days later, and for several days, I would be greeted by 4 or 5 green bottles, flying around the room. Yuk!
So, they weren't for me. I took approx 200 out of the half pint tub and boiled the rest, and they stank, or stunk or whatever. Yuk!
The 200 I left in the garden shed, where its cooler and they haven't matured into files after 2 weeks. So, the lessons are, don't keep them in warm rooms & don't allow them to escape.
Ray Gabriel swears by them. I swear at them!


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## andy07966 (Mar 10, 2009)

joeyboy said:


> well 10 euros I think, i seem to remember him being offered them in euros. Although SADLY, because the UK SUCKS, a euro is basically worth £1 now!!


With you on that one mate!! Used to be great getting stuff shipped in cheap!


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

One point I failed to mention. You shouldn't feed your slings solely on fruit flies. Its reported that this doesn't make a complete diet and can cause premature death and development issues.


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

enlightenment said:


> He'd say 'yes', would he not?
> 
> It still works out at a tenner each.


 originally 12 each or three for 30, :2thumb:


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## Bennyjh (Nov 15, 2008)

seems like the slings ate the maggots, and their no remains of them

i checked whether the maggots had hid anywhere and no sign, so im guessing they ate them :S

regarding them hatching, their in an ice cream tub in my garage, and its frickin freezin in there (2-5 celcius) so theirs no chance of them becoming blue bottles any time soon


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