mexican red-knee spiderling...(advice needed)

[Yve]

I finally got a tarantula and after a bit of research decided to go with brachypelma smithi. I need some help though, I'v only found caresheets for adult spiders. I bought a spiderling that is so small I can barely see him in a film container!lol...he's mostly transparent with a tuft of hair on his butt and that seems to be it...:D Anyhow, he's sitting on moistened vermiculite and that is it. When should I move him into a bigger container? and is the water condesation enough for him to drink for now? Also, I tried to feed him a cricket today (he was last fed 2 days ago) and he is not moving at all...the cricket is walking on him and there is no response. Should I remove the cricket? Also, how often should you feed a spiderling? Any aditional advice on how to care for such a tiny creature would be appreciated! thanks btw...i'll probably be asking many more questions.;)

[Dani33]

Here is Robs aka arachnomania. He has a good care sheet for spiderlings. Here is his site - http://www.arachnomania.net/
Hope it helps.

[arachnomania]

Thanks Danielle!
I was about to answer to his question with the same answer you supplied being a link to my site. I would however like to point out that once on my front page, all you need to do is click on "care info" and then click on "Step by step care and housing of spiderlings (a.k.a. s'lings)"
Hope this helps Yve,

[Yve]

thanks guys...since my last post I have added a moist piece of cotton in for water and removed the cricket after about an hour of no response.
arachnomania...i did read through the spiderling caresheet...and I am wondering if feeding him a live cricket is a problem(it is just a bit smaller than the t)...also, he was fed about 2 days ago..am i feeding him too soon? i've noticed some differing opinions in the feeding regimens for s'lings. another thing i noticed today is that he hasn't moved since yesterday. and is not responding when I touch him with a q-tip. I may be a bit paranoid here :)...lol but I don't have experience with these guys and need some reassurance.....I hope transporting him from the store to my home he didn't freeze or something.:( I had him tucked into my coat and he was only outside for a minute). I almost had a heart attack when I noticed my crickets where frozen!! I ran back in the store and got a chuckle...I just wanna be a good mom!:)

[Dani33]

He may be molting. My slings don't eat or move much when preparing to molt. I only feed my little guys one appropriate sized cricket 2 x per week. When they are about to molt, they won't eat or move around much. I just remove the cricket if they don't eat it. After they molt I wait till the next schedueled feeding to feed. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Dani33]

Oh, I use a pair of regular tweezers for transporting pinhead crix. You get get quite good at catching them with some practice!

[Dom]

With some of my spider lings.. i fed him one sm crick every few days .. but My Red knee.. she has molted for her fourth time about a week ago in a duration of a month and a half..

She has to eat at least 8 pinheads a feeding if not more.. I just puts lots in her cage and she kills everything .. basicallly .. In my oppinion it depends on the spider as well .. obviously .. if it aint eating.. don't leace the crickets in there to strss her out..

Anywho

Dom

[Yve]

thanks guys...i feel a bit better...its not in the 'death position' from what i see...just very still so its probably getting ready to molt. i'll keep ya'll posted and try to take some pics soon. I also found some other sites on tarantulas that some newbies might find interesting...
http://www.geocities.com/aznxcb/personal/pets/spdrcare.htm#molt
http://www.atshq.org/articles/Caresheet.pdf