Spiderling Caresheet

Housing
Select a suitable pot depending on whether your specimen is terrestrial/burrower (Brachypelma, Grammostola etc) or arboreal (Avicularia, Poecilotheria etc), and consider the size of the spiderling (or "sling" for short) too.
Anything with a snug fitting lid can be used, from camera film pots to specialist spider vials which are clear and allow for ease of checking on the spiderling.
Example: 48mm diameter by 48mm tall pots for terrestrial slings upto 20mm legspan, and a taller pot of the same diameter for arboreal slings.
For terrestrials, fill the pot two-thirds full with a suitable substrate (ie. Coir). For arboreal 2cm substrate is sufficient, then add a piece of cork for the sling to climb and anchor to.
Give the pot a couple of sprays with a mister, punch some small holes in the lid, then add your sling and leave to settle at around 75 to 80F which provides a good temperature range for the sling to thrive and develop. As the substrate dries out, mist it gently once a week, or as needed.
When your sling’s legspan reaches more than half the diameter of the sling vial, move up to a bigger container.

Feeding
Feed your sling once or twice a week on any of the widely available prey items such as squat maggots, crickets, roach nymphs etc. Fruit flies are not an ideal food due to issues of mortality and deformity being associated with constant use of such a lacking diet.
Leave the selected prey item with your sling overnight, and remove the remains the next day. Sometimes your sling may be slow to settle in and feed, just persevere and offer food at regular intervals until the sling shows interest.
Usually food refusal is an indication that a moult is about to occur, so watch for your sling to darken in colour and remove live prey; offer food again once the sling has moulted and has had a few days to recover.
If you are unsure as to whether your sling is in a pre-moult stage, simply kill the prey item before dropping it in the pot (this pre-killing method can also be a useful way of feeding larger prey to very tiny slings if you don't wish to fiddle around with micro crickets!); the sling will still eat dead prey if hungry, but if the sling is about to moult a dead prey item can cause no harm.

General
There is no need for water bowls at the early stages of growth as slings take their fluid from prey or drinking from the substrate or droplets of moisture on the vial wall. So never let the vial become bone dry for long periods of time or your sling will eventually curl up and die from dehydration.
Slings grow at various rates, but usually all moult at a 4 to 6 week interval, so, keeping a record card of feeding and shed dates will help you to keep an eye on their progress.
A useful method to create a “growing-on chamber” for slings is to use a plastic storage box with lid. Place a heatmat on the inside of the lid, and connect a thermostat into the tub. Set the temperature for 80F, put your sling pots inside, place the lid on and you have a safely regulated environment for your sling to develop in.
Keep an eye for any mould/fungus etc growing in the pots, these could pose a risk to the health of your sling, if in doubt…clean it out!
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